We’re so used to the happy endings in movies that whenever someone dies on screen, it becomes a huge deal. And if they die heroically, doing their best to protect someone, then it’s just eye-bawling season. Secretly we just want someone to make the same sacrifice for us, or at least be prepared to make it. Fat chance, people, 9 times out of 10 you’re on your own! That’s why we love that selfless, heroic stuff.
Here are 7 most awe-inspiring heroic deaths in movies!
1. Bing Bong – “Inside Out” (2015)
When people talk about imaginary friends leaving them, the rest of the society sighs with relief but not those who’ve seen “Inside Out”. When Joy and Sadness are trying to get back to the Headquarters, they meet this cute and quirky creature named Bing Bong, who turns out to be Riley’s long-forgotten imaginary friend. And when all three of them got stuck in the “Memory Dump”, Bing Bong sacrifices himself to get them out. At least one 30-year-old man cried while watching this. Thanks, Pixar!
2. Jyn Erso and Other Rebels – “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016)
Stealing plans for the fearsome Death Star was not an easy task. We’ve known ever since Star Wars Episode IV that many people laid their lives to have those plans delivered, but three years ago Disney decided to show us how exactly all those rebels died. Because context matters! Now that we know how Jyn and Cassian sacrificed themselves, we can properly hate the Empire.
3. William Wallace – “Braveheart” (1995)
When it comes to heroic figures in history, things never end well for them. Jeanne d’Arc was burned to a crisp, Martin Luther King was killed, and William Wallace was quartered. In case you didn’t know “Braveheart” with Mel Gibson was explicitly about the life of William, and the way he inspired the entire nation before and after his gruesome death.
4. Severus Snape – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (2011)
It takes immeasurable balls to do all the things Severus did for Harry’s sake. And till the very end, everyone saw him as a villain. Which was most likely intentional. Either way, the whole truth got out only when Snape was on the brink of death. That’s when he showed Harry what actually happened. One of the most tear-jerking moments in cinema.
5. Tony Stark – “Avengers: Endgame” (2019)
Spoilers, I guess! After everything we’ve been through with Tony Stark, it was heart-breaking to see him pass away at the end of “Avengers: Endgame”. Like every hero, at that moment, he wasn’t thinking about himself, but rather about his daughter, and wife, and maybe even Cap. Thanos was not going to stop if he got the stones, so there was only one person, who could save the entire universe – Tony freaking Stark aka Iron Man.
6. Lee Abbott – “A Quiet Place” (2018)
If there’s anyone worth keeling over it’s usually your family. Just like that, Lee Abbot, played by John Krasinki, had to sacrifice his own life to save his kids from inevitable death by alien claws. You may think that this movie is very derivative, but that scene really got me, especially since a few moments later, they learn about the aliens’ weak spot.
7. Logan – “Logan” (2017)
Okay, the previous movies were quite sad, but Logan is depressing on a whole other level. Throughout the film we’re being told that there’s nowhere to run until Laura tells Wolverine and Xavier about these coordinated near the Canadian border, claiming that her friends will be there and they’ll all just walk to Canada and be safe. But nothing is easy in that world. Very resourceful people are hunting Laura and other mutant kids, the adamantium skeleton has been slowly poisoning Logan for decades, and to add insult to injury, the bad guys have cloned Wolverine who in the final battle with his original impales him on a stump before getting killed. Wolverine’s healing factor no longer works, so he’s sitting there shishkebabed, barely breathing, coughing blood… but you see that he did save all the kids, giving them hope for a better future and a role model to look up to. And seriously, if this last scene did not get to you at all, you’re probably not human.
