If the MCU wants to do another death fakeout, Avengers: Secret Wars would be the perfect place to do so. The exact details about the Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars storylines have yet to be confirmed. However, viewers are starting to get a good idea of what’s to come as the films will likely adapt from the Marvel comics.
With the sheer amount of characters featured in the two upcoming Avengers films, no character is safe from death. We’ve seen how Marvel isn’t afraid to kill off major characters as they did with Iron Man and Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame. One character could be next, but luckily for him, the comics also give him the perfect reason to return.
The MCU’s Hero Death Fakeouts Are A Core Part Of The Franchise
All MCU Deaths Are Reversible In Some Way
By now, we all know that no character will really ever stay ᴅᴇᴀᴅ if the studio doesn’t want them to. There used to be a rule to never consider a character ᴅᴇᴀᴅ and gone if there is no body shown. However, the MCU has come up with plenty of loopholes to bring back characters who we’ve seen die before our very eyes.
Amusingly, it all began with Marvel Television’s Agents of SHIELD, which resurrected Phil Coulson after Loki killed him in The Avengers. Loki and Gamora were both murdered by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, but new variants of the characters were introduced courtesy of the multiverse. More recently, Star-Lord had an effective death fakeout at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
The MCU’s hero death fakeouts have become a core part of the franchise. Of course, the MCU knows when to keep a character ᴅᴇᴀᴅ for emotional stakes, but fakeouts keep viewers on their toes as they never know what to expect, even in the face of death.
Marvel Comics Sets Up A Perfect Excuse For A Spider-Man Death Fakeout Around Avengers: Secret Wars
The Beyond! Comics Seemingly Kill Off Spider-Man
We all know the MCU is headed for Avengers: Secret Wars, an epic multiversal story inspired by the comics. One tie-in – called Beyond! – featured a surprising Spider-Man death fakeout; a cosmic enтιтy abducted a mismatched group of superheroes and villains to a realm called Battleworld, and those who slay their enemies would receive a reward.
Venom attacks Spider-Man, who is impaled and seemingly dies. This sends the team into chaos until their ship is destroyed, but at some point, Spider-Man gets up as if he simply rose from the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. It’s a confusing situation, but the group soon realizes that it was never really Spider-Man in the first place.
The group exposes “Spider-Man” as the Space Phantom, an individual who can ᴀssume the form of any living creature. This means that Spider-Man doesn’t actually die, but the initial fakeout was completely effective. And it sets an entertaining precedent for a similar hero death fakeout in the MCU, that wouldn’t feel like a gimmick.
Why Pretending To Kill Spider-Man Off Would Make Sense For The Multiverse Saga
Secret Wars Needs The Drama Of The Comics
The Avengers films always feature a huge crossover group of heroes, setting the stage for any character’s death fakeout to tie into other storylines besides their own. In Spider-Man’s case, he is already in a precarious position given memories of his existence have been wiped. Having him reintegrated into the team just to seemingly kill him off would be a thrilling direction to take the film.
Even if Marvel doesn’t want to introduce the Space Phantom in Avengers: Secret Wars, the shapeshifting aliens known as the Skrulls have been used for similar hero death fakeouts in the comics, including with Wolverine. Skrulls haven’t been seen in the MCU since Secret Invasion, and it would be smart for Marvel to bring them back as an undercover hero.
If there was ever a time for another death fakeout, the Multiverse Saga would be the perfect place to do so. This MCU era is coming to a close with Avengers: Secret Wars and the studio needs a way to translate the sheer drama of the comics into live-action. Having Spider-Man seemingly killed off would definitely provide that drama while staying true to the source material.
