Guardians of the Galaxy Leads List of Deadliest Films

CBR

By Kevin Melrose

Published Oct 4, 2016

With a whopping 83,871 fatalities, the 2014 Marvel Studios blockbuster has the highest body count of any Hollywood movie, a new study finds.

The irreverent tone of and catchy soundtrack of "Guardians of the Galaxy" disguised a dark secret: that the 2014 Marvel Studios hit has the highest body count of any film of the past seven decades.

That's according to a study conducted by financial-services comparison site Go Compare, which tallied the on-screen deaths depicted in Hollywood releases dating back to the 1940s.

The butcher's bill for the James Gunn film stands at a staggering 83,871 fatalities, owing largely to the Nova Corps pilots sacrificed during the climactic battle to defend Xandar from Ronan. Although Go Compare notes its death counts "may not be 100% definitive," it's probably safe to say "Guardians of the Galaxy" comes out on top in any reckoning, as its closest competitor on the list is 2014's "Dracula Untold" with a distant 5,687. And, heck, it doesn't even have a memorable soundtrack.

"Guardians," perhaps unsurprisingly, wasn't the only superhero movie on the list: "Marvel's The Avengers" is No. 10 with a paltry 2,012 deaths, the direct-to-DVD animated "Wonder Woman" comes in at No. 46 with 360, "Thor: The Dark World" at No. 46 with 331, "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" at No. 90 with 244, "Captain America: The First Avengers" at No. 130 with 201, "X-Men: The Last Stand" at No. 134 with 199, "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" at No. 140 with 196, "Blade II" at No. 147 with 190, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" at No. 162 with 177, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" at No. 170 with 168, "Watchmen" at No. 179 with 160, and the animated "Invincible Iron Man" at No. 196 with 151 dead. (The full list, which goes all the way to No. 653, can be found on the Go Compare website.)

But what about 2013's "Man of Steel," which spurred so much discussion about its widespread discussion? It checks in at No. 253 with a mere 134 on-screen fatalities, a number that will surely reignite the debate. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" failed to even register in the study, which excludes films with death counts of fewer than 50.

Go Compare gathered its information from All Outta Bubblegum, Movie Body Counts, YouTube and Twine, hence the caveat about the statistics not being definitive. The study determined a kill when a body was shown on screen, or else a character was "very heavily implied dead" -- meaning he or she was mentioned as dead and never returned, blown up, tossed off a cliff, or "shot/stabbed just off-screen and never heard from again." And to get even more specific, animals and robots were included only when they were portrayed an actor (yes, voice actors count).

Here are the top 10 deadliest movie, according to the study: