After over a dozen entries into the Fox X-Men franchise, there have been quite a few character deaths. In fact, some characters, like Jean Grey, have died more than once in the films. A few losses have been more funny than anything else, but a fair few others have been truly devastating.
Luckily, the timeline did reset some of these, but not all of them. From the X-Men that died in between films, to the huge deaths at the climaxes of the franchise, the X-Men movies have shown a few of the saddest deaths in superhero cinema history.
10 Beloved Characters That Died In Between Movies — Their autopsy photos were even shown, in some cases, & it was brutal
There were, unfortunately, a few beloved characters that died in between films, rather than on screen. In addition to the mutants that died in the dark future of X-Men: Days of Future Past, audiences learned that, in the past, a few mutants had been killed and experimented on.
In the old days, post—X-Men: First Class, it was revealed that a number of beloved mutants had been killed, including Angel Salvadore and Sean Cassidy, as well as Brotherhood members Emma Frost, Azazel, and Riptide. Their autopsy photos were even shown, in some cases, and it was brutal.
9 Cyclops At The Beginning Of X-Men: The Last Stand
The very beginning of X-Men: The Last Stand walked back on a mildly sad death that ended the movie before it. X2: X-Men United had closed with the death of Jean Grey, or so it seemed. The Last Stand saw Jean Grey’s return, though she was significantly different than she had been before.
When Cyclops finds her, she ends up killing him off-screen, only for his fellow X-Men to later discover his glasses where his body had once been. This unfortunate end for this beloved character at the hands of his girlfriend was downright tragic.
8 Deadpool’s Temporary Death In Deadpool 2
While Deadpool can’t functionally die in many ways, he did almost pull it off in Deadpool 2. After Cable shot at Russell, Deadpool jumped in front of the bullet and ended up getting shot in the heart. After he died, he was able to save everyone. He got to see Vanessa again and both shared an emotionally devastating moment together.
She tells him it’s not his time to die yet, even if he wants to be with her. Her death earlier in the movie was also horrifyingly sad and contributed to making this moment all the sadder. Deadpool ends up saved by the time-traveling Cable, but he still died, and his death was still incredibly sad.
7 Wolverine Killing Jean Grey In X-Men: The Last Stand
As the original X-Men trilogy drew to a close, it became clear that Jean Grey had gone too far as the Dark Phoenix and would need to be stopped.
It was at the end of The Last Stand that Wolverine had to kill Jean Grey with his claws in order to stop her, by her own request. This was devastating for them both, and viewers could really feel the emotion on the screen.
6 Mystique At The Hands Of Jean Grey In Dark Phoenix
Though the film Dark Phoenix, much like The Last Stand, is not considered to be one of the best movies in the X-Men franchise, it did have its fair share of sad moments. After all, the X-Men origin movies had dedicated so much time to Mystique’s character growth and her ongoing arc that it was devastating to lose her in Dark Phoenix.
Even worse was the fact that she died as a hero, trying to help Jean Grey — and ended up dying at her hands. It was this death that split up the X-Men; Hank blamed Charles for this death, leaving the X-Men to join Erik and get revenge for Raven. This death was not only sad, but it had a lot of sad ripple effects, as well.
5 Alex Summers As A Casualty Of His Own Powers In X-Men: Apocalypse
Another beloved member of the very first X-Men team — alongside fellow deceased members Sean Cassidy and Raven Darkholme — was unfortunately Alex Summers. The brother of Scott Summers, Alex was older than Scott in the movies and was one of the first mutants recruited by Charles and Erik onto the X-Men.
He stayed with the team for a long time until En Sabah Nur attacked Xavier’s School in X-Men: Apocalypse in order to steal Charles Xavier. Alex used his explosive powers to fight the bad guys but ended up blowing up the mansion. Quicksilver, luckily, was able to save everyone in the house — except for Alex, who died in his own blast.
4 Darwin By Sebastian Shaw’s Hand In X-Men: First Class
When the first X-Men team was assembled, one of the most powerful members was Armando Muñoz. Perhaps better known as Darwin, due to his ability to adapt and survive in any situation, it was shocking to audiences when Darwin was the first member of the team to go down.
In X-Men: First Class, Sebastian Shaw filled Darwin with pure energy, forcing his body to completely combust in response. Fans didn’t necessarily agree with this, arguing that Darwin’s ability should have been able to help him withstand this energy blast, which makes the death that much more painful. It shouldn’t have happened at all and is all the sadder for it.
3 Professor X In Front Of Magneto In X-Men: The Last Stand
After so many years at each other’s sides, even when they were at odds, it was obvious that Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr cared deeply for one another. The two of them teamed up again in order to try and stop their former student, Jean Grey, from becoming more destructive than she already was.
Unfortunately, they were too late, and Erik had to see Jean disintegrate Charles before his very eyes. The fact that Erik was forced to witness this made the scene all the worse. Even sadder is that Charles comes back to just die again and again, before finally dying, sadly, for the last time, in Logan.
2 Wolverine’s Death At The End Of Logan
The movie that seemed to close out the Fox X-Men franchise was the film Logan. Not only is Logan a great superhero movie, but it’s also a good movie overall. However, it is also emotionally devastating. After years of watching Wolverine on the silver screen, his story finally came to a close.
He died slowly on screen, at the end of a long, sad, and hard life. With his death, too, came the death of the X-Men, both symbolically and quite literally. This is devastating on all counts, in canon and for the viewers; the movie Logan as a whole was quite sad and was made all the sadder with this ending.
1 Magneto’s Family In X-Men: First Class & X-Men: Apocalypse
Three of the saddest deaths in the entire X-Men movie franchise involve people in Magneto’s life. Erik is somebody who loves deeply and passionately; when he loses those he loves, he feels this loss and grieves them deeply. In X-Men: First Class, his mother was killed by Sebastian Shaw while she and Erik were imprisoned in a concentration camp during World War II.
Later in Erik’s life, he got married and had a daughter, only for a Polish officer to kill them both, causing Erik to go nearly mad with the pain of the loss. The deaths of Erik’s mother, his wife, and his daughter are without a doubt the absolute saddest in all of the X-Men movies put together.