Marvel Boss Is Reportedly Done Using Deaths for 'Shock Value'

In recent years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has regularly been compared to HBO’s Game of Thrones in that not even the most beloved characters are immune to sudden deaths. Last year, Avengers: Infinity War shocked audiences when Thanos, the franchise's most deadly villain to date, killed half the universe with a snap of his fingers.

Despite the heartbreak fans faced seeing many of their favorite characters disintegrate, many believed that most of them would have to be brought back to life for this year’s Avengers: Endgame. This pattern of killing off characters only to have them somehow come back to life has become somewhat expected in both the MCU and Marvel Comics—so much so that Marvel Comics editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski is over it, as CinemaBlend reports.

"I don't want death to be used to boost sales or to use as a shock value so people go 'Oh my God, Johnny Storm is dead!' or 'Wolverine is dead!' knowing that they're going to be coming back," Cebulski recently told a convention crowd in Sweden. "If we choose to do it now, we're going to add a little more weight and permanence to the situation."

Marvel Studios certainly made some changes with Infinity War from the series it’s based on, Infinity Gauntlet. However, Thanos’s deadly snap—along with all the fallen heroes coming back to life in Endgame—did happen in the comics as well.

We’ll have to see how seriously the MCU takes Cebulski’s call for fewer deaths when the franchise’s upcoming Phase 4 kicks off.