Marvel Comics' Ruins is a twisted antithesis of Earth-616, where everything went horribly wrong. Here are the 12 darkest hero deaths in that universe.
Marvel Comics’ superheroes are beings of hope and inspiration, who truly live up to the namesake of their established universe. The Marvels regularly save the world, triumph over evil, and inspire all the ‘people on the ground’, who can only gaze up in admiration of their greatness, thankful that there are heroes in their universe who protect them.
While hopeful and inspiring are some of the attributes of Marvel’s superheroes in the main continuity of Earth-616, that’s not the case in every universe. In fact, there’s another reality in the Marvel multiverse that was the subject of the two-issue limited series Ruins (by Warren Ellis, Chris Nielsen, and Terese Nielsen), that was effectively the disturbing antithesis of Earth-616. Everything that went right in the main continuity went horrifically wrong in this one, which meant that a great number of superheroes (including entire teams) faced twisted fates that left them either dead, or in a state far worse than death. Here are the 12 darkest hero deaths in Marvel’s infamous Ruins timeline.
12 The Avengers
The Avengers are known as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes because they are truly the greatest superpowered beings on the planet, both in terms of their collective strength and their unwavering heroism. However, in the Ruins timeline, nearly every member was taken out with a single shot. In the opening pages of the first issue of Ruins, readers watch as the Avengers’ quinjet is shot from the sky. It’s later revealed that the missile that killed the Avengers was launched to take out one primary target: Captain America. The other Avengers were simply byproducts of Captain America's assassination carried out by the U.S. government, ordered by President Charles Xavier. Aside from the main target, Iron Man, Giant-Man, and the Wasp were all killed by the targeted missile as well, eliminating all the Avengers in one horrific instant.
11 Hawkeye
While Hawkeye was also an Avenger at this time, he wasn’t on the quinjet when it was shot down, and his life was spared as a result. However, he wouldn’t last much longer than his fellow Avengers, as Hawkeye was detained by authorities and promptly shot in the head, execution style. Hawkeye outlived his fellow teammates, but not long enough to avenge their deaths, suffering a fate as quick and shocking as theirs.
10 Daredevil
The Avengers’ deaths were undeniably tragic, but they at least had the chance to be superheroes for a time before getting taken out, while Matt Murdock was killed before he ever suited up as the iconic superhero, Daredevil. In fact, it was the very incident that originally gave him his powers that killed Matt in the Ruins timeline. The chemicals that got in Matt’s eyes didn’t heighten his senses in this reality, instead they gave him radiation burns and neural damage. Matt Murdock died in the hospital as a result.
9 Silver Surfer
The Silver Surfer is one of the most surprising entries on this list given his god-tier power, and the manner of his death is even more shocking. Silver Surfer’s body was found drifting in space, his entrails floating alongside his lifeless corpse. As assessed by Mar-Vell, it seemed as though the Surfer longed for his stolen humanity, and just wanted his lungs to breathe in fresh air one more time. Given his powers, he doesn’t need to breathe, but he apparently longed for it so intensely that he ripped open his torso in Earth’s orbit just so his lungs could feel air again. Silver Surfer turned his own cosmic power against himself, and he died gruesomely.
8 Jean Grey
Jean Grey’s Ruins’ death is decidedly less intense than that of the Silver Surfer, though perhaps infinitely more depressing. After approaching Nick Fury to solicit sex for money, Jean Grey is shot in the street by the deranged ex-director of SHIELD. On Earth-616, Jean Grey is an Omega Level Mutant whose power is noted throughout the cosmos, and who leads one of the strongest superhero teams in the world, if not the entire galaxy. Yet in Ruins, her position in life forces her to resort to prostitution just to make ends meet, and in a dangerous area, no less, where she was then shot by some lunatic she would have otherwise been willing to have sex with for money.
7 Nick Fury
After gunning down Jean, and then threatening to do the same to a journalist who’s been asking a bit too many questions about superhero deaths for the government’s liking, Nick Fury turns his pistol on himself, ending his own life. Not only that, but Fury all but openly admitted his involvement in the deaths of the Avengers, as he’s the one who revealed that the whole thing was orchestrated to primarily take out one man: Captain America. Fury was one of the main reasons why this world was so horrible, and before he died, he knew that was the case.
6 Captain Marvel
While there was no obvious mention of Carol Danvers’ fate in this reality, readers are told exactly what happens to the original Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell. When Mar-Vell led a Kree squadron to invade Planet Earth and add the human world to their ever-growing empire, Captain Marvel found the corpse of the Silver Surfer (as described above). However, the Surfer’s body wasn’t fully dead - in a sense - as it was radiating deadly cosmic energy, which was presumably remnants of the Power Cosmic the Surfer was imbued with upon his creation. This made the Kree ship crash-land on Earth, and when humanity ‘gave’ them a plot of land on which to live, it was decided that the Kree would be placed on an area of America soil that was highly irradiated from an abundance of nuclear testing. Captain Marvel and every other Kree in this concentration camp was dying of cancer as a result of the radiation. Interestingly enough, Mar-Vell actually died of cancer in the main continuity as well, though this version of events is far more grim, as he has to watch helplessly as his people suffer the same fate.
5 Hulk
The Hulk’s story is exactly the same in this timeline as it was in Earth-616. Bruce Banner runs into the testing area where his gamma bomb is about to be detonated to save Rick Jones, and he gets blasted by the gamma rays. However, instead of being turned into a superhero, and perhaps the strongest being on Earth, if not the galaxy, Bruce’s body immediately gets covered in enormous tumors that begin erupting almost as soon as they formed. However, where this entry stands out from all the others is that Bruce Banner didn’t actually die. Designated ‘Hulk’ by the CIA, Banner was transferred to an underground bunker for quarantined study, suffering a fate far worse than death and destined to never be any kind of hero, Avenger or otherwise.
4 The Punisher
The Punisher is one of the few heroes on this list who didn’t change much from his Earth-616 counterpart, but whose story ended all the more grimly - and unspectacularly. After interviewing someone about another dead superhero, the journalist who Nick Fury nearly killed, Philip Sheldon, walks by the corpse of the Punisher, lying in the street with gunshot wounds littering his lifeless body. Based on the ‘Punisher’ insignia on his chest, it can be confidently asserted that he was the exact same antihero fans are used to seeing, but one who isn’t as seemingly immortal as the original.
3 Ghost Rider
It’s fascinating that a man who sells his soul to Satan and experiences a small taste of the agony hell has to offer on a daily basis has a life that’s less horrifying than just a regular guy who rides a motorcycle for entertainment. But, that’s exactly the case in Ruins, as Johnny Blaze isn’t a supernatural antihero, he’s just a professional stuntman traveling with a show that specializes in shocking stunts that wow and excite people across the nation. In a stunt that Blaze decided would be his last, he doused himself in gasoline, started riding his motorcycle towards a ramp for another incredible jump, then lit a match. Johnny went up in flames as he flew off the ramp, landing only to ride around the desert for hours, screaming as he slowly burned to death. His death in Ruins was reminiscent of his life as Ghost Rider, but infinitely more depressing.
2 The Fantastic Four
Another full team wiped out in an instant like the Avengers, the Fantastic Four were killed by the very cosmic radiation that was supposed to give them their powers in the first place. Technically, each of them were granted their specific gifts, though tragically, those ‘gifts’ were how they so gruesomely died. Reed Richards’ corpse was an elongated skeleton, Johnny Storm’s body was incinerated on a cellular level, and Sue Storm’s powers made every bit of her light-reflective, including her eyes, resulting in her going blind and falling on her brother, thereby sharing his fate. The only survivor was Ben Grimm, who was smart enough not to go up in the spaceship before it was fully finished. However, living with the thought that he could have done something that might have saved his found-family if he was the one piloting that ship is arguably a fate worse than death.
1 Spider-Man
Not only was Spider-Man killed in this universe, but he was turned into a twisted, inadvertent opposite of his Earth-616 counterpart as well. When he was bitten by the radioactive spider, Peter Parker became infected with some kind of rare mutant virus that was highly infectious. Spider-Man died horribly before ever exhibiting a single superpower, and he was directly responsible for the deaths of those around him, including his former coworker at the Daily Bugle and the protagonist of the entire Ruins series, Philip Sheldon. Spider-Man wasn’t just unable to save people before his death in this universe, he actively caused those closest to him to die, making his demise that much more horrific.
Ruins is perhaps the darkest corner of the Marvel Comics multiverse, and acts as a grim reminder for how horribly things could have gone if fate wasn’t on the side of the superheroes. That being said, it is interesting to see how each of these heroes (or heroic teams) could or would have died if the events of their lives were just a tad bit off, with these 12 hero deaths easily being the darkest in this infamous Marvel Comics storyline.
