Nothing breaks our hearts more than when a beloved character dies in a movie. Even the most stoic people shed a tear when characters like Goose in Top Gun don't make it to the finish line. Sometimes these characters grow through multiple movies, and sometimes it only takes one for us to end up blubbering when the end comes. Here is our list like that, our list of movie deaths that just crush us.
It goes without saying, but there are major spoilers ahead!
Tony Stark - Avengers: Endgame
Over the first 22 MCU movies Tony Stark/Iron Man was the heart of the franchise. Robert Downey Jr.'s character started the whole thing off in the original Iron Man and in a lot of ways, the Infinity Saga (the first three phases of the MCU) should have ended with Avengers: End Game and the death of Tony Stark. We all knew something like this was likely, but it didn't make it any easier when it came.
Thomas J. - My Girl
There is nothing harder in life than children dying long, long before their time. The fact that no one saw it coming in My Girl makes it doubly tough. What seems like a sweet, innocent childhood romance comes to a crashing halt with the death of Macauley Culkin's character Thomas. It's just brutal, but props to Anna Chlumsky who does an amazing job as Vada.
Ricky - Boyz In the Hood
Of all the characters in Boyz In The Hood that you most want to see get out of the cycle of poverty and despair in the movie, Ricky tops the list. You always have the sense that Tre (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is going to make it and you always sense Doughboy (Ice Cube) won't. Ricky (Morris Chestnut) is in the middle and could go either way. That's what makes his death so heartbreaking. He's so close to getting out, but just can't escape the violence.
Mufasa - The Lion King
How much detail do we really need to go into here? Mufasa's death is the catalyst for Simba's growth, but that doesn't make his untimely death any easier to watch. Disney really knows how to tug at the heartstrings, don't they?
Jenny - Forrest Gump
Jenny (Robin Wright) never really treats Forrest (Tom Hanks) all that well in Forrest Gump. Most of the time, she kinda treats him like dirt. In the end, she does come around, and when she does, you feel the pain right along with Forrest. It's even harder than watching his mother (Sally Field) go earlier in the movie.
Marley - Marley And Me
Pets dying. We all know it's coming, yet, we're never fully prepared for it. Not in life, nor on the big screen. Marley's death in Marley In Me is inevitable, but that doesn't make it any easier at all.
John Coffey - The Green Mile
In Frank Darabont's 1999 classic The Green Mile, we know that Michael Clarke Duncan's character John Coffey is locked up for a crime he didn't commit and is facing a punishment not of his own making. Not only do we feel for Coffey for his wrongful conviction, but because Duncan plays the role with such sweet sincerity that we can't help but love the guy. His execution is like our own, it hurts way too much.
Shelby - Steel Magnolias
Julia Robert's first big break came in Steel Magnolias and like all her work, her infectious smile and great attitude endear us to her quickly. Her death, though part of life, is excruciating as a result.
Neil - Dead Poets Society
When someone dies by suicide, especially a teenager, there is an extra level of sorrow and frustration. Such is definitely the case with Neil (Robert Sean Leonard) in Dead Poets Society. It's so unfair for everyone, and you even feel for his domineering father who drove him to it. Robin Williams gives one his best performances in the movie, but it's Leonard's role as Neil that really sticks with you.
Jack Dawson - Titanic
Say what you want about Titanic, love it or hate it, but you can't deny the impact of Jack's death at the end. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance in the movie made him one of the biggest stars of all time, and his death takes our breath away every time.
Radio Raheem - Do The Right Thing
Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing is one of the best debuts by a director ever. Radio Raheem's death isn't like most of the others on this list because it doesn't just make audiences sad, it makes them mad. It's the anger part of grieving that hits the hardest here.
Guido - Life Is Beautiful
The director, writer, and star of Life Is Beautiful, Roberto Benigni, is wonderful in the movie. He makes us laugh throughout and then, near the end, he crushes our hearts with his death. Like others on this list, we sense the dread from the outset, but when the end comes, it leaves us shattered.
Old Yeller - Old Yeller
There is no one who can stop a tear from rolling down your cheek at the end of Old Yeller when Travis (Tommy Kirk) is faced with doing the inevitable after his dog is infected with rabies. Most of us see the movie as kids and the trauma lives on with us far into adulthood.
Goose - Top Gun
It's not often that a big summer blockbuster hits you as hard in the guy as Top Gun does when Goose (Anthony Edwards) is killed in a training exercise. You see it on Maverick's (Tom Cruise) in the aftermath, but when Goose's widow (Meg Ryan) tells Mav how much Goose loved flying with him, turn on the waterworks and let it all out, because you're going to need to.
Brooks - The Shawshank Redemption
If you know anything about prison movies, you probably know that someone is going to get killed. One of the many things that sets The Shawshank Redemption apart and makes it one of the best movies of the 1990s, is that you don't expect the death you get in it or how it happens. The affable Brooks seems like a good guy, and that makes his suicide in the end just brutal to take in.
Johnny - The Outsiders
Johnny (Ralph Macchio) goes out as a hero in The Outsiders and that's something even he can't believe. It's a brutal moment, as he is in the hospital after the fire when he tells Pony Boy (C. Thomas Howell) to stay golden and it's stuck with audiences forever.
Maximus - Gladiator
Given the circumstances, Maximus' death is as satisfying as it is tragic in Gladiator. Russell Crowe's character's vengeance is what drives the movie and when he finally gets it at the end, there is nothing more left to do in this world. It doesn't make it easy though.
Maggie - Million Dollar Movie
Maggie's (Hillary Swank) death in Million Dollar Baby isn't easy to ever watch. You spend so much time rooting for her, that while her death doesn't feel like a waste, it sure feels like she had so much more left in her. It's not just the injury that leads to her death, but it's her tragic desire to see things through to their natural (or unnatural) end that makes it so hard to watch.
Father - The Road
There is nothing about The Road that is easy to watch. It's not a movie you really ever want to want a second time, despite how fantastic it is. Viggo Mortensen is fantastic as the character simply known as "Father" and his death is really hard to take, because he and his son are the only hope in the movie.
Jack - Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain is a classic love story with a twist that changed cinema forever and even if Jack's denial is in some ways a predictable event in this kind of story, it doesn't make it any easier for audiences.
Dobby - Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
Dobby may just be a side character in the Harry Potter series, but his death in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is still one of the hardest to take to in the whole franchise. Dobby's innocent nature and good heart quickly made him a fan favorite and watching him die is heart-wrenching.
William Wallace - Braveheart
"Freedom!" Or something like that. Setting aside just how historically inaccurate Braveheart is and looking at it as a stirring movie with some awesome action scenes, it makes William Wallace's death brutal at the end. It crushes Scotland's dreams, sure, but it's also the tragic end of a love story and that's what makes it so heartbreaking.
Brian Piccalo - Brian's Song
James Caan played a lot of tough guys over his brilliant career, but it was the softer side of a tough guy, the real-life Brian Piccalo, whose death haunts us the most. The true story about the tragic life of Piccalo and his wonderful friendship with Gale Sayers, played by Billy Dee Williams, is meant to rip out the audience's hearts, and boy oh boy does it.
Apollo - Rocky IV
Like a few others on this list, if you weren't prepared for it, Apollo Creed's death in Rocky IV is a serious blow. It's not the kind of thing you'd ever expect from a big summer popcorn-chomper of a movie. It brilliantly raises the stakes in the movie and is, in the end, what makes it such an enduring movie, despite being a relic of the Cold War.
Captain Miller - Saving Private Ryan
Audiences really come to love and respect Tom Hanks' Captain Miller in Saving Private Ryan and after all he'd been through, and all he'd done, to see him not make it to the end of the movie, or the end of D-Day for that matter, really stings. We hope Ryan made it worth it, and we think he did, aside from the cheesy ending.
Bing Bong - Inside Out
How is it that a cartoon's death can bring anyone to tears? Let alone one that isn't even "real" in the movie? Yet here we are, wiping our faces as Bing Bong sacrifices himself in Inside Out. The power of cinema indeed.
Wolverine - Logan
For decades we watched Wolverine over the entire life of the X-Men franchise. Hugh Jackman's performance was perfect every time, right up until the end when the seemingly immortal anti-hero becomes as mortal as the rest of us at the end of Logan. Deadpool may have celebrated his death, but we don't.
Rosie - JoJo Rabbit
Even the most absurd films, like Jojo Rabbit, can have devastatingly heartbreaking moments in them. Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) dying, despite the movie being about the subject matter it is about, is still a little shocking and very sad. Jojo finding her the way he does makes it even tougher to watch.
Gwen Stacy - Amazing Spider-Man 2
When you watch a superhero movie, you really never expect the hero to suffer any real heartbreak that you aren't ready for. Batman's parents are always going to die, for example, but you know that going in. Spider-man failing to save Gwen (Emma Stone) in Amazing Spider-Man 2 is shocking and completely heartbreaking.
The Iron Giant - The Iron Giant
There is, at least, some respite from the death of the Iron Giant in The Iron Giant - we know in the end that he's going to be okay. That doesn't make the initial moment of his destruction any easier though. Once again cartoons break out hearts.
Bambi's Mother - Bambi
Disney is responsible for some of our favorite cinematic moments as kids. And some of our most traumatic. There is a very good chance that everyone reading this was deeply traumatized by the death of Bambi's mother in Bambi, no matter what age you are now.
Donny - The Big Lebowski
Donnie was a bowler. He also loved to surf, probably. the Steve Buscemi character's death at the end of The Big Lebowski is not what anyone would have ever expected from the shaggy dog story we enjoyed for the previous two hours. It turns out that Donnie really tied the movie together and no one liked seeing him go.
