10 Most Tragic Deaths In The History Of Marvel Comics

7. Captain Marvel

Regardless of whether you believe the urban legend that he was created mainly for copyright reasons (which is perhaps half true), the valiant Kree warrior Mar-Vell - hey, that sounds kinda like... - quickly became a vital part of the Marvel Universe, playing a key role in the Kree-Skrull War, the first big Avengers crossover event, where he became linked with Rick Jones, the sort of Forrest Gump of Marvel. Thanks to his connection with Rick Captain Marvel became a major player for a little while, headlining the cosmic band of titles that the publisher started to put out in the seventies, principally lead by Jim Starlin. It was Starlin who made Captain Marvel into the hero he became and, ultimately, the one to mete out his downfall.

Before all that, though, Mar-Vell did have some pretty neat adventures. There were plenty of times he teamed up with the Avengers, Spider-Man and other costumed so-and-sos who were mostly earthbound, but it's his time amongst the stars that still dazzle to this day. Thanks to the intergalactic menace of Thanos he was upgraded to Protector Of The Universe, and had a hand in creating half of the Guardians Of The Galaxy along with it. He sorted out basically every occasion Thanos got hold of enough power to decimate the whole of existence, including destroying the Cosmic Cube.

Despite all these fantastical adventures, it was eventually cancer that killed Captain Marvel. Cancer that came from a toxic nerve gas released after fighting a bad guy called Nitro, who looks like Magneto except with Voltorb's powers, and slowly ate away at the superhero as it does in the real world. Despite seeking out some of the more bonkers possible cures on offer as a comic book character Marvel does succumb to the disease, in a full length graphic novel called The Death Of Captain Marvel which is really bloody depressing. And very good. And tragic.