10 Film Heroes Who Totally Failed In Their Quest

7. Thor - Avengers: Infinity War

The Quest

Avenge the murder of his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), his pal Heimdall (Idris Elba) and a ton of Asgardian refugees at the hands of the Mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin).

What Happens?

Arguably nobody suffers harder than Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in Avengers: Infinity War, losing his brother and buddy just a short time after his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) died in Thor: Ragnarok.

It's clear that Thor is thoroughly rattled from his first encounter with Thanos, but he nevertheless proves to be highly determined in his charge to kill the purple tyrant, arriving for the third-act Wakanda fight with a world full of purpose - and a trusty new weapon to boot.

Why Did He Fail?

Thor certainly puts in a strong effort in Infinity War's finale, but when it comes to the crunch, he drives Stormbreaker into Thanos' chest, gravely wounding rather than killing him.

This allows Thanos to quip, "You should've gone for the head" before snapping his Infinity Gauntlet-wearing fingers, near-instantly ending half of all life in the universe, and all because Thor didn't aim his blade a few feet higher.

Thor's failures don't even end there, as when he finally gets a do-over in Avengers: Endgame, his swift decapitation of Thanos proves totally futile.

Granted, Thor's major emotional turmoil across Infinity War and Endgame did a great job deepening the character beyond his hunky dude-bro origins, so it's most certainly an epic fail that was for the audience's benefit.