10 Most Tragic Deaths In The History Of Comic Book Movies

7. Harry Osborn (Spider-Man 3)

Harry Osborn
Sony Pictures

Most people would agree that Spider-Man 3 is overstuffed to a fault, causing the many plot threads and characters the film had to service to feel extremely under-cooked. One scene that didn't feel like this, however, was the death of Harry Osborn at the hands of Spidey's nemesis Venom, a memorable human moment in a cartoonish, over-the-top film, and one that felt downright depressing due to the series of circumstances that led to his tragic downfall.

Because, in essence, Harry doesn't want to be the bad guy. Harry doesn't want to don the Goblin costume and fly around on a hoverboard. Harry doesn't want to fight his best friend, Peter Parker. He's been brainwashed by visions of his deceased father, the former Goblin, corrupted by the need for vengeance and completely blind to the fact that Spider-Man isn't his enemy.

And all this leads to a rather painful looking death - he's impaled by his own blade and tossed to one side like a ragdoll, sacrificing himself to protect his one true friend from a similar fate. The fact that none of this is Harry's fault (he's been driven mad by his father) makes it all the more hard to watch, and the combination of saddening score and gorgeous shots of the fading sunset will probably end up giving you 'something in your eye'. Softie.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!