10 Stupid Comic Book Movie Deaths That Should Never Have Happened

Avengers: Age of Ultron could not have choreographed Hawkeye's death any better. He was finally given some semblance of a backstory, was revealed to be a secret family man, and he took on a subtle mentor role for the Avengers' new recruits. He was the logical choice to cut from the team's lineup both because it would enforce the stakes they were fighting for and because he was still the most boring character on the team.

Conversely, Pietro Maximoff, who could not be called Quicksilver for copyright reasons, was being set up as the next big Avenger. He got a plethora of witty one-liners, came as a package deal with his twin sister who was certainly going to be a big deal as well, and had a great power conducive to action scenes.

So when it came time for one of them to make the sacrifice play, it was clear to the Marvel producers which one had to go. Obviously, Pietro had to die because they didn't outright own his character and, even though they'd already signed Aaron Taylor-Johnson to a multi-picture contract, they didn't want to bring too much attention to a figure who was also in another film franchise. Audiences didn't see that coming.