15 Greatest Heroic Sacrifices In Comic Book Movies

3. Captain America - The First Avenger

He might not die - just as Iron Man didn't in The Avengers - but there's something almost more devastating about Steve Rogers' sacrifice in the fact that he survives than could have been captured in his death. When he chooses to guide the HYDRA plane into the ocean to stop its weapons potentially killing others in a crash, Cap realises his true calling as a pure-hearted altruist (as if it was under question).

And though we know it's coming - in order to facilitate his transportation to the future - rewatching his farewell conversation with Peggy is still as heart-breaking now, particularly because of the abrupt way it cuts off.

But it's really him waking up that makes it more devastating: he's a man out of time, who instantaneously wakes up and is forced to come to terms with the deaths of almost everyone he knew and loved (even if Peggy still lives, the promise of their relationship died when he crashed). He gave up his entire life so that they could enjoy those without him, and he then still had to live his own life haunted by what he could have had.