15 Greatest Heroic Sacrifices In Comic Book Movies

8. Loki - Thor: The Dark World

Eventually, you have to feel that Loki will be forced to make up for his various sins and he'll have to pay a substantial fee, whether that's with his death as a fully fledged villain, or - more poetically - having atoned for his sins and realised that his link to Thor means more to him than his yearning for power.

The reason that feels so inevitable is that it's basically happened already once before at the end of Thor: The Dark World. In that film, the idea of Loki playing a sort of Hannibal Lecter type villain begrudgingly helping Thor take down the Dark Elves (in vengeance for the death of Frigga) gives him his opportunity for redemption. And in dying to save his brother, his arc comes to a satisfactory, emotionally effective end.

Obviously, he's the God Of Mischief, so he has a final say in the end (and is revealed to be alive), but for now Thor still believes he's dead, which is the most telling part of the whole thing.