For the past 20 years, Marvel has been a rollercoaster of laughs, tears, and awesome fight sequences. But when it came to the haunted house section of the ride, Marvel unapologetically strode into the darkest corners of their stories and fished out the nightmares within them. Therefore, to keep the “spooky season train” rolling, we’re going to look back on Marvel’s countless movies and shows to see which of their scenes are the most terrifying.
Honorable Mention: Wanda Sees Dead Vision and Quicksilver
Wanda is one of, if not the most tragic, characters in the whole MCU. She never deserved any of the horrible crap she’s been through, which makes these two brief scenes in “WandaVision” just as unfair as they are frightening. For instance, in episode four of the mini-series, Wanda’s world unravels further once she gets a fleeting but haunting glimpse of Vision’s corpse standing in front of her. One minute, Vision was asking Wanda where Monica went, but the next minute, he’s a pale husk with the Mind Stone ripped out of his forehead; just like his first and final encounter with Thanos. However, just as quickly as it happened, Vision’s back to his normal self. As if that wasn’t enough, Agatha had to rub ice on the wound by manipulating a stranger to pose as Wanda’s long-dead brother, Pietro. On a seemingly innocent night out of “trick-or-treating” with the said imposter, Pietro would try to talk to Wanda and “reconnect” with her. Eventually, he would awaken an old memory…by briefly appearing with bloodied bullet holes and grey, glossed-over eyes; mirroring his sacrifice to save Hawkeye and a child from Ultron’s gunfire. And, just like with Vision, he seems alive and glowing with health five seconds later. This whole incident is not only cruel but a stark reminder that Wanda’s life has been defined by nothing but tragedy and chaos.
5. Strange Supreme and Infinity Ultron
“What If” gave us quite a few spine-chilling episodes in its first season, and equally petrifying characters to complement them. In this case, I’d say the worst ones they introduced in this whole series were the insane Strange Supreme and the cosmic being of Infinity Ultron. For the latter, he came from a world where Ultron got to upload his mind into what would’ve been Vision’s body and wipe out all life on Earth (except for Hawkeye and Black Widow). Then, after literally splitting Thanos in half in five seconds flat, he would gain the power of all the Infinity Stones and proceed to decimate the whole universe before setting his sights on the multiverse! While that is pretty shocking, Strange Supreme shouldn’t be ignored either. First of all, the montage where he summoned and absorbed countless magical beings should be cut for a short horror film. The back-to-back shots of his glowing eyes and mouth, his face transforming to match the creatures, and his slow descent into madness and evil are haunting. In fact, he becomes so powerful that he’s able to change an Absolute Point in time, thus destroying his universe. Further, he’s not only able to go toe-to-toe with Infinity Ultron, but he’s able to defeat and detain universe-ending threats, and feed them to a universe-creating machine that he created! If Strange Supreme wasn’t dead set on recreating his destroyed universe, think what he could’ve done to the multiverse if he used that potential to do what Infinity Ultron wanted to do and then some! Say what you will about “What If,” but there’s no denying how they gave us some of the most memorable (for better or worse) characters and stories we’ve ever seen.
4. Mysterio’s Nightmarish Illusions
At this point in “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” Peter had just found out that Mysterio, his supposedly new friend from another dimension, was actually a lying, manipulative villain this whole time. After finding “Fury” and telling him what happened, Mysterio immediately jumps in by changing the whole building into his own house of horrors, with one frightening illusion after another. The worst one, though, was making Peter see Tony Stark’s grave, and giving a bone-splitting taunt: “If you were good enough, maybe Tony would still be alive.” Not even a second later, a hand shoots out from the ground, and a zombified Iron Man scrambles after Peter. This is, by far, one of the worst things you can do to Spider-Man in this universe. He just came back from the dead and barely made it out of the final battle in “Avengers: Endgame. Worse: he literally watched his mentor and father-figure die right in front of him. Not to mention the fact that he was already going through a serious identity crisis up until this point. So to see a man he highly respects and loves like a father burst out of his own grave with a half-melted faceplate that exposed his withered skull, along with a barely-together corpse? Honestly, it’s no wonder Peter was so shaken up and on the verge of insanity by the time he met up with Happy. This whole scene shows that the most ironic part of horror isn’t just scaring people, it’s the torture, humiliation, and reopening of old wounds that truly chills a person’s blood.
3. Ultron’s Monologues
If “Avengers: Age of Ultron” showed us anything, it’s the wasted potential from including Ultron in only one movie! In almost every scene he’s in, Ultron’s presence immediately commands attention, fear, and respect. But what adds to this are his many monologues, each one sounding like a philosophical debate that chills his audience to the bone. For instance, in the scene where the Avengers are having an after-party and trying to lift Thor’s hammer, Thor says they’re “all not worthy.” Cue Ultron, shuffling into the room with a Frankenstein-ish body and asking all of them how they could be considered worthy, labeling them as killers. Later on, he accuses them by saying, “You want to protect the world, but you don’t want it to change. How is humanity saved if they’re not allowed to evolve?” The worst part is that you can see where Ultron is coming from. In this case, protecting the world can’t just mean you beat up the bad guy, but also providing an environment where the world can truly become a better place. While Ultron takes this the wrong way (to put it lightly), he believes it’s all for the greater good as he later states that “when the Earth starts to settle, God throws a stone at it. And believe me, He’s winding up. We need to evolve; there’s no room for the weak.” In other words, the world needs to become better quickly, before everyone is destroyed by something cataclysmic. Obviously, no one here agrees with Ultron or his motives, but every line makes you stop and think. Soon, in a sick and twisted way, you find yourself somewhat going along with his statements. Everything he says is chilling and evil, yet somehow relatable in a way. And in my opinion, that’s how you make a truly terrifying and memorable villain, much like Heath Ledger’s Joker or Josh Brolin’s Thanos. That massive amount of wits, combined with Ultron’s already high levels of power, who knows what other horrors we could’ve seen in this particular universe? Especially when we’ve already seen him become a multiversal threat in “What If,” but who’s to say the story would play out the same way?
2. Half the Universe Turns to Dust
Devastating. Petrifying. Appalling. None of these words can truly justify the sheer magnitude of the finale to “Avengers: Infinity War.” Despite the collective groups of heroes’ best efforts, despite Thor lodging his axe into Thanos’ chest, the Mad Titan was able to snap his fingers and destroy half of all life in existence. Up until this point, neither the heroes nor the audience knew what that would look like, because how could you kill that many people, even with all that cosmic power? Well, we’d find out the minute Bucky Barnes collapses into a cloud of dust. Afterwards, half of the Wakandan army would disappear, followed by many of our favorite heroes, and then the rest of the whole universe. By far, this is one of—if not the—most traumatic moments in MCU history, or cinematic history for that matter. I mean, think about it: half of all life in the whole freaking universe was completely obliterated! The sheer magnitude of loves lost, combined with the amount of power needed to pull off such a stunt, is insane! But it’s not what makes this scene so infamous, but rather, it’s when Marvel attacks the individuals that the audience has closely bonded with over the years. Characters like Black Panther were trying to help people, completely unaware that they were going to die. Others, like Bucky or Drax, saw their dissolving bodies and reached out to their friends for answers. Still, characters like Wanda or Strange realized they were going to die but accepted it. The worst of all of these deaths was Spider-Man. Tom Holland truly poured his heart and soul into this performance, as he not only seemed scared at his death, but clambered onto Tony, hugging him tightly and sobbing that he didn’t wanna go. The nail in the coffin was thinking that he failed, whispering that he was sorry before ultimately turning to dust. Even to this day, fans still defend that this is one of the most emotional, soul-destroying moments they’ve ever seen. Something so iconic, Marvel has failed to replicate it ever since.
1. The Void Emerges
This may seem pale in comparison to half of the whole universe dying, but when you truly think about what the Void did in Marvel’s “Thunderbolts,” Thanos’ actions seem merciful in the end. For instance, when the Void possessed Bob’s body and turned him into what is essentially the embodiment of darkness, he wasted no time and started engulfing all of New York in shadows. By doing so, he trapped many people in a series of shame rooms, filled with the darkest, worst memories stored inside their heads. We get a glimpse into how intense this must’ve been for the people by following Yelena, Natasha’s adoptive sister, as she fights through her own traumatic past while frantically searching for Bob. While the New Avengers would eventually succeed in rescuing Bob and banishing the Void for now, just imagine if they failed. Everyone in New York, or maybe even the world, would’ve been trapped in an endless loop of trauma for the rest of their lives. Living through those horrible memories enough times would drive a person mad, make them beg for death, or even try to end it all themselves if the Void would let them. But with his insane power, who could’ve done anything about it without his notice? Further, even if other superheroes showed up, the only ones who’d have a realistic chance of at least standing up to him are people like Thor or Hulk. However, even they would struggle to compete with Void’s power, much less be able to move past their own trauma (as past movies have demonstrated). At least when you got turned to dust, that was it. A quick death with no side effects or prolonged suffering. With the Void, however, no one was that lucky. In my personal opinion, this is a fate worse than what happened in “Infinity War,” and the victims of that movie got off relatively easier than being subjected to endless horror.
Conclusion
Without these dark moments, all of these trials and tribulations, our favorite heroes would never be able to rise from the ashes and become better. Nevertheless, there’s no denying that they are utterly horrifying experiences, ones that no one should ever have to go through. Especially when these heroes put their lives on the line for people they don’t even know. If nothing else, every traumatic event and victory over them creates a sense of hope and a demonstration of how to conquer the darkness within our own lives.
