Why do the heroes kill the bad guys?

They don’t really that often or else the raft wouldn’t exist

Using the same vilain each time will be less creative because Marvel has a lot of characters who could be interesting to adapt

I guess the main reason is that studios don’t expect to use these characters beyond that one film, so it’s better to give them a conclusive finale. Often times, they hire big names as the villain, and they’re only obligated for that on film.

The Batman has brilliantly kicked that trend, with all of Batman’s notable villains surviving for future projects.

I always felt this was a missed opportunity with the MCU and Spider-Man Movies (until NWH found a workaround). Part of the fun of shared comic universes is not just heroes showing up in other books but also villains! One of Spider-Man’s cooler stories is him trying to fight Juggernaut, a villian that out classes him by leagues. It’s so compelling to see him struggle but find a way to win regardless. But you can’t do that when you write yourself into a hole of every villain winding up dead after their first appearance.

Not every hero is a Punisher

The problem is number of appearances. Comics can have hundreds of issues every year. Cartoons can have dozens of episodes a year. A solo film is usually once every three or four years. There's just not enough appearances to warrant reuse. Captain America (Steve) only had three solo movies. He appeared in Avengers movies but they needed bigger threats. If a Captain America movie had reused a villain, we'd have three movies and two villains in his whole continuity.

Ever wonder why we've never had Scorpion as a Spiderman villain? That's because in eight Spider-Man movies, Goblin has been the villain in four of them.

In the MCU there is the real life restriction of the ability to bring actors back to reprise their roles. They might not want to commit to a long term contract, or Marvel might want to restrict how many actors they have on long term contracts. Some actors simply will not want to be recurring villains unless they are big bads (e.g. Loki, Thanos, Kang until external factors, Vulture until Sony fucked it). But villains such as Whiplash (as a random example) don't really serve a long term purpose and can be killed off with no harm to future stories.

The comics and animated shows don't have this restriction, so it's much better to keep these villains alive for future stories.

They aren't really supervilains if they get caught and killed on their first rodeo. Would be better if they escaped and came back for more.

Because they're not the pussyfooting Batman

Not all heroes are the same. The Avengers aren't Superman. One of them is a soldier, one of them is a warrior, two of them are government agents, and the last two are defined by not being traditionally heroic.

The reason villains aren't killed often in comic books is because comic books are intended to be written eternally, so it's easier to keep villains alive and not have to make new ones all the time. The reason they aren't killed in cartoons for kids is well...they're cartoons for kids. For a cinematic universe that intends to eventually finish arcs and journeys for characters, some people just have to die. It's already a lot to ask viewers to remain invested in numerous of the same heroes sticking around for long periods of time, it's not like you can just keep a bunch of the same villains around and it won't feel stale or cheap.

Tony, didn’t kill the main antagonist in any of his solo films (arguably, Pepper did twice). Neither did Hulk, Carol, Spidey, or Shang-Chi

Technically Thor and Cap never killed their MAIN antagonists, but being a warrior and a soldier, respectively, they killed others.

The MCU for a long time has had "beat the bad guy" as it's primary story resolution rather than "save the day". Or in some cases, one relied on the other, or we get "villain becomes desperate and acts careless or gives up and they kill themselves"

It's always bothered me too. Especially after The Raft was introduced in Civil War and then it barely got any use for the containment of enhanced individuals. I think the most egregious was Abomination being held by the DODC in California instead of being held on the Raft. If there were *any* character that ***should*** be on the raft, it was him. Even if there's an argument of "he would have been held somewhere else before the raft was put into commission", they should have transferred him.

Maybe it'll get more use since She-Hulk showed us there are a lot more people with powers and Asgardians that are taking advantage of humans. Maybe if they want to salvage the mess that was Secret Invasion, they'll be a few skrulls in there too.

I mean, there’s plenty of bad guys who haven’t died or could easily explained to to come back or live. Or ones who’ve had huge arcs and changed sides, or those used multiple times.

Hammer, Red Skull, Nebula, Loki, Wanda (I think she’s alive), Ultron (easy to explain to come back), Namor, Vulture, Scorpion, Power Broker, Titania, King Pin, Bullseye, Winter Solider, Dormammu, Kang, Abomination, Cross - Yellow Jacket/ MODOOk, Taskmaster, Ghost, Yelena (kinda), Walker, Agatha, Arthur Harrow (never showed his body, which imo, means easy comeback), High Evolutionary. Silver Surfer, Galacticus, Leader, Ross, Ayesha, Zemo

I’m sure I’m missing a lot more. Particularly from all the shows.

It’s a shame Killmonger was killed off. He was one of the best MCU villains and performances. I’m sure Coogler/MBJ could’ve pulled something off to make him the BP successor. Because I feel like Letitia Wright was the wrong choice and fit. Lupita (Nakia) should’ve been the one, or even Okoye.

It's actually a little surprising they didn't kill Zemo, especially since I don't think he was set to make more appearances. The fact that we got him at least one more time was something of a minor MCU "miracle." Heck, probably the only reason Loki was allowed to live was because he was slated to be the bad guy in the Avengers movie, otherwise I'm sure they might have just dumped him too. Back in those days even a major villain like the Red Skull, Ultron, or Strucker could just be thrown away. Now we're finally getting Ultron back after like 10 years and Red Skull was allowed a cameo but until then they were basically forgotten.


In the early MCU days I had this idea that Red Skull would come back (since Loki survived the drop, why not him?) and basically start the Masters of Evil but that never panned out. Then you'd think once Zemo was introduced we'd get Thunderbolts or Masters of Evil but that never went anywhere either. Also there weren't enough good villains for a team unless they were introduced as a group.

Lemme tell ya sumthin, red...!

Wanda wasn’t a villain.

For the MCU, the thought of recurring villains has been put in a place of when needed. I want to see villains come back and try a shot to take down the hero or heroes. I want to see Mordo vs Strange, Zemo enacts whatever his plan is, Dormammu comes to take over the dimension etc. There are multiple reasons for one and done villains but this is a whole universe where it's heroes and villains. Yes the heroes get the spotlight but what makes superhero universes great are having both. The cartoons I remember I love seeing the recurring villains come back and enact their revenge on the heroes. Sure it gets repetitive but it's enjoyable. Ultron for example is hopefully coming back in Vision Quest. Even it loses I want a lasting impact on White Vision and his family. Ultron was handled ok but he's a program who always knows how to come back. They can even have low tier villains come back and be more than for comedic purposes. There should be more villain prisons besides the Raft. They have it rise from the ground and only show three cells. It's a pointless facility imo if you don't have the villains to fill it. 

Comics go on forever so they avoid killing villains so they can keep on using them.

The MCU is much more limited, heroes only get 3 movies each. (Or rather, *they used to.* And Thor managed to get a 4th film.) So to cover more ground they don't reuse villains as much. Which means killing them so that hero can fight another villain from the comics the next film.

And even then plenty weren't killed. Loki (*well.....*), Red Skull, Zemo, Vulture, Darren Cross technically survived as a villain and died a hero, the villains in No Way Home, hell *we just went two MCU films in a row with no bad guys dying.....*

*And are we sure Mysterio is dead?*

The real question is, why shouldn't they?