Tearjerkers in Marvel comics

[mercuryfan]

So what do you think is the saddest moment in Marvel history?

[Iron Maiden]

I always considered Jean Grey's first death one of Marvel's best tearjerker moments but the returns ruined it.

[Rosebunse]

Gillen's JiM gets harder to read every year.

[victorxd1999]

Silver surfer requiem, great emotional story

[Fokken]

Gillen's JiM gets harder to read every year.

Gillen's Young Avengers -- specifically:

And of course, the final image of Loki checking his phone for the group photo.

[Rosebunse]

Gillen's Young Avengers -- specifically:

And of course, the final image of Loki checking his phone for the group photo.

Oh, Gillen sure knows how to pull at the heart!

The last issue of Loki: Agent of Asgard really hurt too...

[Lady Warp Spasm]

Steve reading the Winter Soldier file which cuts a memory of him and Bucky at the movies in which Bucky says he is the only person who really understands Steve. Epting really nailed the emotion in this scene and it still gets me a little weepy.

[docholliday504]

Good thread! I can't wait to read more. Aunt May's (retconned) death in ASM 400 always puts a lump in my throat.

Kitty Pryde's sacrifice in Giant Sized AXM. When I first read "Astonished Miss Pryde." I just lost it.

Finally Nova and Starlord's last stand vs Thanos at the end of the Thanos Imperative.

[Neun]

The first that comes into mind is Jason Latour's Winter Soldier run, the end of the Electric Ghost arc. Was reading that at the office and I was lucky it was lunch break and there weren't people to see the tears streaming down my face.

[JediMindTrick]

Jean Grey's death in Uncanny #137 when death felt like more than a marketing stunt and you didn't automatically know the character would be back in a year or two for the next marketing stunt.

[Mockingbird]

Pretty much everything from Avengers West Coast #100 that involved Bobbi's death. The way she died to save her friends and then Clint standing by her grave later on and talking about how they were living on borrowed time. It turned out to be a Skrull, but I think the fact that the Skrull honestly believed that she was Bobbi, to the extent that she was willing to die, and that the real Bobbi would have done the same, actually makes it even more upsetting. Then in Hawkeye & Mockingbird there's the Phantom Rider telling Bobbi that she's wished for death since she found out that he raped her, and her not refuting him.

Cable's death in Second Coming and Hope lying down next to his arm, the only thing that remained of him, was heart breaking. I cried my eyes out at that.

More recently, there was Bruce possibly sacrificing his intelligence and memories to save the Avengers in Hulk, while Maria desperately tried to convince him to run. Dammit, Waid, why did you make those two so compelling?!

[PyroTwilight]

Hmmm....

Hard to say for certain but I think Crusader's farewell story in Avengers the Initiative during Secret Invasion qualifies.

A heroic Skrull basically saving the day only to get shot in the head by Triathlon. And instead of getting angry at it all Crusader just lays there and just wishes things could have gone better or ended differently as his ring whisks him away.

Similarly his former friend Freedom Ring's death I think qualifies. He's someone who looks like he'll be the biggest hero Marvel might have some day only to be killed and forgotten.

[klinton]

The first that comes into mind is Jason Latour's Winter Soldier run, the end of the Electric Ghost arc. Was reading that at the office and I was lucky it was lunch break and there weren't people to see the tears streaming down my face.

OMG! The scene where he uses the cube for just one more moment with her? I cried like a little girl. Seriously. I'm getting tight around the eyes right now, just thinking about it.

[Shinglepants]

Two that stick out in my mind.
The end of Jason Aarons Punisher MAX run. That last issue tugged at my heart strings in a big way. Kinda bitter sweet in a dark and depressing way.
The second was Bills death in JMS' Thor run. Bill and Kelda's relationship was wonderful and I was devastated to see it come to such an end, especially so soon.

[Tiamatty]

Gillen's JiM gets harder to read every year.

I was going to say Gillen's JiM. That is some brutal reading. #630 goes from hilarious and fun to heart-breaking in a single panel. (Luckily, two issues later, we got one of the most adorable comics ever.) And then the finale. Holy hell, the finale.

Scott Lobdell, for all the hate he gets, actually is a damned fine writer. UXM #303 is incredibly tearjerking. Even more than anything in Claremont's run. It's the issue where Illyana dies, but what makes it such an effective story is that, rather than tell it from Peter's point of view, it does it from Jubilee's. What makes that such an effective approach is that it actually makes it feel that much more relatable.

The first M-Day issue of New X-Men.

An issue of Avengers: The Initiative managed to make Z-lister Johnny frigging Guitar into a tearjerker. Christos Gage knocked that issue out of the park, and made Johnny Guitar's death a real tragedy.

The Death of Spider-Man, from the Ultimate line.

There's a few moments, in the first three issues of the current volume of X-Men, where Jubilee is so terrified of losing Shogo that it's kinda heartbreaking.