Random Dumbest Heroic Sacrifices In Movie History (13 items)

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  (#1) Gravity

  • Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris, Orto Ignatiussen, Phaldut Sharma, Amy Warren, Basher Savage, Adam Cozens

  Gravity is a two-hour-long panic attack that doesn't stop until the end credits. Following a debris shower that sends astronauts Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) flying into space, Stone's only link to their space station is a tangled mess of ropes that snags over her boot. And the only thing keeping Kowalski from drifting into the void of space? A bit of rope gripped in Stone's hand. Unfortunately, Kowalski is being gradually pulled away, forcing him to make the ultimate sacrifice.

  In order to save the civilian Dr. Stone, Kowalski lets go of the rope. Without him holding her back, Stone at least can survive... or so the film would have you believe.

  Like most space movies, the physics behind this situation are a little wonky. As astronomer Phil Plait points out, "Clooney doesn't have to die!" This is because, in the film, the gravitational force working on the two astronauts is effectively zero. In reality, nothing would be pulling Kowalski from the tether, and a slight tug from Stone would send him right back into her arms. 
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  (#2) X-Men 2

  • Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Kelly Hu, Anna Paquin, Katie Stuart, Kea Wong

  X2: X-Men United is arguably the best of the 20th Century Fox X-Men films, and for good reason. It takes inspiration from two outstanding comics, God Loves, Man Kills and Return to Weapon X. The film was not only a box office success but also a critical darling, and proved that comic book movies had a future in Hollywood. Pound for pound, X2 is basically the perfect comic book movie - despite Jean Grey's sacrifice at the end of the film.

  The problem here is that Jean's powers aren't handled consistently. Earlier in the film, a set of missiles are launched at the X-Jet and Jean uses her telekinesis to stop them. She's able to do that from within the aircraft, and without a clear line of sight on the objects. If that's the case, why does she need to leave the very same jet to save her team from the oncoming flood in the film's climax? It's clearly established that her powers work very effectively from a distance.

  In fact, Jean uses her telekinesis to simultaneously perform three different tasks: Protect the jet from the water, launch it into the air, and prevent Nightcrawler from teleporting her to safety. Additionally, she uses her telepathy to hijack Professor Xavier's brain and tell her boyfriend, "This is the only way." If she'd stayed on the jet to focus all her energy on one objective, she might have realized her mistake.
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  (#3) Titanic

  • Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Victor Garber, David Warner, Danny Nucci, Suzy Amis, Bernard Fox, Richard Fox, Emmett James

  Titanic's bona fides are indisputable. Not only did it take home 11 Academy Awards, it was also the highest-grossing film of all time before James Cameron topped himself with a little film called Avatar. However, the 1997 classic proves that even the most celebrated films can end with one massive plot hole.

  After the Titanic sinks, Jack and Rose share a rather large piece of wreckage while they wait to get rescued. Jack, perhaps in an effort to be chivalrous, opts to give Rose the entire piece of wood while he succumbs to hypothermia in the icy water. There is plenty of room for them to share the wooden door and avoid the dangerous chill, but as James Cameron says in the very episode of Mythbusters that proves this, "If the script says Jack dies, he's going down."
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  (#4) Avengers: Age of Ultron

  • Robert Downey, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, Samuel L. Jackson, Thomas Kretschmann

  This one is Joss Whedon's fault, because it's a tried-and-true formula he returns to again and again. The debut of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron is bookended by the idea of what a hero is and is not. To the siblings, Iron Man and Stark Industries are at the "not hero" end of the spectrum, whereas they - fighting to save both their country and the world - fall squarely on the opposite end. Over the course of the film, their views gradually shift.

  During the climactic battle in Sokovia, we see Hawkeye interacting with the twins, telling them to get off their behinds and save some lives. Quicksilver does this incredibly well, and instead of Hawkeye perishing with an innocent bystander, Pietro takes the hit. The silver speedster leans into the heroic sacrifice trope almost as hard as Elizabeth Olsen leans into that ambiguously Eastern European accent.

  The issue with Quicksilver's demise isn't so much the sacrifice as the set up. The way the sequence is filmed, and the way the characters trade stereotypical Whedon banter instead of anything approaching realistic emotions, undermines the significance of the sacrifice. Does Quicksilver's selfless act feel earned, or is it actually a cheap "fridging" for the sake of his sister's character development?
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  (#5) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

  • Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot, Scoot McNairy, Callan Mulvey, Tao Okamoto, Brandon Spink, Lauren Cohan, Alan D. Purwin, Mark Edward Taylor, Hugh Maguire, Michael Shannon

  Ignoring the two-ish hours of problems leading up to the finale of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the heroes' battle with Doomsday is actually one of the film's virtues, as it gives audiences their first glimpse of DC's Trinity facing off against a major foe. In the comics, Doomsday is one of the few baddies to give Superman and the Justice League any real trouble, and he's infamous for offing Superman in the 1992 "Death of Superman" storyline. Batman v Superman ends the same way as that arc, with Superman sacrificing himself to stop Doomsday. The problem is, unlike in the comic, movie Superman has a fully capable Wonder Woman fighting at his side.

  In the film, Diana of Themyscira holds her own against the ever-evolving monster - knocking him off his feet, slicing off his arm, and restraining him with her lasso. She easily takes the title of MVP for this fight in any court of public opinion. Superman, rather than throwing the Amazon his Kryptonite spear or restraining Doomsday in her place, flies head first into a mutually assured destruction with the monster.

  The act is certainly in character with the DCEU's short-sighted Superman, who couldn't think of a better way to stop Zod in Man of Steel than ending the Kryptonian's life. This time, he ends his own life despite multiple alternatives. Does it complicate an already convoluted film that barely has any action? Yes. Would it have saved the franchise if Superman lived to see the founding of the Justice League? Probably.
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  (#6) Predator

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Sonny Landham, Richard Chaves, R. G. Armstrong, Shane Black, Kevin Peter Hall

  Billy's sacrifice in Predator doesn't really make sense when you compare the cost versus the reward. There is no guarantee that Billy using himself as bait will buy enough time for the rest of his party to "get to the chopper" - so why does he stop in the middle of the jungle and doom himself without question? And given that the time between Billy's scream and the Predator's next attack is a matter of seconds, his sacrifice doesn't seem to amount to much.

  If Billy really wanted to act as bait or a distraction for the Predator, he could have put himself at the end of the pack and either kept running in the direction of the chopper for a potential escape, or run off in a tangential direction to try and draw it away from his party. All in all, a great moment, but it falls apart the second any thought is put into it.
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  (#7) The Dark Knight

  • Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Monique Curnen, Ron Dean, Cillian Murphy, Chin Han, Nestor Carbonell, Eric Roberts, Ritchie Coster, Anthony Michael Hall, Keith Szarabajka, Colin McFarlane, Joshua Harto, Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble

  To save the reputation of fallen hero Harvey Dent, Batman claims responsibility for all the people the crazed district attorney wiped out in The Dark Knight (which could be four or five individuals, depending on who you ask).

  Batman's philosophy is that he is whatever Gotham City needs him to be, and in this case, apparently, he needs to take the fall for acts he didn't commit so the city can maintain a shred of hope. While this follows the film's theme of self-sacrifice, it hardly seems like the most practical solution. The Joker has been rampaging across the city spreading mayhem and chaos - so why not just blame him or his henchmen for the deeds? In the end, Harvey is just as much a pawn of the villain as anyone, so it's not a total lie. 
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  (#8) Star Trek Nemesis

  • Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hardy, Patrick Stewart, Ron Perlman, Wil Wheaton, Dina Meyer, Marina Sirtis, Bryan Singer, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Kate Mulgrew, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Alan Dale, Majel Barrett, Jude Ciccolella, Stuart Baird, John Berg

  Data's sacrifice in Star Trek: Nemisis is an example of an actor wanting out of a franchise while their character is on a high. In the film, Data sacrifices himself after beaming Picard off an enemy ship and then blowing it up. Theories about what Data could have done differently have floated around the internet for the last decade or so, ranging from overloading a phaser to bringing a secondary mini transporter pod. This is Star Trek, so there are a million ways they could have done it legitimately, and a million more ways they could have explained it away with technobabble. The truth is, Data was never going to survive the movie because actor Brent Spiner didn't want him to.

  Spiner, who portrays Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its films, has publicly said he wanted to end the TNG films on a big emotional moment: namely, Data's sacrifice. There was also a practical component to the decision. Data is an android that never ages; Spiner is a human that obviously does. As he explained in 2011, "Look at me. I am a shockingly older gentleman. I don’t see that I could wear that makeup anymore. I think that would look really stupid."
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  (#9) Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope

  • Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Phil Brown, Shelagh Fraser, Jack Purvis, Alex McCrindle, Eddie Byrne, Drewe Henley

  This is controversial - but does Obi-Wan Kenobi really need to sacrifice himself in Star Wars: A New Hope? Kenobi knows all too well how powerful a motivator rage, anger, revenge, and hate can be when it comes to learning about the ways of the Force. Why in the name of Jabba the Hutt would Kenobi think it's a good idea to both make eye contact with Luke and make sure that Luke watches him perish at the hands of Darth Vader?

  The immediate reaction to his demise is Luke opening fire on a battalion of stormtroopers that just watched the battle unfold. Moreover, from this point on, Luke's primary motivation to become a Jedi is to get revenge on Vader and the Emperor.

  Maybe Kenobi was trying to teach Luke a lesson in letting go, but that gambit could have easily put Luke on a short, straight path to the Dark Side.
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  (#10) The Iron Giant

  • Jennifer Aniston, Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick, Vin Diesel, Christopher McDonald, James Gammon, Cloris Leachman, John Mahoney, M. Emmet Walsh

  In The Iron Giant, it's established that the titular giant reacts defensively to anything it deems dangerous. Hogarth, the 9-year-old everyone wanted to be when they first saw this film in 1999, tells the Iron Giant it can be anything it wants to be. Towards the end of the film, an atomic device is fired, targeting the giant. The giant, deciding it wants to be a hero, intercepts the projectile in the atmosphere, saving the town in the process.

  This is all fine and good, but considering the giant comes from space, it probably has the power to return there. Why, then, couldn't the giant just fly in a straight line until the nuke's own propulsion peters out? Fortunately, the Iron Giant begins to reassemble itself by the film's end, but all of this heartbreak could have been avoided if, ironically, a sentient robot used a bit of logic.
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  (#11) Avengers: Endgame

  • Robert Downey, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Brie Larson, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Favreau, Benedict Wong, Tessa Thompson, Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, Robert Redford, Dave Bautista, Chadwick Boseman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Winston Duke, Tom Holland, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rene Russo, Letitia Wright, Zoe Saldana, Elizabeth Olsen, Frank Grillo, Sebastian Stan, Evangeline Lilly, Stan Lee

  Let's get one thing straight: Natasha Romanoff is a hero. Without her sacrifice, the endgame of Endgame would not have been possible. However, the situation could have been handled better.

  Black Widow and Hawkeye have one of the most important relationships in the MCU, but it's undercut by their pointless tussle on the cliffs of Vormir. Each tries to give their life for the Soul Stone, but neither will allow the other to go over the edge. What could have been an emotional scene ends up becoming a farce as they trade blows instead of mature dialogue. Natasha knows that Clint's family will return once the Snap is undone, so to borrow one of her lines from Avengers: Age of Ultron, it makes sense for her to be the one to perish since she has no family waiting for her. In her mind, there's never any question which of them should take the plunge.

  Unfortunately, the way the scene plays out, it feels more like Natasha is sacrificing herself because she wants to feel useful. That undermines the integrity of her character, who is shown in both Endgame and the previous MCU films to consistently prioritize the good of the many before the few.
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  (#12) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

  • Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Sylvester Stallone, Pom Klementieff, Kurt Russell, Elizabeth Debicki, Tommy Flanagan, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn

  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a pretty decent sequel, considering how great its predecessor is. At the end of the film, Yondu gives up his protective shield to save Peter Quill from the cold, suffocating void of space. It's a surprisingly emotional moment in an otherwise comedic romp.

  The thing is, we've seen in the Guardians films that humanoids can survive in space for at least a minute or two. Quill himself did it to save Gamora in the first film. Now, it is established in the second film that Quill is half-Celestial, granting him more hardiness than the average person - but this backstory may not have been settled by the MCU writers when the first film was made.

  Volume 2 doesn't mention how long it took the Guardians to find Quill after he and Yondu escaped Ego. Maybe they found him right away or maybe it took a few hours. Either way, we're left with the hanging feeling that maybe not everything was done to save Yondu's life.
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  (#13) Guardians of the Galaxy

  • Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio Del Toro, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Laura Haddock, Sean Gunn, Peter Serafinowicz, Christopher Fairbank

  Okay, so this one is hard to come to terms with - given the massive emotional response viewers feel towards the sentient tree they've gotten to know over an hour and a half - but it's just ridiculous. The idea that Groot's physical body can protect three humanoids and a racoon from the impact of a spaceship crash is incredibly unlikely. Groot is portrayed as pretty intelligent through Guardians of the Galaxy, so you'd think he'd know his giant foliage hug likely wouldn't do much to save his friends.

  That the rest of the Guardians actually survive the impact of the ship probably has more to do with dumb luck than Groot's branches, but supposing he is the deciding factor, the sacrifice is dumb for another significant reason. It prevents the audience from discovering which dance moves he'd bring to the dance off with Ronan the Accuser.

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