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**Nate Morgan stays behind in Robotropolis to deactivate the shield generator so Sonic and his friends can escape Dr. Eggman. He's then confronted by his former assistant one last time, who says Nate will pay for his actions as he reaches out to [[UnwillingRoboticization roboticize]] Nate with a touch. Nate is [[DefiantToTheEnd surprisingly calm]] as Eggman is about to do him in, basically telling the doctor to GetItOverWith. His immobile metal body is later destroyed by the [[NukeEm nuclear strike]] on Robotropolis.
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** "Sorrowsday" is about Stormhawk's Heroic Sacrifice, and the shame of the farmer that caused it.
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* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'':
** The Confessor sacrificed his "life" and reputation to stop an alien invasion -- the reputation because the sacrifice revealed that he was a vampire, and made him appear to be a serial killer.
** Despite possessing immense power, the Silver Agent goes to his execution by the city without any resistance, to avoid possibly altering the future and undoing the valiant efforts of all of the other heroes who will come after him.

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* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'':
''ComicBook/AstroCity'': Occurs fairly frequently, given the overall idealistic tone of ''Astro City'' -- heroes won't hesitate to put themselves at risk to save their teammates, their friends, or even total strangers.
** The Confessor sacrificed his "life" life and reputation to stop an alien invasion -- the reputation because the sacrifice revealed that he [[spoiler:he was a vampire, vampire]], and made him appear to be a serial killer.
** Despite possessing immense power, the [[TheCape Silver Agent Agent]] goes to his execution by the city without any resistance, to avoid possibly altering the future and undoing the valiant efforts of all of the other heroes who will come after him.

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* ''ComicBook/ElfesEtNains'':
** In Tome 2, Yfass throws himself into a battle with the Orcs he cannot hope to win to force the rest of the Wood Elves to become Neutral No Longer and help the kingdom of Eysine in their struggle.
** In Tome 13, Fall kills himself when Lah'Saa attempts to possess him and destroys half of her soul in doing so.
** In Tome 5 of Nains, Tiss and a handful of Shield warriors attract a horde of orcs inside a forest where the trees' sap is a powerful explosive. They trigger a large explosion, killing themselves and the orcs at the same time to save the rest of their garrison.
** In Tome 10 of Nains, Abokar of the Shield makes a Last Stand against an invading army of orkelins, only to win time for a horde of Ogres to come and annihilate both parties, keeping the Dwarf casualties to a minimum.


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* ''ComicBook/LandsOfArran'':
** In Tome 2 of ''Elfes'', Yfass throws himself into a battle with the Orcs he cannot hope to win to force the rest of the Wood Elves to become Neutral No Longer and help the kingdom of Eysine in their struggle.
** In Tome 13 of ''Elfes'', Fall kills himself when Lah'Saa attempts to possess him and destroys half of her soul in doing so.
** In Tome 5 of ''Nains'', Tiss and a handful of Shield warriors attract a horde of orcs inside a forest where the trees' sap is a powerful explosive. They trigger a large explosion, killing themselves and the orcs at the same time to save the rest of their garrison.
** In Tome 10 of ''Nains'', Abokar of the Shield makes a Last Stand against an invading army of orkelins, only to win time for a horde of Ogres to come and annihilate both parties, keeping the Dwarf casualties to a minimum.
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* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': Roam dies as saving Zelda from Aghanim's doppelganger in Ganon's Tower.

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* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast1992'': Roam dies as saving Zelda from Aghanim's doppelganger in Ganon's Tower.
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* In ''ComicBook/HorizonZeroDawn'', its revealed that Ersa was originally captured by the Mad Sun-King because she decided to stall them while her men (and brother) escaped, contributing to his GuiltComplex he has towards her.
--> '''Erend:''' Killed or captured for blood sacrifice, I didn't know. All because she had to save me.\\
'''Aloy:''' I'm sure she never regretted it.\\
'''Erend:''' Ersa wasn't one for regret.
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** ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': At the conclusion of "The Day The Law Died", Fergee is repeatedly shot as the Judges charge Chief Judge Cal's balcony. He keeps running, grabbing Cal and his followers and hurling the lot of them - including himself - off the balcony, finally ending the madness of Chief Judge Cal's reign.
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[[caption-width-right:350:Red Bull would later be sued for misleading marketing.]]


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Heroic Sacrifices are a staple of Superhero books (since, it's what makes them Super''heroes'' and not just Supers).
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!!The following have their own pages:

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Heroic Sacrifices are a staple of Superhero books (since, it's what makes them Super''heroes'' and not just Supers).
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!!The
!!!The following have their own pages:
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* The UK Marvel ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformers Transformers]]'' comics featured one of these mixed with Crowning Moment of Awesome. Inferno is injured in his ship above a huge battlefield. As he lays dying he remarks "Always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory" and then promptly ''crashes his ship into the heart of the Decepticon forces, wiping out a majority of them''.
** This is almost a tradition for Optimus Primes in the various continuities. In at least two instances, once each during the original Marvel run of comics and once during the DorkAge release in the 90's, Optimus plunges himself and the Autobot Matrix into two different types of PlanetEater OmnicidalManiac. It turns out that EvilCannotComprehendGood and the result is volatile enough to bring salvation in the form of massive explosions. Optimus Prime being Optimus Prime, his death rarely 'keeps' for long, though.

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* The UK Marvel ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformers ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel Transformers]]'' comics featured one of these mixed with Crowning Moment of Awesome.these. Inferno is injured in his ship above a huge battlefield. As he lays dying he remarks "Always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory" and then promptly ''crashes his ship into the heart of the Decepticon forces, wiping out a majority of them''.
** This is almost a tradition for Optimus Primes in the various continuities. In at least two instances, once each during the original Marvel run of comics and once during the DorkAge release in the 90's, ''ComicBook/TransformersGeneration2'', Optimus plunges himself and the Autobot Matrix into two different types of PlanetEater OmnicidalManiac. It turns out that EvilCannotComprehendGood and the result is volatile enough to bring salvation in the form of massive explosions. Optimus Prime being Optimus Prime, his death rarely 'keeps' for long, though.
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** Later on, in Volume 11, [[spoiler: Capitan Rivet throws himself at Willy Pete to give Empowered time to get away. Even though he knows Willy Pete can melt him and that he stands no chance of survival.]]

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* Plenty of main characters in ''ComicBook/BlazeOfGlory'' die like this, with Lance Temple possibly having the best one, lightning up several sticks of dynamite in a suicide attack while muttering to himself that his pa will be happy that [[ExactWords he didn't use a gun]].



* ''Skull Island: The Birth of Kong'': In this Franchise/MonsterVerse graphic novel, [[Characters/MonsterVerseSkullIslandExpedition Helen Karsten]] aims to pull one when the expedition are confronted by Death Jacks. She orders the rest of the expedition to take cover in caves whilst she holds the pack off, and she's almost-immediately DevouredByTheHorde.



* Plenty of main characters in ''ComicBook/BlazeOfGlory'' die like this, with Lance Temple possibly having the best one, lightning up several sticks of dynamite in a suicide attack while muttering to himself that his pa will be happy that [[ExactWords he didn't use a gun]].



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** ''ComicBook/CloneWarsAdventures:'' In "[[spoiler:To the Vanishing Point]],'' a wounded Jedi uses telekinesis to keep a damaged Star Destroyer from crashing into a battlefield as her allies evacuate. However, she is forced to stay behind and is crushed once she can no longer hold back the starship.
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!!!'''DC'''
* According to writer Tad Williams, if ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} Sword of Atlantis'' had not been canceled, the second Aquaman, Arthur Joseph, would have sacrificed his life to revive the original Aquaman by giving up the piece of Aquaman's soul that had revived Arthur Joseph. This was so that the original Aquaman could fight an evil entity only he was capable of defeating. Then, perhaps poor Arty Joe would have gained a little more sympathy from fans.
* Easily the most famous {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s in the [[strike:superhero genre]] DC universe are the deaths of ComicBook/TheFlash and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} in ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''.
* One LowerDeckEpisode of ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'''s comic occurs in the events leading up to ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand''. [[spoiler: In Blackgate, a prisoner convicted for murder is about to be led to the death chamber. He's still tearfully denying his guilt, but baring a last minute call from the governor, his lawyer and other defenders can only console him. Then, the earthquake hits. With the structure in danger of collapsing, the prisoner has to play hero, leading the others to safety, and fighting his way past the super-villain population. At the climax of the story, he holds a support bar steady and yells at them to flee, his final words a confession to his lawyer -- he ''is'' guilty of the murder. The column collapses as they make it clear, crushing him, combining this Trope with RedemptionEqualsDeath.]]
* ''ComicBook/DCComicsBombshells'':
** Twice, in the Battle of London. Mera kills her second Titan, knowing that she will lose the rest of her powers. She also gets captured by the Atlanteans afterwards. Later, Stargirl sacrifices her life to kill the greater Titan formed by Edel Nacht.
** Supergirl's adoptive parents and Stargirl's biological father all sacrifice their life force to power the spell that defeats Faora, dying in the process.
** [[Franchise/WonderWoman Diana]], being herself created from clay, merges with Clayface to help depower him and transfer her conscience to him, dying in the process. [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Donna Troy]] inadvertently creates a new Diana, who has a strong resemblence to the one who died but is not truly her as she was created from Donna's memories.
* In the "Day of Vengeance" leadup to ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis, the last Lord of Order (ComicBook/TheSpectre already killed the others along with the Lords of Chaos) Nabu engages ComicBook/TheSpectre in a battle that he knows he can't win. ComicBook/TheSpectre murdering the last Lord of Order convinces the Presence (which is effectively {{God}} in the mainstream DCU) that he's gone out of control, and ComicBook/TheSpectre is promptly sealed into another mortal host.
* [[ComicBook/{{Impulse}} Bart Allen]] sacrificed himself to ''become'' the bolt of lightning that gives Barry his speed back in ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}.
* ComicBook/{{Vibe}}, one of the most maligned members of the ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', sacrificed himself to save his teammates from killer robots built by a MadScientist.
* In the first issue of the third series of ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'', Mister America is introduced, a patriotically-themed super-detective... who has no problem beating up suspects. His family is killed by a villain to destroy his {{legacy|Character}}. He shows up to beat the tar out of the villain... and then he gets mortally wounded. His response is to run from the Boston dockyards to New York's Battery Park (using LeParkour), jump through the Justice Society's skylight, and hit the table in the main meeting hall, dying on impact. In response, the Justice Society tracks down his family's killer.
* In ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'', three generations of Hourmen try to do this. In the original timeline, the first Hourman Rex Tyler sacrificed himself to stop Extant from destroying the universe. Time shenanigans by the third Hourman (an android from the future) allow the first one to spend time with his son Rick the second Hourman, knowing that he will eventually have to go back to the point of his death and sacrifice himself. Rick refuses to let his father die since he wants his mother to have the same chance to reconnect with Rex that he had, and tries to take his father's place. In the end, [[spoiler:the android Hourman makes the sacrifice.]]
* ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'': After spending most of his teenage and adult life under Lex Luthor's mind control, [[spoiler: Captain Marvel dies by taking Superman's place and making a nuke detonate in mid-air, saving countless other superheroes. His death sends Superman on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.]]
* The HeroicSacrifice is a longstanding tradition of DC's ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'':
** In a particularly convoluted example, Lightning Lad sacrifices himself in battle with Zaryan the Conqueror, and every member of the pre-Crisis Legion participates in what amounts to a lottery to determine who will sacrifice their own life to bring him back. Saturn Girl, his LoveInterest, cheats to make sure hers is the life sacrificed - but she is in turn replaced by Chameleon Boy's shapeshifting pet Proty, which sacrifices itself in her place.
** Ferro Lad sacrifices himself to destroy the [[PlanetEater Sun-Eater]].
** Chemical King dies preventing the start of World War VII.
** ComicBook/KarateKid sacrifices himself to save his wife's home planet.
** Non-lethal version: Matter-Eater Lad saving the universe by eating the otherwise indestructable Miracle Machine, but driven insane in the process. (The writers were really looking for an excuse to write him out of the series; his powers were only useful at close-range, which was a handicap on a team where everyone could fly. Letting him go out as a hero made it more dignified.)
** Magnetic Kid dies to unlock [[PlanetOfHats Sorcerer's World]] during the "Magic Wars" storyline, in an effort to prove himself to his older brother ComicBook/CosmicBoy.
** Leviathan, thanks to a LiteralGenie granting his "heart's desire" to die a hero, sacrifices himself to stop Dr. Regulus in the post-''Zero Hour'' [[ContinuityReboot reboot]].
** Live Wire (the post-''Zero Hour'' version of Lightning Lad) resigns from the Legion and sacrifices himself to save his friends and LoveInterest from former-teammate-turned-OmnicidalManiac Element Lad in the limited series ''Legion Lost.''
** Even the original Composite Superman, a ''villain'' who had opposed the team, died this way, feeling remorse when [[EvenEvilHasStandards a much crueler villain]] named Xan tried to kill Superman and Batman; the Composite Superman [[TakingTheBullet shielded the two heroes from the villain's Magna Gun]], only to be vaporized. A statue was made to honor him later, [[DeathEqualsRedemption saying he lived a villain, but died a hero.]]
* ''ComicBook/LegendsOfTheDeadEarth'':
** In ''[[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Superman: The Man of Steel]]'' Annual #5, Luthor the 60th fires a beam weapon composed of an element from his homeworld Hydros, essentially the planet's equivalent of Kryptonite, at Kaleb when he attempts to attack him. Kaleb is almost killed in the process. [[spoiler: However, his fellow resistance fighter Corin jumps in the path of the beam and the weapon is disrupted. The heat of the blast is more than any human could withstand and he dies within seconds but not before telling Kaleb to take care of Lang, with whom they were both in love. Corin's death has a significant effect on Kaleb as while Corin had never liked him, he was still willing to give up his life to save him for the good of the rebellion.]]
** In ''[[Franchise/TheFlash Flash]]'' Annual #9, [[spoiler: Bryan Mallory decides to re-enter the chamber which siphons off his LifeEnergy so that the people can be restored to health and the planet can remain green instead of returning to its previous icy status. He does so with the full knowledge that he shall have to remain in the chamber indefinitely.]]
* In ''ComicBook/SecretSix'', [[spoiler:Tarantula]] is killed after telling Junior she has the Get Out Of Hell Free card. [[spoiler:Scandal has it]].
* In ComicBook/{{Starman}} [[spoiler: the original Starman Ted Knight sacrifices his life when he transports the Mist's nuclear bomb into space, being blown up in the process, but not before making peace with his foe.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** ComicBook/JimmyOlsen attempted this in ''ComicBook/SupermanFamily'' #173. In order to counteract a virus affecting all of Kandor, he planned to blow up the bottle—and himself with it—thus giving the Kandorians the powers necessary to be cured. He was only saved by the super-tough Kandorian fabric he was wearing.
** An odd variation occurs with Superman himself in ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #399. The story starts out like the typical Superman story, where an overloading nuclear reactor threatens to "turn the Earth into a ball of flame", requiring him to carry it into space and hurl it into the sun, all in a day's work for him. Then the story goes ''completely'' off-script, and he's drawn through a portal several centuries into the future, where scientists are testing a device that has not only brought ''him'' to the future, but George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and George Custer. Superman is, much to their regret, the only one able to escape the containment field they are held in, and quickly learns a rather skewed (to him) version of his own death, where he perished saving the world from the ''very disaster'' he was just attempting to stop. (The other three historic figures had also been pulled to this place mere hours before their deaths in order to prevent a GrandfatherParadox.) Superman at first has second thoughts about going back, but then does so - only to discover, to his shock, that he manages to survive. Eventually, he starts to realize that he wasn't in the future of ''his'' Earth, but an alternate one, where history is similar, but not identical. (''However'', the final panel makes this ''very'' cold comfort for him, as he realizes that the Superman of ''that'' world has played the trope straight, [[BittersweetEnding and the citizens of the Earth he saved are now mourning for him]].)
** ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s death in Crisis on Infinite Earths saved Superman and the whole Multiverse and it was one of the big comic book deaths at that time. Remarkably, in ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}'' she found out that she'd die if she left her universe to fight the Anti-Monitor, and she still chose to fight.
--->Oh, dear God. Did my death mean anything? Did I help them save the world?\\
[beat]\\
No. I can't think that way. Even if all my death means is I've delayed theirs, I still have to save them.
** Post-Flashpoint Kara [[spoiler:tried to kill herself to destroy the Kryptonian Worldkiller and save Earth]] in ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton''.
** Subverted in ''ComicBook/ManyHappyReturns''. Post-Crisis Linda Danvers tries to take Kara's place and fight the Anti-Monitor to save her life, even knowing she can die. It does not work, and she has to let Kara meet her fate.
** In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'', Harbinger dies while defending Kara from Darkseid's raiders. Batman notes that she fought at least four enemies at once and didn't die quietly.
** At the end of ''ComicBook/{{Crucible}}'', the group need to destroy ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'s clonelings before they become fully developed; nonetheless, stopping the process will trigger a fail-safe self-destruct that will obliterate the entire cloning facility. Kara and Kon tell their friends to get to safety as they stay and blow the place up, hoping that their weakened invulnerability is still strong enough to withstand the explosion.
** Superman continues fighting Doomsday to the death in ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' to protect the people of Metropolis, even though it meant sustaining mortal wounds in the process. He was OnlyMostlyDead.
** Mr. Mxyzptlk, of all people, did this in ''Day of Vengeance''. Due to the removal of magic from the Earth, he's nearly powerless, and trying to return home by saying his name backwards, but has forgotten how to pronounce it. Superman tries to help him, but then the villainous Ruin shows up, and attempts to assassinate Superman with Kryptonite-based weaponry. Mxy pushes Superman out of the way, taking a Kryptonite spear to the heart and vanishing. (He seems to whisper 'kltpzyxm' first, and seeing as he appeared alive later in a couple other storylines, one can assume he was OnlyMostlyDead, possibly healed in his home dimension.)
* In ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' #74, [[spoiler: Eddie Bloomberg, formerly known as Kid Devil (before he was depowered), is given his heroic send off. While the other Titans are fighting the Fearsome Five, Eddie discovers a dying metahuman with nuclear powers about to have a meltdown which would destroy all of San Francisco. Without any hesitation, Eddie takes the living nuke to the Titans jet, being horribly burned and subjected to lethal amounts of radiation in the process. Then he takes the jet into low Earth orbit, refusing to eject just to make sure the jet doesn't change course and go back down to Earth. Eddie vanishes in a nuclear explosion, with the Titans' battlecry "Titans Together" as his last words.]]
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': While Zenna Persik has an escape option during what turns out to be her last Nazi hunt it would leave either Wonder Woman or Black Canary dead, she chooses to sacrifice herself to kill the Nazi she's been chasing and destroy his new weapon instead of sacrificing one of the heroes to do so.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': ComicBook/{{Artemis}} draws the White Magician's attention from Diana even though she's too injured to continue putting up a fight when she realizes Diana is being overwhelmed, and then insists Diana take the Gauntlets of Atlas from her in order for Diana to have a chance against the overpowered magic user when the gauntlets are the only thing keeping the mortally wounded Artemis alive.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWomanOdyssey'': Philippa sacrifices herself to save Diana's life.
* One issue of ''Metal Men'' has Platinum create a duplicate Doc Magnus who will love her and treat her as a human behind his back, only for her creation to come out twisted and evil as a result of a last-minute malfunction. His replacement Metal Men overcome the originals until it's down to just her vs. duplicate Doc and... Plutonium. She binds the two using her power of hyperextensibility and flies the jet platform they're on to a height at which Plutonium's detonation will cause no harm.
--> Magnus (panicked): "Tina! Unravel yourself before it's too late!"
--> Platinum: "You know I've got to stay to the end, Doc. Isn't that what a ''real'' girl would do?"
And she does, becoming TheAtoner in the process.

!!!'''Marvel'''
* ''ComicBook/AvengersNoSurrender'':
** The Black Order and Lethal Legion participate in a game that uses Earth as the battlefield. To earn 'points', one member of their team must grab an artefact and sacrifice themselves to score for their team. The Avengers enter as a third team, and Red Wolf gives up his life to score for the Avengers (the ComicBook/HumanTorch does the same, but without realising that grabbing the artefact would kill him). [[spoiler:Of course, it's then revealed that they don't actually die, but are kept in stasis until the game is finished.]]
** During the climax, the Avengers must keep stable a machine that bears the weight of the entire world. They only have Hercules on hand, as Thor is needed elsewhere and Hulk also isn't available. ComicBook/{{Sunspot}} then reveals that, without his PowerLimiter, he has strength to match Hercules and can help keep the machine in place. In doing so, however, he burns up years of his life, and at the end of the series he quits the Avengers since he doesn't know long he has left to live.
* Jericho Drumm, aka Brother Voodoo, sacrifices himself as his final act as Sorcerer Supreme, rebelling an invasion by a major entity calling itself Agamotto.
* ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's death was like this. Wearing power dampening handcuffs, Cap notices an infrared sniper pointer on one of his captors. Being the selfless man he is he throws himself in the line of fire and promptly gets shot. This was the villain's evil plan to begin with, so here's one for the bad guys.
* In the last comic of ''ComicBook/EarthX'', the Celestials had landed on Earth and is getting ready to destroy the planet. [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] knew that he had to buy time for [[spoiler: Galactus to arrive to fight.]] So, he went up in a giant Iron Man suit and fought off a bunch of Gods by himself.
** And prior to that, while the Celestials were still in orbit, Black Bolt attacked them, using [[MakeMeWannaShout his powers]] at maximum [[spoiler: to call Galactus]], which shatters his body.
* In ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #587, [[spoiler:Johnny Storm sacrifices his life to make sure an army of Annihlus-like creatures never escaped the Negative Zone.]]
* During ''ComicBook/FearItself'', Tony Stark, furious that Odin refuses to aid Earth, decides to sacrifice his sobriety to get the god's attention.
* Mr. Immortal from the ''ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers'' did a HeroicSacrifice in the end of Issue #4 by committing suicide. Since his power is to return from the dead, that wasn't that heroic, or much of a sacrifice to begin with. Doorman on the other hand let himself die by getting Mr. Immortal to that very place, but he [[DeathIsCheap returned to life]] as some sort of angel of death.
* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2020:'' [[spoiler:In the second issue, Peter Quill stays behind to guard an exploding black hole bomb from angry gods. He's pretty confident that he'll get better, though.]]
* Eric O'Grady, the Irredeemable ComicBook/AntMan, died like this in ''ComicBook/SecretAvengers''. He sacrificed himself to get a child to safety, and before being stomped to death, reflected on the fact that at least he got to die doing something decent for once in his life.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'':
** Averted by Creator/PeterDavid in the ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' storyline, "The Death of Jean [=DeWolff=]". ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, the story concerns the death of police officer [=DeWolff=] in the first two pages of the arc, shot while she was resting in bed. As mentioned in the introduction to the [=TPB=], Peter David was told by his editors that he was breaking all of the conventional ComicBook tropes, particularly the one having her death as the HeroicSacrifice at the climax of the story.
** An issue of ''Amazing Spider-Man'' has [[spoiler: J. Jonah Jameson's own wife, Marla,]] sacrifice her life to save her husband. The action and resulting death is so powerful that, for probably the first time in his life [[spoiler: J.J. can't bring himself to blame Spider-Man for something that was his own fault!]]
** During the storyline ''ComicBook/SpiderIsland'', [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Mr. Fantastic]] confronts Eddie Brock, at this point as [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} Anti-Venom]], and tells him his symbiote is the cure to the virus that's giving people Spidey's powers [[spoiler:and turns them into the Spider Queen's army of humongous spiders]], but if he does so with so many people [[spoiler:the Anti-Venom symbiote would die.]] Eddie's response? [[spoiler:He goes to a church and gathers everyone infected and ''cures them''. After the symbiote dies, Eddie realizes that, for the first time since his hell began, he finally became the hero he saw himself to be. He was the hero of Spider-Island.]]
** In one issue of ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures'', Spidey has to deal with [[ImprobableAimingSkills Bullseye]]. The latter proceeds to dominate the fight and has the former dead to rights with a throwing knife. At the last minute, Flapper, an owl that Pete's girlfriend [[SpeaksFluentAnimal Chat]] had befriended, swoops in and [[TakingTheBullet takes the knife to the chest]].
* ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative:'' At the end, Peter Quill and Nova stay in a collapsing universe to keep an unstoppably angry Thanos from escaping and going on an omnicidal rampage.
* In a classic ''[[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]]'' storyline, Skurge The Executioner sacrificed himself to buy Thor and his companions [[YouShallNotPass time to escape from Hel]] (the Norse underworld). Double points because Thor had intended to do it, and [[MoreHeroThanThou Skurge knocked him out]].
* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel:
** ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan does this with style, taking a bullet to the stomach meant for [[spoiler: Ultimate Captain America]], then racing back to rescue his friends and family from the escaped [[spoiler:Ultimate Sinister Six]] before he finally succumbs to his wounds.
** Ultimate Captain America sacrifices himself by slamming an airplane into Galactus during ''ComicBook/CataclysmTheUltimatesLastStand''.
** Also in that story Thor pushes Galactus into the Negative Zone. Tony Stark was leaving the portal open for him to return, but he had to close it: he couldn't risk that Galactus might escape instead.
** ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'': Yellowjacket gathers the Madrox dupes suicide bombing the Triskellion and takes them out to sea to save the rest of the Ultimates.
* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} (the 616 version) sacrifices himself by slashing open a vat of molten adamantium and allowing himself to be covered in it to spare three victims of being turned into what he had been turned into.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
** One could probably say that the event that supposedly turned ComicBook/JeanGrey into the Dark Phoenix was this. After all, she never expected to survive the radiation, and did it simply to save the rest of the team. In the original storyline, she did survive, but was turned into the [[OmnicidalManiac Dark Phoenix]] which led to the whole ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga''. After the whole thing was retconned and the Dark Phoenix was revealed to be a separate entity posing as Jean, her original action seemed more fitting of this Trope after all. (She was OnlyMostlyDead due to the intervention of the Phoenix Force.)
** In Uncanny X-Men issue 227, the X-Men sacrifice their lives to fuel a spell to defeat Adversary. Luckily Roma uses her powers to resurrect them soon after.
** In Creator/JossWhedon's run on ''Astonishing X-Men'', ComicBook/KittyPryde phases a giant bullet through the Earth...and then is stuck out there. If it had been less of an IdiotPlot, it would've been horrifying and touching, but all it did was [[TorchesAndPitchforks make a lot of fans mad]].
** ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen'': Colossus infected himself with the Legacy Virus a few years earlier, thereby releasing the cure into the air deleting Legacy from existence. But it's ok, he got brought back to life in ''Astonishing''.
** ''ComicBook/XMan'' ended with Nate Grey destroying his body, becoming PureEnergy, and merging with every organism on the planet in order to prevent a PlanetEater alien from harvesting all mitochondria on Earth (From the alien's perspective, Nate's energy contaminated the "crop").
** Synch from ''ComicBook/GenerationX'' died this way, [[JumpingOnAGrenade throwing himself on a bomb]] to save several of his {{Jerkass}} classmates.
* ComicBook/{{X 23}} does this. ''A lot.'' In ''Target: X'' she's prepared to willingly return to the Facility with Kimura in order to spare her cousin and aunt (Kimura decides to torture them to death ''anyway'' to punish Laura for escaping, forcing Laura to fight back). She attacks Nimrod head-on to draw its attention away from the other kids and takes a direct blast of its weapon, which overloads her Healing Factor and she only survives because of Hellion's intervention. In X-Force she takes the Legacy Virus into herself and is about to throw herself off a building to destroy it, and only survives because of Elixir's intervention. In ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'' she makes a frontal attack against Apex (who is now controlling a ''Sentinel'') to try protecting the other kids, and only survives when Apex grabs the IdiotBall. Significantly, Laura is borderline suicidally depressed and has a low or non-existent sense of self-worth due to her abusive upbringing, which drives her willingness to sacrifice herself for others.
* In ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'', we have [[spoiler: Iron Lad, Stature and Patriot, who all did this at separate occasions. Iron Lad sacrificed himself by going back to the future to restore the timeline and save everyone, even if it meant that [[FutureMeScaresMe he would become Kang The Conqueror, one of the Avengers's worst enemies.]] Then, later on, Patriot literally takes a bullet (or a laser shot, it's not entirely clear) to the chest to save Captain America's life. He barely survives and gains new powers thanks to a blood transfusion from his grandfather. Even later on, Stature sacrificed herself against Dr Doom, who had gained godlike powers and became nigh-unstoppable.]]

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