Line #24 ThouShaltNotKill/MarvelCinematicUniverse


1	->'''Steve:''' Buck, stop – you’re gonna kill someone!\
2	'''Bucky:''' I’m not gonna kill anyone.
3	-->-- ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''[[note]]This is the ''only'' MCU film in which Bucky Barnes appears but doesn't kill anyone [[spoiler: if you don't include flashbacks.]][[/note]]
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6	[[ThouShaltNotKill This trope]] is largely averted. While the various heroes portrayed to date have different rules of engagement, only a few of them so far follow the classic superhero idea of never ever using deadly force. The rest, effectively being superpowered soldiers, will often kill to protect their own lives and those of the innocent. Generally speaking, heroes in the movies are willing to kill, heroes on TV don't (even in the Netflix series). Most of the superhero stories in the films are treated as military engagements and the heroes follow UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar which do condone violence against enemy combatants.
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8	* The Hulk, despite his uncontrollable rage, can restrain himself from using lethal force against a clearly evil opponent - in ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk\|2008}}'', he spares Blonsky at [[MoralityPet Betty's plea]]. In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', Banner is clearly distraught with having to hurt people as the Hulk; when Thor lets it slip that Banner killed some HYDRA agents in the opening battle, he quickly backpedals. That said, ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' outright states that the Hulk killed his fair share of challengers during his time as a gladiator on Sakaar.
9	* Stephen Strange takes his Hippocratic Oath very seriously. In his [[Film/DoctorStrange2016 debut film]], he is unnerved when he is forced to kill one of Kaecilius' zealots, and even more appalled that Kamar-Taj outright advocates the use of force to combat their enemies, both in self-defense and proactively. By the end of the movie, [[spoiler:Strange is able to defeat both Kaecilius and Dormammu without resorting to lethal methods -- though Kaecilius' defeat involves a FateWorseThanDeath.]]
10	* The Avengers mostly avert this. They will kill in combat conditions, but it's also only in a last resort against opponents who are themselves predisposed to violence and use lethal force against the Avengers and bystanders. As Natasha tells Proxima Midnight at the start of ''Infinity War'':
11	--> '''Black Widow''': "We don't want to kill you, but we will."
12	** Captain America is a soldier and, [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger during World War II]], thinks nothing about using guns and other weapons in combat, best shown in the montage where he's firing a Thompson alongside the Howling Commandoes and dropping grenades inside a HYDRA tank, and hurling Hydra stooges into rotor blades in the final chase inside Red Skull's ship. Post-that however, his main weapon is his shield which is not a directly lethal weapon, although Cap does find ways to use it for lethal ends in the right situation such as the highway fight scene in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' where he deflects bullets at others which kills them.
13	** Hawkeye and Black Widow are spies and assassins, while War Machine and the Falcon are professional soldiers, therefore it's not surprising that they use guns and other lethal weapons all the time. In ''Endgame'', Hawkeye [[spoiler:goes on a mass-murdering killing spree attacking gangsters around the world who he believes didn't deserve to survive the snap instead of his family]].
14	** Iron Man thinks nothing about using deadly force in order to defend himself or others, as shown in [[Film/IronMan1 his first movie]] when he incinerates many of the Ten Rings during his escape. This is particularly demonstrated in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'', where Peter Parker discovers that the Spider-Suit Tony made for him has a "insta-kill" mode when its "training wheels" protocol is disabled, indicating that he expected a grownup Peter would use deadly ordinance as an Avenger. However, Tony still sticks to using lethal force only in self-defence, rather than in cold blood: when a henchman in ''Film/IronMan3'' puts his gun down and asks to walk away, Tony just lets the guy go.
15	** Thor is from a proud warrior race, and thus has no compunctions about killing his enemies if necessary. His own estimate of how many enemies he's killed is 3000, which given that he is about 1000 years old and is a seasoned warrior, is proportionately much smaller and lenient than one might expect from a member of the Viking society's pantheon.
16	** Vision is polite and empathetic, "on the side of life", but [[spoiler:he doesn't hesitate to brutally impale Corvus Glaive when Corvus is threatening to kill Captain America, and is the one that finishes off Ultron.]]
17	** Scarlet Witch, even after becoming an Avenger, will kill to protect her teammates. [[spoiler:Just ask Proxima Midnight, who Wanda more or less fed to a meat grinder to keep her from killing Widow. She’s also explicitly about to kill Thanos until he pulls out a dirty trick in the climax of ''Endgame''.]] However, when it comes to human enemies, she's more reticent. In ''Series/WandaVision'', though she threatens the lives of [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Director Hayward]] and [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Monica Rambeau,]] she ultimately can't go through with killing either of them (despite the fact [=SWORD=] had already tried to assassinate her once by that point, and were winding up for another go). The main villain of the series, [[spoiler:Agatha Harkness,]] is also spared, [[CruelMercy though Wanda suppresses her memories and personality to make sure she's no longer a threat.]]
18	** Of course this is muted in ''Film/{{The Avengers\|2012}}'' and ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', since their enemies are armies of aliens and killer robots respectively, so WhatMeasureIsANonHuman applies there. ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', meanwhile, has the heroes fighting against a threat that will literally destroy half the universe, so lethal force is more than okay as a GodzillaThreshold. ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' doubles up, and the final battle is against an army of aliens (where the bulk of them, the Outriders, are non-sapient animals) who are actively trying to ''end'' the universe (bringing back the GodzillaThreshold).
19	** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' takes note of this: one of the first lines out of Ultron's mouth is that the Avengers are "all killers".
20	* The Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy\|2014}} are another group that averts this. They originated as criminals, mercenaries and bounty hunters and have zero qualms with killing even small-fry enemies, much less genocidal warlords like Ronan the Accuser [[spoiler:or {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s like Ego the Living Planet]], whose deaths are more or less the only way to prevent galactic destruction. However, as of ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3'' Peter has mellowed out of this, with bloodshed no longer his go-to solution when it comes to handling enemies, [[spoiler:and Rocket at the final stage of his CharacterDevelopment to a true hero spares the High Evolutionary. Mind you, the Evolutionary put him through torturous experimentation, killed Lylla, and had his men kill Teefs and Floor.]] They still ''will'' kill enemies, but not as a first resort and definitely not if they're unarmed and unable to fight back.
21	* ''Film/AntMan1'' plays this mostly straight, entering battle without any weapons and learning how to pull his punches just enough that he doesn't kill his enemies with his SuperStrength. He also avoids using his ShrinkRay discs on living people, since shrinking is deadly and gruesome to those without the RequiredSecondaryPowers (which are all provided to Ant-Man by his suit), only using one such disc against Yellowjacket (whose own suit protects him from any deadly effects and lets him grow back to normal size). [[spoiler:In the end, Ant-Man can only take down Yellowjacket via lethal force, killing him by destroying his suit's regulator and blowing it up. However, he had already exhausted all his other options, and he was prepared to die in a HeroicSacrifice since defeating Yellowjacket required a DangerousForbiddenTechnique. He also has killed enemies in the FinalBattle of ''Endgame'' - notably, stepping on Cull Obsidian.]]
22	** [[ComicBook/TheWasp Hope van Dyne]] didn’t kill anyone until [[spoiler: the FinalBattle of ''Endgame''. ]]
23	* Peter Parker in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' of course plays this trope very straight, being that he's a Marvel character heavily associated with the trope (indeed, he's up there with Batman and Superman as one of the most famous "no-kill" heroes), even [[spoiler:going out of his way to SaveTheVillain Vulture. He also flat-out refuses to use the deadly measures put in place by Iron Man in his new suit]]. In ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', Peter has the villain [[spoiler:Mysterio]] at his mercy, dangling off a bridge, and tries to bring him in alive; [[HoistByHisOwnPetard but the villain is ultimately shot by his own misfiring weapon]] (and tries to shoot at Peter when he gets too close). However, Peter is willing to kill enemies if the situation is desperate enough. In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', [[spoiler:he comes up with the plan to kill Ebony Maw by tossing him out the ship's airlock. He also explicitly kills Thanos’s Outriders in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' where Spider-Man finally activates his suit's Instant Kill mode against them when they dogpile him for the Iron Gauntlet (although they're not sapient so he likely didn't lose much sleep over it)]].
24	** ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' takes this trope and runs with it. Once Peter learns that sending the [[TheMultiverse multiversal villains]] back home [[SuperheroMovieVillainsDie will probably result in their deaths,]] [[SaveTheVillain he becomes determined to stop it]], by reversing the [[FreakLabAccident accidents]] that lead to their supervillainy before sending them back. This puts him in conflict with Doctor Strange: since the villains being in the [=MCU=] risks destroying it completely, [[TheNeedsOfTheMany Strange sees this as an unnecessary risk for the sake of saving five people.]] [[spoiler:The Green Goblin seizes on this 'weakness' in Peter and deliberately tries to break him out of it by attacking and killing his loved ones: it almost works, and Peter nearly kills Goblin in cold blood before being stopped by his own AlternateUniverse [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy counterpart]]. Once he gets the chance to try it again, though, he spares Goblin instead. All the villains are cured before being sent home.]]
25	* [[Film/BlackPanther2018 T'Challa]], having been raised as a warrior, has no qualms about killing either, but ends up sparing the supervillains for various reasons. Zemo survived as a combination of CruelMercy and avoiding falling victim to revenge, while Klaue was only spared since it would've been seen by dozens of citizens and would've reflected poorly on the newly-crowned king. [[spoiler:He also offered to heal Killmonger to avoid repeating his father's sin, but Killmonger decided to pull an IDieFree moment and finished himself off.]]
26	* [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 Carol Danvers]] is in much the same boat as the other heroes with military backgrounds like Captain America, Falcon, and War Machine. Her hands are drenched with the blood of Skrulls she killed as a member of the Kree military. After leaving the Kree, she is still willing to kill if necessary, though her power level makes this less of a requirement than most other heroes.
27	* ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'': Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, has also taken up a no-kill rule of sorts in this series: while he's still trying to take revenge on [=HYDRA=] and make amends for his past crimes, killing people is off the table (as a way to reaffirm that he ''is'' Bucky now, and not the Soldier). However, like Sam, he will still kill in the middle of combat situations when he has no other choice.
28	* Zig-zagged in ''Series/MoonKnight2022'', thanks to the protagonist having a SplitPersonality:
29	** Steven Grant is a meek, polite man who hates violence. He occasionally does push himself to fight, but mainly against [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman inhuman monsters]]. Other than that, he usually leaves violence to Marc, either willingly handing control of their body over or involuntarily blacking out when threatened and ending up surrounded by dead bodies when he comes to. That said, Steven does do his share of fighting armed cultists in the final episode.
30	** Marc Spector is a military-trained mercenary, and has admitted to performing executions for Khonshu; but he is metaphorically haunted by the lives he's taken. As stated above, there are some scenes where Steven blacks out and Marc takes over, killing their enemies offscreen. He does [[spoiler:spare Harrow/Ammit]] in the final episode, but it seems to be more [[spoiler:in defiance of Khonshu than out of a moral objection to their deaths]].
31	** The final episode fully reveals [[spoiler:third personality Jake Lockley]] after teasing it all season. [[spoiler:From what we see of him, Jake is portrayed as a cold-blooded killer. He's the one who executes Harrow, and there are scenes where ''Marc'' blacks out in the middle of a fight and wakes up to carnage; leading to the possibility that some or all of Steven's blackouts are Jake's work instead of Marc's.]]
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34	* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': Since the heroes are essentially police, they always try to avoid killing when they can, but are not hesitant about doing so when they have no other choice. [=FitzSimmons=] invented a stun gun (initially called the "Night-Night Gun," soon upgraded to "ICER") that they use as often as possible, but a number of their enemies are immune to it for one reason or another. And of course no one cares when they slaughter HYDRA mooks by the dozen.
35	-->'''Coulson:''' Mr. Yin, we don't want to hurt you.\
36	''[Scorch prepares to set him on fire]''\
37	'''Coulson:''' But we have to.\
38	''[May stabs Scorch with syringes that [[ActionBomb will make him explode]]]''
39	* After ten movies and three seasons of TV, Series/{{Daredevil\|2015}} is the first hero to make an explicit point about it, though he finds himself sorely tempted after a while and even makes attempts when his BerserkButton is pressed. Season Two makes a point to analyze this rule by contrasting him with two remorseless killers, the Punisher and Elektra.
40	* Series/{{Jessica Jones\|2015}} tries to avoid killing Kilgrave, partially for pragmatic reasons as she needs proof of Kilgrave's mind control to use in court to clear his victims. [[spoiler:Being traumatized by killing under Kilgrave's control undoubtedly also makes her want to avoid doing it again.]] However, it becomes clear that [[spoiler:trying to find a non-lethal solution just allows Kilgrave to ruin more lives. Jessica finally stops him by [[NeckSnap snapping his neck]], which is treated as regrettable but necessary.]]
41	* Series/{{Luke Cage\|2016}} flat out doesn't kill anyone. Even when he has been tempted, he doesn't go through with it. For example, when he attempts to kill the bus driver who he believed to have been the one who killed his wife Reva, he is stopped from killing him by Jessica. Also, he does [[spoiler:choke Scarfe when he confesses to killing Chico]], but doesn't go through with killing him. Otherwise, he generally just knocks out criminals without killing them. On top of that, he DoesntLikeGuns and bends them into pretzels whenever he gets the chance.
42	* During his training in K'un-Lun, Danny Rand was taught that the Iron Fist was to kill [[spoiler:the Hand]] without hesitation or mercy. However, throughout ''Series/{{Iron Fist\|2017}}'', Danny struggles with whether or not he can kill someone. Ultimately, Danny decides that he can kill someone, but is making the conscious choice to ''not'' end their life.
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Context ThouShaltNotKill / MarvelCinematicUniverse