The bill always comes due in the MCU. Whenever a villain starts causing trouble, there's always a hero waiting in the wings to stop them. But it's rare for a bad guy to get in the crosshairs of a fellow evildoer. Well, Vanessa Fisk managed to pull off that feat in Daredevil: Born Again, when she took advantage of Benjamin Poindexter and had him kill Foggy Nelson for her. Bullseye didn't take kindly to being used and decided to go after his former employer, a decision that led to disaster.
At the end of Born Again Season 2, Episode 4, "Gloves Off," Bullseye managed to hit Vanessa with a shard of glass, despite the intervention of her husband, Wilson Fisk. Episode 5, "The Grand Design," revealed that she survived the encounter but was in critical condition. While Vanessa tried to hang on, she succumbed to her injuries, leaving Wilson devastated at her bedside.
After starting out as Wilson's love interest in Netflix's Daredevil, Vanessa embraced a criminal lifestyle and built her own empire in her husband's absence. She was just as menacing as the Kingpin, and the MCU will be a less interesting place without her around. However, there is at least one silver lining in her death.
Without his guiding light, Fisk is sure to pull out all the stops to take vigilantes like Bullseye and Daredevil off the streets. He might even push the heroes so far that they have no choice but to take him off the board. And if that scenario comes to fruition, he'll join his wife and nine other characters as long-term MCU villains who lost their lives.
MCU Villains Who Died After Appearing in More Than One Project
Loki
Thor lived a cushy life in Asgard prior to the events of his first solo movie. The same couldn't be said about his brother, Loki, who felt like he always got the short end of the stick. In fact, the God of Mischief was so starved for attention that he tried to overthrow his father, a mistake that forced him to leave his home behind.
Loki resurfaced in The Avengers, with the Chitauri army at his back. His invasion of Earth ended up being a massive failure because the titular team assembled for the first time to stop him.
Losing twice made Loki reevaluate his attitude, and he concluded that he could do more good than harm. Sadly, he didn't get to fully embrace his heroic side because Thanos killed him at the start of Avengers: Infinity War. At least he lives on through his variant from Loki, who found his glorious purpose at the end of Season 2.
Thanos
The post-credits scene of The Avengers revealed that the mysterious figure Loki had been communicating with throughout the movie was none other than Thanos. Not wanting to get his hands dirty, he sent his minions after the Infinity Stones, hoping they'd fill up his gauntlet without any fuss.
Loki, Ronan, and the rest couldn't hold up their end of the bargain, though, so the Mad Titan got to work. By the end of Infinity War, he had all of the Infinity Stones and snapped his fingers, eliminating half of life in the universe. But the half that remained didn't take their loss lying down.
The opening moments of Avengers: Endgame saw the MCU's remaining heroes hunt down and kill Thanos. And his variant that showed up later in the film didn't fare any better, losing his life after Tony Stark pulled a quick one and stole the gems.
Kang
It seems like all roads in the MCU lead back to the God of Mischief. In the finale of Loki Season 1, the titular Asgardian and Sylvie ran into He Who Remains, the man behind the creation of the Time Variance Authority. Despite his warning the duo about what his death would unleash, Sylvie killed him anyway, opening the door for someone even worse to arrive.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania saw Scott Lang and Co. travel to the Quantum Realm and run into its tyrannical leader, Kang. Janet van Dyne knew he was bad news, so she rallied everyone to her side and launched a counter-attack. The mission was a success, and Kang died when Ant-Man and Wasp forced him into an unstable power core.
Another Kang variant, Victor Timely, showed up in Loki's second season. He was much more pleasant than his counterparts, but he, too, died, turning into spaghetti while trying to fix the Temporal Loom. The TVA took care of the remaining Kangs, ensuring their dynasty would never see the light of day.
Darren Cross
Hank Pym wanted nothing more than to continue his research at the start of Ant-Man. However, his protege, Darren Cross, forced him out and planned to take all of Pym Technologies' knowledge and sell it to the highest bidder. That obviously didn't sit right with Pym, so he recruited Scott Lang, a felon looking to turn his life around, to help.
Despite having little time to train with the Ant-Man suit, Scott defeated Cross, who created his own shrinking suit. It seemed like Cross died in the conflict, but his fate ended up being much worse.
A mysterious villain named MODOK worked with Kang in Quantumania, getting in Scott's way on multiple occasions. He eventually revealed himself as Cross, deformed after being shrunk. Scott's daughter, Cassie Lang, convinced Cross to turn on Kang, but he didn't last much longer, sustaining fatal injuries in the fight against his former boss.
Scarlet Witch
It looked like Wanda Maximoff's villainous days were behind her after Avengers: Age of Ultron. She realized Earth's Mightiest Heroes weren't to blame for all her problems, lost her brother fighting Ultron, and gained perspective. But a person can only endure so much pain.
As a member of the Avengers, Scarlet Witch helped fight Thanos in Infinity War. She was the one who had to kill her beloved, Vision, to get the Mind Stone out of the Mad Titan's grasp. Unfortunately, the Time Stone rendered his sacrifice moot and forced Wanda to watch Vision die again.
Once the world was back together, Wanda gave in to her worst impulses and used her powers to create her perfect world in Westview, New Jersey. The good times didn't last forever, though, and the Scarlet Witch was born at the end of WandaVision. She spent the entirety of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trying to get her family back, only to lose her life when a mountain collapsed on top of her.
Agatha Harkness
If Agatha Harkness had never made her way to Westview, Wanda might have gotten away with her transgressions. However, the centuries-old witch couldn't help herself, wanting to steal all of Wanda's power for herself. The two had an epic battle that ended with Agatha losing her memories and being forced to stay in the small town.
Agatha All Along followed the titular villain's journey to regain her strength. She recruited a coven of witches, which included a young man named Billy Kaplan, and headed down the Witches' Road. The path was tumultuous, to say the least, with several witches losing their lives before reaching the finish line.
After throwing everyone around her under the bus, Agatha completed her goal and became as strong as ever. The only problem was that Death was looking to collect Billy, revealed to be Wanda's son, Billy Maximoff, which didn't sit right with Agatha. The witch gave her life to protect her new ally, though, unlike the rest of the characters on this list, she returned as a ghost.
Crossbones
Fighting alongside the rest of the Avengers rejuvenated Steve Rogers. At the start of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, he was working with SHIELD, leading a unit tasked with the organization's most important missions. Cap became chummy with Brock Rumlow, a longtime SHIELD agent, but their relationship changed after the film's inciting incident.
It became clear that Rumlow had his own goals, as he didn't think twice about bringing in Steve after Alexander Pierce ordered it. Eventually, Steve discovered that HYDRA was alive and well within SHIELD, and Rumlow was one of its top agents. A building collapse took the villain off the board for a while, but he returned in Captain America: Civil War with an axe to grind.
Cap tracked down Rumlow, now going by Crossbones, and the two had a very public fight in Lagos, Nigeria. When it became clear that Crossbones was done for, he set off a bomb, hoping to kill both himself and Steve. His plan failed, but the fallout from his death tore the Avengers apart.
Ayesha
Peter Quill and his merry band of misfits found themselves working for The Sovereign at the start of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. They were tasked with defeating the massive Abilisk, which gave them plenty of trouble. The Guardians came out on top, though, and earned a personal meeting with The Sovereign's leader, Ayesha.
Rocket Raccoon didn't care much about what she had to say, being focused on stealing Anulax Batteries. The Sovereign responded in kind, dispatching ships to go after the Guardians. Once again, the titular team escaped by the end of their teeth. But Ayesha had another trick up her sleeve.
Adam Warlock, Ayesha's greatest creation, gave the Guardians a proper beating at the start of their third film. However, getting revenge didn't do her any good, as she died shortly after, when the High Evolutionary destroyed the planet he created.
Ulysses Klaue
Before adamantium entered the picture, vibranium was the most coveted material in the MCU. Even Ultron, who was only a few days old, went after the metal in Avengers: Age of Ultron, attempting to make a deal with arms dealer Ulysses Klaue. Of course, Ultron wasn't one for bargaining, so he took what he wanted and left Klaue with one fewer arm.
Losing a fight to a robot didn't deter Klaue from doing what he did best. In Black Panther, he attempted to move more vibranium, only for the titular hero to thwart his plan. Klaue's associate, Erik Killmonger, sprung him from jail, but their relationship didn't remain positive for much longer.
In order to enter Wakanda, Killmonger knew he needed a bargaining chip. He realized Klaue, who had wronged the Wakandans time and time again, was his best shot at a warm welcome. Killmonger shot Klaue and his girlfriend dead before returning to his father's home and taking the throne.
