MCU: The 10 Most Heartbreaking Quotes In The Infinity Saga, Ranked
This year, after 11 years of superpowered storytelling, Marvel Studios wrapped up its 23-part Infinity Saga. It began with Tony Stark announcing to the press that he was the mysterious metallic superhero known as Iron Man and ended with him giving his life to save the universe from a genocidal purple tyrant. Along the way, there was plenty of tragedy. The MCU’s best-remembered quotes tend to be quippy one-liners, for which we have Joss Whedon’s house style set by The Avengers to thank, but it also has its fair share of tear-jerking dialogue. So, here are The 10 Most Heartbreaking Quotes In The Infinity Saga, Ranked.
10 “I don’t care. He killed my mom.” – Tony Stark
Perhaps the most heartbreaking – and most consequential – scene in the entire Infinity Saga is in the final act of Captain America: Civil War. Rather than the standard giant battle against a mindless army, Civil War ended with a fight between just three people: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Bucky Barnes. Tony found out Bucky killed his parents while he was brainwashed and Steve knew about it, so he becomes determined to kill Bucky. Bucky is Steve’s best friend, so he wants to protect him, and tries to get Tony to stop by explaining that he was brainwashed. Tony can’t see this logic, however, because his judgment is clouded by the fact that “he killed my mom.”
9 “I’m gonna need to take a rain-check on that dance.” – Steve Rogers
Steve and Peggy’s whole conversation is pretty gut-wrenching, as Steve downs his plane in the ice in Captain America: The First Avenger. They’re making plans to finally go on a date and share a dance, with Steve telling Peggy that she’ll have to teach him how to dance and Peggy telling Steve that he’d better not be late, while they both know that he’s going to die. Steve would spend the next few years lamenting the fact that he missed that dance, holding a dying Peggy’s hand and carrying her coffin after she died. Then, Tony Stark invented time travel and he finally got to have that dance.
8 “I had a pretty cool dad.” – Peter Quill
Marvel fans have a hard time not tearing up during the relentless final 20 minutes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Yondu sacrifices himself to save Peter Quill, telling him that he feels blessed to have been the one who raised him as he froze to death in the vacuum of space. Then, the Guardians have a funeral for him, and it’s followed by the Ravagers showing up to honor their fallen comrade.
But arguably the most heartbreaking moment in the whole sequence is Quill’s eulogy, in which he compares Yondu to David Hasselhoff and concludes, “I had a pretty cool dad.”
7 “Well, if I’m wrong, then...what more could I lose?” – Thor
All throughout Avengers: Infinity War, Thor is determined to get a new weapon forged on Nidavellir that will be capable of killing Thanos. He assumes that because he’s never encountered an enemy he couldn’t defeat, as soon as he has the weapon, he’ll be able to take down Thanos. When Rocket questions this, he explains that his brother, his mother, his father, and his best friend have all been killed and his home has been destroyed, so if he can’t kill Thanos, then he has nothing left to lose. As we would learn from his subsequent defeat by the Mad Titan, he did have a lot more to lose, but from that, he rose up and got his groove back.
6 “Come on, Spider-Man! Come on, Spider-Man!” – Peter Parker
Every on-screen version of Spider-Man that we’ve seen (three in the space of 20 years and counting) has been portrayed as a teenager. But since Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were clearly grown men, they didn’t actually seem like teenagers. Tom Holland is the first Spidey to actually be a kid, and he’s done a fantastic job of showing Peter Parker’s vulnerability. The best display of this is in Spider-Man: Homecoming, when he gets trapped under a pile of rubble (taken directly from The Amazing Spider-Man #33). Suddenly, we’re not watching a superhero fighting a supervillain – we’re watching a kid who’s scared he’s going to die.
5 “He’s my friend.” “So was I.” – Steve Rogers and Tony Stark
This is the second quote on this list from the climactic fight sequence between Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Bucky Barnes in Captain America: Civil War, because it’s possibly the most emotionally charged scene in the entire Infinity Saga. Their allegiances were tested. Tony wanted to kill Bucky to avenge his parents, but Steve was friends with both of them, and when he was forced to pick one, he had to go with Bucky, his childhood friend who had always been there for him. Steve told Tony, “He’s my friend,” and Tony replied, “So was I.” No Marvel fan’s heart was left unbroken.
4 “Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.” – Peter Parker
At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos shocked audiences across the world when he actually succeeded in his plan, snapping his fingers and wiping out half of all life in the universe. Most of the characters only realized they were dying when they actually saw themselves turning to dust, but thanks to his spider-sense, Spidey was able to sense his dusting coming from further away. As soon as he could feeling it coming, he said, “Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good...” before collapsing into Tony Stark’s arms. He told him, “I don’t wanna go,” as he slowly and tragically vanished into thin air.
3 “Let me do something good; something right.” – Thor
When the Avengers retrieved all the Infinity Stones from different points in history, it was unclear which one would don the Iron Gauntlet and use them to bring back everybody that Thanos turned to dust. Since Thor had blamed himself for Thanos’ victory and felt like a failure for the previous five years, he insisted on doing it.
The other Avengers told him he wasn’t in the right mental state to do it, but he begged them to let him “do something good; something right.” When he let go of his ego and the Hulk stepped in to snap his fingers, Thor was supportive and just wanted it to work, no matter who did it.
2 “We are Groot.” – Groot
Groot came back as a baby when Rocket replanted him at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, but that was a completely different character – the original character’s offspring. The Groot that we came to know and love in the first Guardians movie is dead, having given his life to protect his friends on Ronan’s crashing ship. Having only said, “I am Groot,” for the entirety of the movie, Groot managed to articulate a different, more heartwarming sentence in his final moments: “We are Groot.” James Gunn has always done a fantastic job of making the Guardians feel like a family.
1 “You can rest now.” – Pepper Potts
When Tony Stark invented time travel, he told Pepper Potts that he could just forget about bringing everybody back and not risk losing the happiness they found in the aftermath of the Snap. But then, she told him that he wouldn’t be able to rest if he did. She knows him better than anyone, including himself. So, he brought his time travel devices to the Avengers and they got to work on planning the “Time Heist.” Later in the movie, after the “Time Heist” was a success and the villain that Tony spent six years fretting about still managed to triumph, he took the Infinity Stones and used them to wipe out Thanos and his armies. Then, Pepper came to his side and simply told him, “You can rest now.”