1975: Iron Fist & Misty Knight Interrupted Flight

Iron Fist #3

You, Danny Rand, are Iron Fist, and you are still pretty new on the scene. The Ravager, soon to be revealed as Radion, the Atomic Man, attacks a Canadair flight to London with 211 people aboard. Fortunately for everybody else, you and Misty Knight are on this flight. You are minding your own business, on a mission to aid a friend, when all this happens!

Your friendly Watcher is going to ditch the weird dungeon master narrative, telling you everything happening to you and going through your mind. It is addictive and enjoyable in this series, though.

Statistically speaking, it's still the safest way to travel.

Ravager takes out the landing gear of the plane as it is landing. His stated purpose is that he's after nuclear materials and wants the British government to see that he is serious.

Her right arm is stronger than her left, but not for the same reasons as yours is.

Danny Rand and Misty Knight are a pretty cool pair, especially in these days. For the first time, we get a glimpse of Misty's true capabilities, yet wonder why she doesn't just open the emergency exit normally? Iron Fist gets people out the door and hangs back inside a burning airplane to get into his fighting togs, demonstrating serious costumed superhero commitment. The good news is, our heroes save many lives between the lines of these panels.

This is 1975, bright-eyes, anything's possible.

Iron Fist, though, is still something of a rookie, and Ravager gets the best of him. Misty jumps in and again shows what she can do by getting Ravager into a hold that no normal person could achieve. Before Iron Fist can take advantage, Misty is hit with the full force of the Ravager's energy beam, which ends up burning away the flesh of her bionic arm, yet not at all her wonderful hair.

You are Iron Fist, and you did not do so well in this fight.

Now it's Iron Fist's turn. And although he pulls off some impressive ju-jitsu moves against the heavily armored Ravager, he is cut down by the energy beam also, and then physically slammed into the airplane debris.

Good guy, Danny Rand

D'oh, the Ravager escapes! Now you are Iron Fist and you are waiting at the hospital, feeling the impact of all the lives lost and impacted this day. You befriend a little girl and try to give her hope. Casualties are light, so probably she won't die.

No more Mister Nice-Guy Danny Rand

D'oh! Well then she dies. Now you are vowing to avenge her! This comic is exceptional in the extent to which the writer exposes the hero, and us, to the trauma of the civilian casualties. The little girl is a cliche that would be hard to pull off every time without it becoming comedic. In this case, Iron Fist's adventures are still very new, and he is portrayed as really being aware and feeling the unfolding disaster.

The good news is, Iron Fist does indeed end up facing off with the Ravager. He carries the death and destruction he's witnessed forward into the story, and goes after Ravager with a vengeance. The issue ends with an explosion in a very tall building that consumes both hero and villain, because Chris Claremont loves a good cliffhanger.

As far as deaths go, the pilot is killed, and other casualties are referred to as "light," but there are no hard numbers. The Watcher is going to figure a 5% casualty rate from the initial crash of the airplane, which landed on its belly. Add another 10% casualty rate from the ensuing fire, which burst out as soon as it had landed. Any time you see our heroes escaping through burning fuselage, we know it's even worse for the civilians.

You are Pilot Michael Kramer, and you are about to die.

This tale is an excellent depiction of heroes doing what they can to lessen the loss of civilian life in a hellish situation, and later acknowledging the loss of life that could not be prevented. The Watcher watches with a hankie to one eye for the little girl who perished. The Watcher sees what you did there, Claremont/Byrne.

Body Count: 20-30, with many injured

Iron Fist #3

Writer: Chris Claremont

Artist: John Byrne

2010: The Sentry loses it

Dark Avengers #14

Toward the end of the era known as Dark Reign, the villainous Norman Osborn had been presidentially appointed to a position akin to Secretary of Defense on steroids. His assembled Dark Avengers includes the Sentry, a man with the power of a million exploding sons who is cursed with a darker side, the Void. Tension around the Sentry's dwindling sanity has been steadily growing, and now...

Bob. What are you doing? Bob. Stahp.

 The Sentry has finally lost his marbles completely, and is being taken over by the Void, his evil half. This has been a long time coming, so the potential for death and destruction has been well established. It is an effectively horrifying development for the book's cast and for the rest of the Marvel Universe.

Major turning point in the Sentry's tale.
We know he has gone too far.

Sentry/Void cuts loose on Manhattan, sending dark tendrils of death into the street. Cars are thrown and explosions are everywhere, sending bodies flying.

Buildings crumbling! Vehicles exploding! Emergency rescue poses go!

The Dark Avengers are deployed and are seen in various tableaus as they do what they can to combat the vast threat. Other heroes make cameos, striking one-panel appearances in the middle of the mayhem.

"Sue, darling, did you hear something?"

Not even the Baxter Building is spared, as one of the mid-level floors explodes.

The obvious toll of death and destruction in this story is never addressed, since the event called Siege starts virtually on the heels of this incident. From the number of bodies being thrown, and cars and buildings being destroyed, amount of sheer shrapnel flying everywhere, the number of city blocks affected, this Watcher estimates fatalities in the 20-100 range.

This stands as a perfect example of massive civilian deaths at the heart of the Marvel Universe - Manhattan - with no subsequent consequence or even notice... save that of your faithful Watcher!

Body Count: 20-100 (unmentioned)

Dark Avengers #14

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Mike Deodato