1972s Poseidon Adventure was the second release after the 1970s. the airport, in the golden age of disaster films. These films featured some of the most famous Hollywood stars caught in an earthquake (Earthquake), burning buildings (Rising hell), and more. Poseidon Adventure found some of the most famous names of the 1970s aboard the ill-fated SS Poseidon, capsized by the tsunami en route to Athens: Ernest Borgnine, red buttons, Shelley Winters, Gene Hackmanas well as Pamela Sue Martin, among others. The story shows how a small group of survivors climb to the top of the ship, formerly at the bottom, in search of help. Along the way, some of the survivors die, but one death in particular points to the genre’s need for a martyr character: Gene Hackman’s Reverend Frank Scott, who jumps over a puddle of burning oil to turn off the fire. a valve that prevents the group from moving on. He saves the day and in doing so dies just a few feet from the engine room where rescuers are waiting. Scott isn’t the first disaster movie martyr, and he won’t be the last, but he was one of the best. The following are other heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice:

COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY

Russell Kass in Independence Day (1996)

Randy Quaid on Independence Day
Image via 20th Century Fox

AT Roland EmmerichX Independence Dayformer Vietnam War fighter pilot and more recently vacuum cleaner pilot, Russell Casse (Randy Quaid) claimed to have been abducted by aliens in 1986 and tested. His claims were largely ridiculed, but Cassé firmly believed that the aliens were planning to destroy humanity. Let this be a lesson – don’t be so quick to discount people in tinfoil hats. Having proven himself right, Cass voluntarily joined President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) to counter attack the aliens as a fighter pilot. But when his missile jams – the last remaining missile in the attacking fleet – Cassé orders ground control to tell his children “I love them so much” before flying his fighter straight into the alien destroyer’s weapons port. The mighty ship is sinking, Cassé sacrificed his life to successfully save millions. His famous last words? “Hey boys! I’m baaak!”

Mr Thornton in The Twister (1996)

Richard Lineback's death scene in Twister
Image via Warner Bros.

June 1969, an approaching powerful tornado sweeps through Oklahoma. Patriarch of the Thornton family (Richard Lineback) leads his young clan to their storm shelter where they take shelter. However, the tornado is particularly strong and threatens to blow out the storm cellar door. Mr. Thornton tries to hold on to the door, but the tornado tragically rips the door out with him still holding on, killing him. A horrific event leads to the death of his daughter Jo (Helen Hunt) an obsession with studying tornadoes and a way to increase the warning time.

Ruth in Dante’s Peak (1997)

Elizabeth Hoffman as Ruth in Dante's Peak
Image via Universal Pictures

Ruth (Elizabeth Hoffman) not only becomes a martyr in Dante Peak but a great example of another trope genre: a headstrong dumbass who won’t leave his house. When a volcano erupts Harry DaltonPierce Brosnan) and Mayor Rachel Vando (Linda Hamilton) race to Wando’s house to grab her two children and leave the area. Only they are not. They went to try and convince Ruth to leave. So what should have been an easy task instead becomes a rescue mission as the two of them drive through a volcanic hell to get to Ruth’s house. Reunited, the five evacuate the lava-filled house by crossing the lake in a motorboat. Ideally, if the lake is full of water, but not so much if this water has turned into sulfuric acid. The acid corrodes the boat and destroys the motor, leaving the group stranded only a few meters from the shore. This prompts Ruth to jump out of the boat and ride it to shore, suffering fatal chemical burns in the process, but saving the others, who manage to escape in a nearby truck. Oh, and along the way, they save Ruth Rafi’s dog, which in itself another Genre trope: the dog lives.

Harry S. Stamper in Armageddon (1998)

Bruce Willis as Harry S. Stamper in Armageddon replica
Image via Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

A Texas-sized asteroid is approaching Earth and is estimated to make contact in 18 days and destroy all life. However, NASA has a plan: take a team of oil drillers to the asteroid on a space shuttle, drill a deep hole in said asteroid, drop a nuclear bomb, get away, blow up, ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing. , Bob is your uncle. They hire oil driller Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) and his team to complete the mission, and after twelve days of training astronauts, they set off. After a series of setbacks, the hole is finally complete. It should be noted that one such failure is irreparable damage to the remote detonator. The team draws a straw to see who is left to blow the device and AJ (Ben Affleck) is the loser. Or would be, but Stamper disconnects AJ’s air hose and takes the detonator, determined to take the place of his future son-in-law. Stamper detonated the bomb just as the others had left, successfully completing the mission but causing a real disaster in the film: Aerosmith”I don’t want to miss anything.”

Frank Harris in The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Jay O. Sanders as Frank in The Day After Tomorrow
Image via 20th Century Fox

A sharp drop in the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean gives rise to extreme weather events and three giant hurricane superstorms. Superstorms take frozen air from the atmosphere to their center, instantly freezing everything in their path below -150 degrees Fahrenheit, creating a new ice age when they stop, as noted by paleoclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is predicted. Jack contacts his son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) and orders him to stay at the New York Public Library, start the fire and keep it going, promising that he is on his way to rescue him. Since transportation is out of the question, Jack and his two colleagues, Frank (Jay O. Sanders) and Jason (Dash Mihawk), pack up and start walking from Washington, DC to New York (don’t ask, just don’t), cabled together so you don’t get separated. In Pennsylvania, Frank falls through the mall’s glass ceiling, held up by a tether. But when the other two begin to lose their attempts to get Frank out, Frank cuts the cable, falling to his death but saving the lives of his friends.

Levesque, Brazzelton and Zimsky in The Core (2003)

The cast of the Core
Image via Paramount Pictures

Increasingly catastrophic incidents involving the Earth’s magnetic field can only mean one thing: Earth’s molten core has stopped spinning. Obviously. But with the help of the US government, a multi-sectional vessel is being built, capable of drilling a well and releasing a nuclear weapon to start spinning again. The mission was ultimately successful, of course, the crisis was averted, but at the cost of not one, not two, but three martyrs: Doctor Leveque (Cheki Kario), which rescues detonation timers and launch codes from the last compartment before it explodes; Dr. BrazzeltonDelroy Lindo) who sacrifices himself to work out the separation of the separation from the outside; and Zimsky (Stanley Tucci), who realizes that their plan will only succeed if the ship’s plutonium fuel core increases the yield of the last bomb before he bakes it. Because sometimes a conventional nuclear bomb is not enough.

Marcus in The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)

The last days of Pompeii
Image via RKO

Marcus (Preston Foster) adopts young Flavius ​​(David Holt), the orphaned son of a man killed by Marcus in the arena of gladiators. When an injury ends his professional career as a gladiator, Marcus turns to trading. After raiding the Ammonites, Marcus finds Flavius ​​on the ground near death, thrown from his horse. He takes Flavius ​​to a healer and begs for help. The healer is none other than Jesus Christ himself, saving the boy’s life. Years later, the adult Flavius ​​(John Wood) is arrested and sentenced to death for helping the slaves escape, but as he is led into the arena, Vesuvius erupts. Marcus wanders the streets amid chaos, and when he finds the jailer who took Flavius ​​trying to save his own son, his anger turns to mercy as he remembers asking Jesus for help. The change of heart inspires Marcus to help anyone who can escape on the ship. He sees that Flavius ​​is aboard the ship and is about to join in when he notices that the prefect and his men are on their way to take the ship for their own (politicians, right?). Marcus closes and keeps the gate closed to give the ship time to leave, sacrificing his life to save the innocent.

Jack in Titanic (1997)

Jack and Rose on the wooden door at the end of the Titanic.

Let’s start the discussion again, okay? We all know the story – the unsinkable Titanic sets off on its maiden voyage, collides with an iceberg, starts to sink, a dude throws it off its propeller, with a love story between JackLeonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) are woven into it. While Rose lies on the floating door, Jack is still in the icy ocean, holding onto the door but refusing to climb it, convinced that doing so will result in the death of them both. They soon say goodbye as Jack lets go and dives into the depths, taking his own life so that Rose survives. Yes, they could both stand on the door and it didn’t drown, so the “martyr” may not be entirely right, but it’s a victim nonetheless.

Dale Heath in Crowded Sky (1960)

Image via Warner Bros.

Two aircraft are on a direct collision course: a US Navy Lockheed TV-2 jet piloted by Commander Dale Heath (Ephraim Zimbalist Jr.) with one passenger and a full Douglas DC-7 airliner piloted by Dick Barnett (Dana Andrews). Since air traffic control can’t prevent the collision – Heath’s radio and navigation system is down and Barnett is just a dumbass – they collide. Heath, however, dives in his plane before he can fatally damage the larger ship, resulting in the death of himself and his passenger, but saving the lives of those on board the airliner.

General Thaddeus Slater in The Swarm (1978)

Richard Widmark as General Thaddeus Slater in The Swarm
Image via Warner Bros.

Just because a movie is considered one of the worst of all time doesn’t mean it can’t stick to the script. Roy sees a huge swarm of killer bees destroying everything and everything, heading to Houston. General SlaterRichard Widmark), assisted by Dr. Bradford Crane (Michael Caine) and Helena Anderson (Katherine Ross) oversees efforts to stop the bees and organize a mass evacuation, with the bees thwarting all attempts. Crane and Slater deduce that the alarm system at a nearby nuclear power plant is attracting bees, but before they can develop a plan to use the information, the bees invade. To save Crane and Anderson, Slater uses a flamethrower to give the couple time to escape, losing their lives, but allowing Crane to take the bees out to sea, where they set fire to the swarm.