Summary
This article contains spoilers for each season of 24.
Deaths occur frequently in24, with some of the most impactful being at the hands of the series' protagonist, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland).24follows Jack and his crew as they work with the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). Each episode of24takes place over the course of an hour with a digital clock appearing on the screen to show the passage of time. Throughouteach of24’s seasons, also known as days,Jack finds himself in a variety of dangerous scenarios, such as attempted assassinations, bomb detonations, and bioterrorism, all of which result in a high number of kills by the end of each day.
Many of Jack’s kills are made up of unnamed hitmen working for larger antagonists, but Jack has still managed to kill major characters as well. Jack’s confrontations with24’s best villains lead to intense action sequences and some ofJack’s best scenes. Similar to protagonists in otheraction thriller TV shows, Jack is not perfect and many of his kills are impulsive and charged with emotion and hurt.Every main character that Jack kills says something about his characterand helps shape him with every new season of24.
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1Ira Gaines (Michael Massee)
Died on Day 1, 12:00pm-1:00pm
The importance Jack places on his family is apparent from the beginning of24when his wife and daughter are kidnapped and used as leverage by Ira Gaines. The main villains in24season 1 were the Drazen family, Victor, and his sons, Alexis and Andre.The latter hired Ira to go after Senator David Palmer as a means of revenge.
The plan was to frame Jack for Palmer’s death and the only way for Jack’s family to be let go was if Jack followed through. A final confrontation between the two was intense asJack pressured Gaines to reveal who hired him. Gaines refused to reveal Drazen’s identity and quickly turned to shoot Jack, but fortunately, Jack’s reflexes were quick, and he killed Gaines first.
2Andre Drazen (Zeljko Ivanek)
Died on Day 1, 11:00pm-12:00am
Similarly to Jack, Victor Drazen would do anything to protect his family. Senator Palmer organized a mission known as Operation Nightfall, which was an attempt to assassinate Victor. Though Victor survived the attack, his wife and daughter were killed. Angered and feeling like Jack was responsible for their deaths,Victor’s son, Andre, teamed up with his father and sought revenge on Jack.
Andre worked with Ira to kill Palmer and put the blame on Jack. Once their actions had caught up to them, Andre and Victor deserted the gunfire chaos and made their way to the pier, waiting to board a boat and escape. However, before they could do so,Jack found them and killed Andre on the spot.
3Victor Drazen (Dennis Hopper)
Desperate to save his daughter, Kim, Jack offered to turn himself into the Drazens so long as she was let go. Before meeting up with Victor and Andre, Jack was informed that his daughter had died. Though Kim was still alive,Victor assumed Jack would be too emotionally distraught to kill the Drazens.
However, Kim’s supposed death only fueled Jack further and when he catches up with the father and son duo, he kills them both. Victor didn’t go down as easily as his son, butonce Jack knocked him into the water, he continued to shoot at him in an emotional and angered rage.
4Eddie Grant (Douglas O’Keeffe)
Died on Day 2, 11:00am-12:00pm
Before working as a CTU agent, Jack went undercover with a militia leader, Joe Wald, and his crew, which included Eddie Grant. Years later, CTU learns that a bomb is set up to detonate in Los Angeles, soJack goes undercover and reunites with Eddiein hopes of finding Joe.
Jack eventually earns Eddie’s trust, but as soon as Eddie obtains Joe’s address, Jack reveals his true identity. Eddie manages to get in the car and drive toward Jack, aiming to run him over,but not before a bullet is shot at him through the windshield, killing him instantly.
5Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke)
Died on Day 3, 2:00am-3:00am
Nina Myers is one of the mostcompelling villains in24. It’s because of her actions thather death was inevitable and being at the hands of Jack makes it all the more satisfying. Having already killed Jack’s wife, Teri Bauer, as one of her first villainous acts, Nina tries to take another member of Jack’s family when she has her gun pointed at his daughter, Kim.
Fortunately, he was able to step in before any bullets were fired. Nina had been kept alive and saved from imprisonment up until this point due to the valuable information she held, but seeing asthere was nothing more she could provide to the CTU, Jack finally got revenge for Teri’s death and killed Nina.
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6Ryan Chappelle (Paul Schulze)
Died on Day 3, 6:00am-7:00am
The sacrifices made in Jack’s line of work are put on display multiple times throughout24and one of the most heartbreaking examples of this is with Ryan Chappelle’s death. As an act of bioterrorism, a deadly virus is threatened to be released into the city unless Ryan is executed.The greater good is prioritized and Jack is put in charge of killing Ryan.
The final moment between them is emotional as the weight of their situation is heavily impacting both men.Ryan has one of thesaddest deaths in24,but his death is also a reminder of the stakes in the series, which proves that no one is too important within the CTU to be killed.
7Paul Raines (James Frain)
Died on Day 4, 2:00am-3:00am
Jack’s impulsiveness and poor judgment are the differentiating factors surrounding Paul Raines' death. Unlike other deaths Jack is responsible for,Paul was shot by Dave Conlon, the head of security at McLennen-Forster, whose bullet was intended to hit Jack. Paul was rushed to the hospital for life-saving surgery, but Jack put a halt to his operations and asked that the doctors prioritize another injured man who had the necessary intel.
When Paul eventually succumbed to his injuries, Jack felt immense guilt and took responsibility.Paul’s death is the grimmest, unintentional outcome of Jack’s tendency to take any actions he deems necessary to reach his end goal.
8Vladimir Bierko (Julian Sands)
Died on Day 5, 5:00am-6:00am
While in the United States, Vladimir Bierko was determined to purchase Sentox nerve gas from American officials. Once Vladimir’s plan was uncovered, he took action beyond the use of nerve gas.After Vladimir successfully wiped out members aboard a submarine, he and his henchmen had access to its missiles.
However,Jack was able to invade the submarine and put an end to Vladimir’s plansbefore any missiles were launched. During the action sequence, Jack kills all of Vladimir’s henchmen one by one, until he is the only one remaining. Jack and Vladimir fought with one another until Jack was able to take hold of his neck and snap it.
9Christopher Henderson (Peter Weller)
During Day 5, Christopher Henderson was selling Sentox nerve gas to Vladimir Bierko. During his last moments, he aided Jack in stopping Vladimir from launching the missiles, but after they successfully shut down Vladimir’s operation and killed him, Christopher pointed his gun at Jack. Having never fully trusted him,Jack was prepared for the attack and gave Christopher an empty gun.
Similar to Nina’s death,Jack’s killing of Christopher was rooted in revenge and was a gratifying moment for audiences. Earlier on Day 5, Christopher was complicit in the deaths of beloved24characters, David Palmer and Michelle Dessler.
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10Curtis Manning (Roger Cross)
Died on Day 6, 9:00am-10:00am
While working for the CTU, it’s nearly impossible for one’s personal life to remain separate from their professional work. Sometimes, loved ones are used as emotional leverage by terrorists, as seen with Jack’s family, or a terrorist can act as a reminder of one’s past. The latter is where Curtis Manning finds himself.Curtis can’t shake his past confrontation with Hamri Al-Assad, the man responsible for the ambush of his squad in Iraq, who is now being pardoned as he holds precious intel that’s needed by the CTU.
Threatening to kill Hamri and showing no signs of backing down,Jack finds that he must shoot Curtis to preserve the mission.Just like Ryan, Curtis' death is one ofthe worst things to happen to Jackand causes an immediate reaction of guilt and devastation from him.
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