In a one-in-a-million clip, Helldivers 2 fan-favorite Eagle-1 gets gruesome payback for the safety measures we cut to buff our Stratagems

In Helldivers 2, players should always expect the unexpected. From the ever-looming threat of friendly fire, to potential surprise attacks from Chargers always a very real possibility, things perpetually have a chance of going very wrong, very fast. However, it’s now been discovered in the most gruesome way possible that you can also be attacked by the beloved Eagle-1 pilot, taking friendly fire to the next level.

If you weren’t familiar, Eagle-1 is one of the community’s favorite characters, being the pilot who swoops in to deliver powerful Eagle Stratagems like the airstrike and cluster bomb. While we don’t see her face in the actual game, she’s always been adored for her voice lines, and the official Helldivers 2 Twitter account recently shared fan art depicting her as an anime girl, prompting the community to fall even deeper in love with her. Despite this though, one of the recent Helldivers 2 ship module upgrades gave liberty-loving players a hard choice, allowing them to buff their Stratagems, but face the guilt of removing safety systems like airbags from Eagle-1’s jet. 

At the time, some optimistic fans suggested that Eagle-1 may have asked for the changes to the safety systems herself, in order to hit more bugs and bots with Managed Democracy, but based on this latest finding, it seems she might be secretly bitter about it. One player on Reddit shares: “I got yeeted by a dead Bile Titan, then sliced in half mid-air by Eagle-1.”

I got yeeted by a dead bile Titan, then Sliced in half midair by Eagle 1 🤣 from r/Helldivers

It’s a clip that truly has to be seen to be believed, and the Redditor’s caption doesn’t exaggerate anything in the slightest. After being randomly launched into the air, Eagle-1 swoops in and carves straight through the poor Helldiver, sending their two halves flying. The Helldiver was already dead from the impact of being sent into the air, so Eagle-1 didn’t land the final blow, but it seems safe to say that if the player had somehow made it through the first part, they wouldn’t have survived the entire ordeal.

Beyond being baffled at the clip itself, others on Reddit are also incredibly impressed that Arrowhead programmed hitboxes onto Eagle-1 in the first place, despite the fact that, as one fan writes, “there’s no reason to include this except for this exact scenario.”

Another says: “I can’t believe that Eagle-1 is actually physicalized. I mean I know they’re over-top in this game. The shell from the SEAF is physicalized, from exiting the barrel to hitting its target. You can even stand on the cannon and blow yourself up with it, subsequently stopping the shell from reaching its landing spot. Plus there’s also things such as the EMS Mortar shell, it’s a physical item and a direct hit to the dome can kill a Diver. However, having Eagle-1 physicalized is on a whole other level. That’s wild.”

How on earth it’s possible to recreate this spectacular death is another matter – it’s not clear how this unlucky Helldiver was even sent into the air in the first place, never mind how they timed it with Eagle-1’s appearance. However, just know that, for better or worse, an Eagle never misses. 

On the back of calls for Arrowhead to focus on bug fixes rather than new content, Helldivers 2’s director has apologized for “the sloppy mistakes we’ve made as of recent,” but says it’s not as easy as dropping everything to fix issues.