When it's time for a character to hit the big one, either by a freak accident or by nobly sacrificing himself, writers go about the situation as if it were a pickle jar: get a man to do it. If the entire cast has to die, men will go first. However, this phenomenon is much more noticeable with extras; if large amounts of anonymous people have to die to demonstrate the severity of a threat, they will be men. Armies of Mooks are almost always populated solely by males.