The Institute: What happened to Tony? Character's fate, explored

The Institute premiered on July 13, 2025. The season wrapped up on August 24, 2025, with a finale that might have been disappointing to some, given Sigsby’s escape, but still managed to serve justice by killing two of the most villainous characters within the facility.

One of them was Tony, played by Jason Diaz, an employee of the facility. With a dirty track record and a sadistic streak as a bully, he had a history of torturing the kids in The Institute, sometimes for no reason at all. However, in the finale of the Stephen Hawking adaptation, he is killed by the kids he had mistreated.

Disclaimer: The article contains spoilers. Reader discretion is advised.

The Institute: Tony tortures the kids

In The Institute, Ms. Sigsby (Mary-Louise Parker) claims that the facility is preparing these kids with powers to become the boon of humanity when the time comes. However, when sadistic people like Tony are employed to take care, or rather keep them in check, end up mistreating them in the institute, who would believe that this is trying to help humanity in any way?

He is one of those characters who, irrespective of any reason, have been found to bully the kids. Whether it's mental or physical, Tony has garnered a reputation for being the most evil person in the facility. Further, he has been seen to take a particular dislike to Luke since Episode 1 of the MGM+ series.

However, his monstrous attitude did not help him when the kids accumulated their powers and ultimately killed him. An end, many viewers found satisfying within the series.

The Institute: Tony dies by tasing himself

In the finale episode of The Institute, in an attempt to prove to Stackhouse that they don’t need Luke anymore, Hendricks tries to replace Avery and gives him a mission to force his target’s car off the cliff to kill him. However, Avery, in a surprising move, plans to use the telekinetic and telepathic powers of the back-half kids and the Hum in the recovery room to free the kids from the facility.

Tony was skeptical of the plan to use Avery and even conveys this to Hendricks, who doesn’t pay much attention to it. This gives Avery the chance, and the kids manage to connect their powers, including Luke’s, who wasn’t even present with them. As soon as Hendricks realizes what Avery and the kids were up to, he orders Tony to stop Avery.

However, it is too late as the powers of the kids are at an all-time high, destroying the tech employed to carry on evidence-free assassinations on them. As Tony approaches to tase Avery, he is instead forced to tase himself by the power of the kids, particularly Nicky. This results in the horrid death of Tony, which is nothing short of pure poetic justice.

Tony was more than happy to torture these kids day in and day out, and at last, they got their shot at vengeance.

While Tony received what he deserved, his death was shown differently in The Institute than in the Stephen Hawking novel, where he was shot and killed by Annie.

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