a deep analysis of who’s going to die in Avengers: Infinity War

I want to start off by saying that I’m sorry for not posting last week. I was working on some other stuff, including (mostly) stabilizing an outline in my mind for my 4-H story. But now that we’re in April, I think it’s time to discuss the big purplish-pink alien in the room.

It’s taken 10 years and 18 movies to get to this point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the next four movies will be the end of everything that they’ve been building up to. Here’s a couple statements from the Russo Brothers and Kevin Feige about what to expect in Avengers: Infinity War:

My brother and I believe in stakes. I believe that everything has to have an end at some point in order for it to have value. The audience should be prepared. —Joe Russo

We’ll say this. We like mature storytelling. We like dramatic storytelling. We like intense storytelling. I think we appreciate conflict, and we appreciate stakes. And without stakes, there really isn’t a lot of value to the story. And I think if you look at the Marvel Universe as a whole, as a story that’s been told for ten years, you can look at this as the climax. And the stakes will be higher in this movie than they’ve ever been, times ten. —Anthony Russo

Interviewer: One criticism you’ve gotten is when somebody dies in a Marvel movie, they tend to come back in some way. If it happens, will it be for real this time?
Kevin Feige: Yes. I mean, I could always list off the characters that we’ve killed in our movies that haven’t come back, but the big ones, which I know they’re looking at …? [Pause.] I would just say, yes. People need to be careful what they wish for.

While I can appreciate all these things from a storytelling perspective, it’s also very crappy.

Now, that being said, most of the characters in the Marvel Universe have been confirmed for Avengers 4. Either by officially confirming it on the internet, or by being spotted on set filming, or by having their stunt doubles listed for the movie. So that means that there will either be hardly any deaths in Infinity War and everyone will die in the fourth Avengers movie, or some use of one of the Infinity Stones (specifically the Time, Soul, or Reality Stones) will bring back characters in Avengers 4 who had previously died.

So. Let’s begin.

The order that I’m listing people will be somewhat grouped by who normally hangs out in each other’s movies, starting with the oldest, most established characters first. This order will be fairly flimsy and unorganized though, so bear with me.

• Tony Stark (Iron Man)

Confirmed for Avengers 4

There is an extremely limited chance of Tony making it out of both Avengers movies alive. Robert Downey Jr. has no films left in his contract and has been working on a movie by movie basis, and he’s been hinting for a while that he’s ready to be done.

• Pepper Potts

Confirmed for Avengers 4

Pepper’s chances aren’t that much better than Tony’s. If he dies, then she would almost be a loose end that would need to be cut. And even if he survives, then she could still die. She might even put on the suit again and sacrifice herself to save him.

• James “Rhodey” Rhodes (War Machine)

Confirmed for Avengers 4

Rhodey would almost definitely be dead in this movie if he hadn’t been crippled in Captain America: Civil War. That injury will probably save him, because if they wanted him dead, they would have killed him, not crippled him.

• Happy Hogan

Confirmed for Avengers 4

Happy is also fairly safe. He probably won’t be playing a very big role in this movie. The only reason for him to die would be to motivate Tony in some way, and since there are about thirty other people who could do that, there doesn’t seem to be much of a point to it. Plus his connection to Spider-Man (his connection to another franchise) would possibly give him a place in more movies.

• Nick Fury

Confirmed for Avengers 4, but not for Infinity War??

Nick Fury started the ball rolling in Iron Man, and it would be somewhat poetic for him to die at the end of this period of the Marvel Universe. Not that that’s going to happen. I mean, he’s already cheated death once.

• Phil Coulson

So far there has been no word of Coulson being in Avengers: Infinity War or Avengers 4, so he’ll probably survive simply because he’s not there. Apparently, the reason he hasn’t made an appearance after the first Avengers movie is that it would be confusing for people who just watch the movies and think he’s still dead. The next (and maybe last time) we’ll see him in a movie will be in Captain Marvel. But I guess absent and alive is better than nothing.

• Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow)

Confirmed for Avengers 4

Nat seems pretty safe, even though she’s been around since Iron Man 2. For one thing, there’s finally going to be a Black Widow movie (even though that could be set in the past as an origin story), and for another, the makeup of the Avengers team, in general, has a lotta dudes.

• Clint Barton (Hawkeye)

Confirmed for Avengers 4

Everything surrounding Clint lately is just weird. He isn’t in the trailers. The Russo Brothers claim that he’s on a special solo mission in IW. And it’s possible that he’s taking on the mantle of Ronin. Jeremy Renner probably still has another movie in his contract, and there’s been talk of a Hawkeye solo movie, so I guess he’ll survive? Maybe?

• Steve Rodgers (Captain America)

Confirmed for Avengers 4

If Tony doesn’t die, then Steve basically has to. And that’s the optimistic viewpoint, because they’re probably both going to die. Steve hasn’t been around as long as Tony has (well, movie-wise), but Chris Evans’s contract has been fulfilled, and like RDJ, he’s talked about being done with Marvel movies. Along with that, there’s the fact that either Bucky Barnes or Sam Wilson could pick up the mantle of Cap, like they have in the comics. So it’s really not looking good.

• James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes (Winter Soldier/White Wolf)

Confirmed for Avengers 4

For Bucky, I can say that I’m 99.9% sure that he will not die in Avengers: Infinity War or Avengers 4 without coming back to life. Sebastian Stan has a nine-movie contract and has only done three of those movies so far. After the next two Avengers movies, it would literally make no sense to have four movies that are set in the past, so, if no one else, Bucky will make it.

• Sam Wilson (Falcon)

Confirmed for Avengers 4

Sam is also ~probably~ okay. He’s a new-ish character, he has potential to be more than a supporting character, and he could take up the Captain America mantle. Plus, he and Bucky have a kind of dynamic duo thing going on that would be good for future movies.

• Thor

Confirmed for Avengers 4

Thor is very confusing to me, but I think he’s going to make it (even though Thanos is squishing his head like a grape in the trailer.) Chris Hemsworth has expressed interest in doing a Thor 4 with Taika Waititi, which doesn’t seem like something one would do with a dead character, and Thor has just become king of Asgard, so dying and leaving the throne to Loki would be a bad idea. BUT, Thor’s kinda come full circle. He’s completed his character arc, so he might die anyway.

• Loki

~Probably confirmed for Avengers 4

Loki’s almost definitely doomed in this movie or Avengers 4. And maybe it’s better if he just dies doing something good, like betraying Thanos, because then he won’t have the chance to do something stupid again and mess it up. That being said, I couldn’t find anywhere if he was in Avengers 4 or not. Tom Hiddleston’s contract is probably a six-movie deal, which could include Avengers 4. But I don’t know.

• Heimdall

Heimdall is confirmed for Avengers: Infinity War, but as of yet there’s no news for Avengers 4. So either he doesn’t play a huge role in IW and isn’t around for the next movie, or he doesn’t fare too well when Thanos’s ship comes along. (Sorry, Mom.)

• Valkyrie

Valkyrie’s also confirmed for IW, but not for Avengers 4. However, she’s a really new character with plenty of potential, and if Thor and Loki both die, then she’s probably the rightful ruler of the Asgardians, so I don’t see her dying off anytime soon.

• Bruce Banner (Hulk)

Confirmed for Avengers 4

Bruce is also probably safe, because Mark Ruffalo still has a film in his contract after the fourth Avengers movie. So unless that movie’s set in the past (which it could be, I guess), Hulk and Banner should make it through.

 

And here is where I’m going to end this post, because it’s already really long, and I’m not even halfway through the list of characters. So next Thursday you can expect “A Deep Analysis of Who’s Going to Die in Avengers: Infinity War (Part 2).”