7 Characters Who Won't Survive Avengers: Endgame And Why
Over half of the universe and half of the characters we were cheering for were wiped out in Infinity War. The movie was alight with chaos, culminating in a character death toll that exceeds anything we’ve seen in any of the previous Marvel movies. And yet, Infinity War is only a taste of what we should expect to happen in Endgame, a teaser to prepare you for what will be the final installment in Marvel’s first storyline.
From what we’ve seen, the characters who were done in by the snap will be coming back. We already know Spider-Man will return in his upcoming sequel, and Doctor Strange even has a sequel in the works. But what about the characters who’ve already had their trilogies--the characters who’ve been here since the beginning? If death comes once again in this movie--like we all know it will--we’re sure there are going to be some characters who won’t come back. We have about seven of them in mind. We also, of course, know of some characters who definitely won’t be kicking the bucket anytime soon. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Characters Who Are Safe
So let’s get this out of the way. We’ve already mentioned that Spider-Man and Doctor Strange are definitely out. Marvel announced that both of them have sequels coming soon (Spider-Man this year) so keeping them dusted in Endgame would be a bit awkward.
There’s also another character who can fall in this list as well. Black Widow has a movie coming out too. So, keeping that in mind, killing her off wouldn’t make any sense. Sure, she could have a prequel trilogy all too herself that takes place before she ever makes it into S.H.I.E.L.D, but that seems highly unlikely. Nick Fury has an appearance in Spider-Man: Far From Home, which take place after Endgame, so he also can't join the list of potential walking dead.
We’re also going to count out any of the characters who haven’t yet finished their trilogies. This means that characters like Ant-Man and Black Panther will be making a return to the MCU. Both of their movies have done well for themselves, and--in a financial sense--it would be nonsensical for Marvel not to close out their trilogies.
Captain Marvel also doesn’t make any sense to kill off yet either. Her first movie is only coming out a month before Endgame. She’s just being introduced. Even if her movie bombs--which isn’t very likely--they’re not going to kill her off in a movie coming out only a month later.
The Guardians of The Galaxy look like they’ll be getting their third movie as well. Disney has announced that despite, getting rid of James Gunn, they will be using his script. Now, the only question here is whether or not all the Guardians will be making a return. Right now, it seems likely that everyone will be coming back, aside for maybe Gamura, considering the ceremonious way she was killed.
Iron Man
This is one of the two elephants in the room. Iron Man is the pioneer of the MCU. He’s arguably the main character of the franchise and easily the most beloved one too. But his now famous line in the Endgame trailer sums up his story: “Part of the journey is the end.” With the whiff of the death in the air for Endgame, it would make sense if Iron Man’s end was actually just that--his death.
As sad as it would be to see the end of RDJ’s Tony Stark, it would make sense for the character. Tony started out as someone who didn’t care about human life. He reveled in the success that bringing death to thousands brought him and even joked about how peace would put him out of business. Even in the very first Avengers, Captain America called Tony out for his selfishness, claiming he was incapable of laying down his life for his fellow man.
But since putting on the Iron Man armor for the first time, we’ve seen Tony change. He’s gone from being the guy who doesn’t care about human life, to doing everything in his power to try and preserve it. He’s rid the world of his weapons, tried to sacrifice himself to save New York, and even attempted to save the Avengers the trouble of putting their lives on the line. Even Pepper’s constantly worried about whether or not she’s in a relationship with a dead man, considering his double life as Iron Man.
With all of this in mind, it would make sense if Tony’s story ended with him dying for his fellow man instead profiting off their deaths.
Hawkeye
Ever since Avengers: Age of Ultron, Hawkeye has been a symbol for something that the rest of the heroes strive for: a normal life (this is especially the case with Tony Stark). We see in Age of Ultron that Clint has a secret family. While this was an unexpected turn of events, it was also a sensible one. Clint's probably the most normal out of the group.
He has a wife and kids and even decided to retire to be with them. That’s what any superhero would dream of if they’ve spent of a good chunk of their lives warding off doomsday threats from psychopaths.
But recently, Clint Bart has lost everything. His family has died. We don’t know the exact circumstances behind it, but Endgame has shown us Ronin--Hawkeye’s more vicious persona. There would be no reason for a family man to become someone like Ronin if everything was fine and dandy in his life.
Now, we don’t know how exactly Clint’s family died. It could have been from the snap, but he was out killing people in the east, and Endgame's filmmakers have said that Hawkeye will be on his own journey in the movie. So maybe the guys he killed in the trailer had something to do with his family's death in Endgame?
Regardless, if Marvel wanted Endgame to end on a higher note than Infinity War, but still wanted it to leave audiences with a sense of dread, killing off the representation of the “end of the hero life” would be the best way to do it.
Thanos
As the villain of the MCU, Thanos dying seems like a no-brainer. We’ve rarely seen any villain in Marvel leave a movie with their life intact. The only possible exception of a true villain escaping might be Loki, and even then, Thanos crushed his windpipe in Infinity War.
Thanos might end up spared from his pre-determined fate, however, if we consider him the protagonist of Infinity War. Thanos was the primary player in the movie, the filmmakers said as much and showed as much with his story throughout. So maybe he has a redemption arc within Endgame that requires him to be alive--never know. Still, there’s was no outright statement suggesting that he was the protagonist, so this is just speculation.
If anything Thanos is indeed a villain and will probably fall prey to the trend that most Marvel villains find themselves in. Here’s hoping to the opposite, but history tells us otherwise.
Nebula
Nebula’s whole story revolved around Thanos. Her entire motivation has been to kill him for the pain that he’s put her through all her life. If Endgame is supposed to be the end of Thanos’s story, then it would also effectively be the end of Nebula’s, there would be nothing left for her.
There was a time when she wanted Gamura dead too for being an unconscious party to her torture, but that sentiment changed back in the second Guardians movie. She no longer hates Gamura; rather she actually sees her as a sister now.
With Thanos gone, Nebula will have completed her journey. They could, of course, find more things for her to do if they wanted, but if they bring Gamura back, it’ll probably be more interesting to see how she deals with Nebula dying after the two of them had just started trying to get to know one another again.
Rocket
This is probably a character no really expected to be on this list: Rocket kind of flies under the radar when it comes to these types of things. That’s one of the reasons he would be perfect for it though. He’s just popular enough and just obscure enough in the grand scheme of things for a character death to be surprising. Let’s take a look at what he’s been through.
When we originally met Rocket, the only person he cared about at all was Groot. Everyone else was just a payday waiting to happen. But since becoming one of the members of the Guardians, he’s settled down a little; he’s a lot more caring than he tends to let on. A good example is in the way he treats Thor in Infinity War.
As it stands, however, Rocket has had to watch Groot die on him twice now, and the second time was worse than the first. The rest of his crew was also destroyed this time, leaving him the only man (rodent?) standing. So, if Endgame decides to go for an ironic twist, killing off the only guardian member to survive everything unscathed would be a way to do it. Having Groot come back just to see Rocket die would suck, but make sense thematically.
The Hulk
Another character you probably didn’t think would appear on this list.
The thing about the Hulk is that most treat his standalone movie as something that doesn’t exist. It was the least successful of the bunch and faith in live-action Hulk movies has dwindled down to nothing. So, instead of progressing through his own solo films, Hulk’s journey has been told through other heroes movies. Things have seemed to work out better for him this way.
But with no real hope of getting any more standalone movies, Hulk's journey will also end with Endgame, and we can see him going out with a bang.
As the Avengers are divided, and the Hulk has a personal relationship with each of the original members individually--except possibly Hawkeye and Cap (whom he may bond with more in Endgame)--he may end up playing a role similar to that of Phil Coulson in the first Avengers.
Captain America
The second big elephant in the room--Chris Evans portrayal of Steve Rogers is one of the best changes made to the character in and out of movies. But Chris has been talking about leaving the role of Cap behind for quite some time now. Endgame would be the perfect movie for him to do that in.
Most of the Endgame footage we’ve seen centers around Captain America. The second half of the trailer revolves around him, and what he’s going to do about Thanos’ actions. It features others in their mourning, yes, but most of the focus lies with him. From the looks of things he’s getting more screen time in Endgame, and that seems to come from the idea that it’s because it will be his final run.
Beyond that, a heroic death seems to make the most sense for Steve’s character. Steve has always been someone willing to go above and beyond to try and do the right thing. He was willing to jump on a grenade even before he became Captain America and had his honorable traits amplified.
Lately, we've seen faults in Steve’s moral compass. He’s willing to bend his ideals for characters like Bucky because he’s so attached to his past. He even split apart earth’s greatest defense just to have a shot at clearing Bucky’s mind control. For a character who normally thinks about the consequences to actions, it’s obvious his judgment has become clouded. We can see him sacrificing himself heroically not only to serve his own morals but to repair the relationships with the people of his present, and to even try and merge them with the relationships of his past.
