After ten years of building anticipation the Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to release its penultimate culmination of films with Avengers Infinity War.
With over twenty heroes to deal with Thanos; the series long teased and finally realised villain has a lot on his hands to deal with, but with the infinity gauntlet in his grasp he looks to be making short work of them all in the trailer.
The Russo brothers, directing, have delivered on their previous promises of consequences in the MCU with the Avengers still split after the events of Civil War.
This time around the promise of at least one death in the film has fans concerned about their favourite hero biting the big one.
We’ll give the odds on each for of the Avengers chances to die, considering their comic history, MCU development and the state of Marvel’s contracts with their actors and sequels.
Captain America 3:1
The First Avenger, the lovable star spangled man has had some of Marvels most important and successful outings in film. He’s the team leader and his dedication and will are an inspiration to his allies.
Currently in the MCU he’s a fugitive running from the law, even dropping the mantle of Captain America. Given that Chris Evan’s contract is already up, chances are good old Steve Roger’s is already on borrowed time.
Famously the Mark Miller Civil War comic run killed off the character in a shocking assassination and let’s not forget his previous run in with Thanos in the 80’s comic book where he stood down the Mad Titan mano-a-mano, with all this considered it’s easy to see this moment going sour for Steve if they choose to recreate it in the film.
That gives Captain America 3:1 odds to die and makes him our favourite.
After all there’s only one thing more inspirational than a hero, a dead hero.
Iron man 5:1
If Kevin Feige is the overlord of the MCU Robert Downey Jr. is the Godfather. Iron man released in 2008 kicked off this whole ordeal and fans owe a lot of that success to RDJ’s charismatic portrayal of Tony Stark.
Nothing lasts forever though and RDJ has already had is contract renewed at great expense to Marvel. Given the powerful actor enjoys using his cache to influence and adapt stories to suit his character, he already pilfered Hank Pym’s Ultron origin, chances are he’ll want to go out with a bang and what more bang than an epic sacrifice ala Captain America from the Infinity Gauntlet arc in 1991.
Hulk 25:1
Hulk is the power house of the team and Mark Ruffalo has said how much fun he has in the role. He’s certainly not looking for an out but even Hulk isn’t safe against the likes of Thanos and without the actual rights to make their own standalone Hulk film, there’s a chance marvel could use the opportunity to end the characters run. It’s unlikely, but would certainly be a shock to fans and the team.
Thor 15:1
After the runaway success of Ragnarok, Thor has finally hit his stride in the MCU. He’s lost his hammer and his eye but somehow is more powerful than ever.
But with Feige’s three and done philosophy to his films, Thor is the latest Avenger to finish his trilogy, making him a potential target for the MCU.
Chris Hemsworth helmed two of the least successful Marvel films, with his sequel Thor: the Dark World rated lowest of them all on Rotten Tomatoes. New contract discussions makes his death unlikely but not impossible given that nothing has been agreed yet.
Black Widow 10:1
Marvel’s first lady, Black Widow has been a staple since Iron Man but with no film of her own the character has always been somewhat of a mystery.
Rumours that Scarlett Johansson is pushing for a Widow centred film could go either way for the character in infinity. It’s not impossible her film will be an origin story in the past, perhaps a buddy movie with her pal Hawkeye. Not to mention that Black Widow as a low powered human combatant makes her extremely vulnerable in the fight against titans.
Hawkeye 8:1
Everyone’s favourite archer could be about to meet his end here as he only just escaped age of Ultron thanks to Quicksilver’s sacrifice.
The introduction of his adorable family in that film could make his death a little more insensitive to audiences. A human archer in a fight with gods suffers the same issue as Black Widow though and with Renner’s career taking off in critically acclaimed films, the actor may be looking for an out of the MCU to free up some more time.
Scarlet Witch 25:1
With potentially huge stories in her future, I’m looking at you House of M, it would be a waste to lose the character so soon after only appearing in two films so far.
Vision 5:1
Despite appearing in the trailer in a more human form, most of us know what’s in store for vision. With Thanos chasing the Infinity stones and one of them being implanted in Vision’s head, it doesn’t take a genius to see how this one is going to go down. Sure he is one of the team’s most powerful members, essentially a cybernetic superman, it seems unlikely he’ll fare too well.
In regards to that clip with Wanda, well her reality warping powers may have more to do with that any actual survival.
Winter Soldier/White Wolf 50:1
End credit scenes in marvel seem to be where Bucky Barnes is happiest and given his latest appearance in Black Panther added and interesting development for him and a new code name.
In the comics Bucky takes the mantle of captain America after Steve Roger’s death and it could be that this is the direction the MCU is taking.
For now we reckon the White Wolf is pretty safe.
Spider-man 100:1
With a Spider-man homecoming sequel in the works we’d say this guys is as safe as anyone. In the first trailer we saw Spider-man looking like he was in a lot of trouble but Tom Holland’s lovable Peter Parker has some stories to tell yet.
Black Panther 500:1
Making over one billion dollars in near record time makes Black panther a shoe-in to make it out of infinity war, purely from a business perspective. Much of the film appears to take place in his home country of Wakanda and I’d bet he’s more likely to take over as team leader than kick the proverbial bucket.
Guardians 20:1
With a third instalment in the works for the guardians the team is likely to escape the Infinity war with their lives. Given that Groot already sacrificed himself once before and survived, we guess he’ll be fine this time around.
Keep an eye on Drax and Nebula though a these two have some particularly personal vendettas against Thanos and could be the ones to bring him down for good.
With all said and done, this is a super hero film where death is rarely a permanent state. The chances of these characters coming back in the future is twice as likely as any of them dying in the first place.
Photo Credits to Marvel: http://marvel.com/comics/events/29/infinity_war
