We’re still a long way from seeing the incredible conclusion of the Infinity War in theaters, but until then it is up to us to speculate, investigate, and just plain old guess. Its fun to think about what may or may not go down at the conclusion of the MCU’s Phase 4, so in that spirit here are 5 Things We Think We Know
1. Captain Marvel Will Play A Major Role
The traditional post-credits scene of Infinity War showed Nick Fury turning on some heavily-modified pager before evaporating into dust along with Maria Hill. The pager’s screen showed the Captain Marvel logo, summoning her to Earth to help out. A lot of questions about Captain Marvel (played by Brie Larson) will be answered in her upcoming movie, but we can say with certainty that she’s got a big role to play in restoring the universe after Thanos wiped out half the inhabitants. Kevin Feige is on record having said Carol Danvers will be one of the most powerful characters introduced into the MCU thus far, which is pretty impressive considering that includes Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch and Hulk. The cosmic side of the MCU is a lot of fun, so it will be good to have Captain Marvel expand it.
2. Other Characters Will Step Up
Marvel has done a great job of adapting comic storylines while not following them beat for beat. It would be impossible to directly adapt many of the comic’s most iconic stories but some of the best movies have come from arcs like Civil War. So what changes are going to have to happen in Infinity War Part 2? For one, we’ll be missing some key characters from the MCU. Most notably, Adam Warlock plays a huge role in the defeat of Thanos but he is being saved for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. That means someone like Captain Marvel or Dr. Strange might end up being the ones to wield the Infinity Gauntlet and put things back together. Then there are characters like Rocket who don’t play a major role in the comics but have been left as part of the ragtag group of heroes left to battle Thanos. Expect him and some of the others to have an increased role in the upcoming film.
3. Heroes Will Die (For Real)
One of the tropes of comic books is that no one stays dead forever. There is always some way to bring beloved characters back from the grave after enough time has passed. But, the movies are a different animal. Many of the MCU’s original actors like Chis Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr. are approaching the end of their contracts. We don’t think Marvel is likely to just recast the roles once these iconic actors leave them, which leaves us only two options: retirement or death. Guys like Steve Rogers aren’t the kind to just hang up the shield and sit on the sidelines, so be prepared for a heroic sacrifice or two at the end of Infinity War.
4. Ant-Man and Captain Marvel Will Affect Infinity War
The Russo brothers, who are directing Infinity War 1 and 2 had some interesting things to say when talking about the movies in between their two films. To paraphrase, they saw having two movies between their magnum opus as an opportunity, not a hinderence. It’s public knowledge that Captain Marvel takes place in the 90s, well before the events of Infinity War. Still though, due to the cosmic nature of the story don’t be surprised if the movie ties into Infinity War more than people expect, especially with Marvel’s penchant for post-credit teasers.
The upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp is even more interesting, with many people speculating the story runs concurrent with Infinity War. Many people believe the Quantum Realm will play a big part defeating Thanos and if any of Scott’s family turn to dust at the end of the movie that will be more than enough motivation for him to join the fight in Part 2.
5. The Original Team Is There For A Reason
Good storytellers don’t do anything by accident. When the dust settled at the end of Infinity War, our original six Avengers were all left standing: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, and (presumably) Hawkeye. As we mentioned before this will likely be the end of the line for some of our favorite characters from Phase 1 so keeping them all around for the next movie seems like a way to give them the screen time they deserve before an epic send off. We hope we get at least one more “Avenger’s Assemble” and “Hulk, smash” by the time the credits roll.
A side note on the absence of Hawkeye. The Russo’s said they kept Hawkeye off-screen because they are cooking up a good storyline for him for the next Avengers movie. There’s a lot of possibilities here but Hawkeye took up the mantle of Ronin after the events of Civil War in the comics and it would be great to see Jeremy Renner unleash with a pair of katanas. For what it’s worth, the Ronin costume is also MUCH cooler than Hawkeye’s getup.
