This May's, ahem, April's Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of a decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The showdown with the Mad Titan Thanos has been built up for years and it is safe to say that this villain is the greatest threat Earth's mightiest heroes have ever faced. As such, fans are preparing themselves for major deaths in this film. But will Marvel really pull the trigger? After all, the biggest deaths to date were Phil Coulson in The Avengers and the just-introduced Quicksilver in Age of Ultron. Well, Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. wants everyone to know that Avengers: Infinity War will be every bit as serious as it has been made out to be, saying:
Believe me, I'm tired of every movie, you know, "It's the end! It's Armageddon! It's the Be All, End All, Forever!" And then it's... not. This one actually is.They're not kidding. This is a heads-will-roll scenario.
That is exciting to hear. While none of us want to see our heroes die, so many films build up the threat only for everyone to escape unscathed in the end. The world-ending threat is so common, both in other films and the MCU, that in order for the danger to feel real, there have to be consequences. If Thanos is to live up to his potential as the greatest MCU villain, if he is to come off as scary and powerful and dangerous and unbeatable, there have to be losses and heads have to roll. I think that this is what we've all been expecting, but to hear Robert Downey Jr. confirm it to Entertainment Weekly just makes the anticipation for his film all the more intense. We basically know that the MCU will not be the same after this film and with Avengers 4 still shrouded in mystery, we don't know how much resolution we will even get in Infinity War.
Kevin Feige also spoke to the Magazine and he too seemed to be prepping us for character deaths and a bittersweet finale to this chapter in the MCU, saying:
It's safe to say we will say farewell to people. The notion of an ending, the notion of a finale, became very intriguing to us, in large part because you don't see it that often in this particular genre.
We have speculated for some time about what will happen after Avengers 3 & 4 and what Phase 4 will entail. Will things be reset? Who carries over? Who dies? What will this universe look like going forward? These are all relevant questions. Kevin Feige's comments make these questions all the more interesting, as it is clear that Infinity War is meant to close the chapter on this part of the saga. The events of this film, including the deaths, will demarcate the MCU canon into what happened before and what happened after. This is intriguing and exciting and a little sad as we will likely be saying goodbye to at least one Avenger.
As to whose head might roll, it is tough to say. Hawkeye is still absent from trailers and marketing raising the concern that the family man who is good at archery may have finally taken on an enemy too far out of his league to survive. There is also the possibility that MCU catalyst Robert Downey Jr. retires from the role or that Chris Evans' Captain America mantle gets passed on to Falcon or Bucky. We don't have too much longer to wait to find out, Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on April 27th.
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