Let’s Talk About The Survivors Of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ & How They May Save The MCU

This is obviously a spoiler-laden piece about Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” Proceed at your own risk.

Yes, yes, I know, but we swear this is it for any Avengers “thinkpieces” for the week (I think).

Ok, you’ve seen “Avengers: Infinity War” already, you’ve witnessed the shocking ending, and you’ve maybe even read our thoughts about how reneging on the deaths of these characters could permanently hurt the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Anyhow, yes, as you saw, Thanos achieved his goal, collecting all the Infinity Stones and wiped out half of everyone in the universe with the snap of his fingers, to bring what he believes is balance and order to the universe, as twisted as his worldview is. Many, many Avengers “die,” heroes like Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Winter Soldier, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Nick Fury, Doctor Strange and what appear to be permanent deaths such as Vision and Gamora. And of course, in a twist, many that we had expected to die like Captain America, Thor and Iron Man are still here to fight another day.

So, what comes next? Well, we from the post-credits scene that Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) is coming because Nick Fury calls her with some sort of beeper or pager that looks like it’s from the 1990s. Why hasn’t she intervened in all this given she’s described as the most powerful hero the MCU has yet to introduce and can then presumably stop Thanos? Well, for her sake, let’s hope she wasn’t on Earth all this time and is off somewhere in space (the upcoming “Captain Marvel” movie is described as a bridge between the Earthbound and cosmic sides of the Marvel universe). Arriving in the untitled ‘Avengers 4,’ clearly, she’s going to be an integral part of that movie and presumably helping to undo the catastrophic events of ‘Infinity War.’

But who’s left? Captain America, War Machine, Thor, Black Widow, Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Okoye (and Shuri?) and Rocket Raccoon. Of course, there’s Iron Man on the planet of Titan and given there’s really no cosmic heroes around or anyone with the real knowledge of where he the f*ck he is in the galaxy. There’s more of course, Ant-Man and the Wasp aren’t seen, they have a movie coming up and they’ll likely appear (though Evangeline Lily who plays the Wasp says she doesn’t really appear in the movie which suggests she’s one of the many who disintegrated and “died” at the end of ‘Infinity War’). Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is definitely coming back, and the Russo Brothers and Kevin Feige have promised as much. Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) are not in the film and presumably could have lived (though even Feige wouldn’t commit when I asked him if Coulson was alive in the movie universe, not the ABC TV one, which doesn’t really cross over as much as it would love to have any real impact). Even Erik Selvig’s (Stellan Skarsgård) mind could probably be of some use. If you wanna run everyone else down, there’s also Agent 13, Everett Ross, Sif, and Nakia.

But there are four others who may be critical to saving the universe or reversing the ending events of ‘Infinity War’ (which again, is a bit lame if everything is undone and therefore nothing was truly at stake). Presumably, you’re going to need magical, mystical and possibly cosmic elements to save the universe. What many have forgotten is that Wong (Benedict Wong), Doctor Strange’s partner in crime, is presumably still alive and his magic will likely be critical. There’s also Valkryie (Tessa Thompson), who we didn’t see in the Asgardian slaughter and could also be key in possessing things like spaceships and a means to travel across the galaxy with more earthbound characters (hey, maybe it’s possible that she somehow finds Tony Stark stranded on Titan). There’s also Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), whose genius could really help out. Lastly, Nebula (Karen Gillian) is out there too and her cosmic abilities should, coupled with everyone else’s aforementioned abilities, perhaps merge together to defeat Thanos and restore the universe to the way it was (presuming that’s what they’re going to do and not go forward with a timeline where half the populace is dead). Nebula even importantly factors into the comics storyline of “The Infinity Gauntlet” (the presumed title of ‘Avengers 4’). Update: Apparently she’s still on Titan, guess I missed that.

Maybe even the Collector’s (Benicio del Toro) alive, though what his abilities are and how he could help remains unclear.

But the comics storyline are affected by the fact that people like Galactus and the Silver Surfer aren’t available to Marvel. My guess? And sure this is really broad, but Ant-Man and Pym’s ability to reach into the untapped Quantum realm, coupled with Wong’s magical abilities might be the key to traveling back in time and erasing what’s been done (let’s face it, we’re going to have to use some sort of time travel to undo these things as lame as that kind of is since it was already utilized twice in “Doctor Strange” and then briefly in ‘Infinity War’).

There’s also a theory over at Screencrush that I like and think is interesting: Doctor Strange saw the future and millions of outcomes against Thanos and realized there was essentially no hope. But he does, after claiming the time stone is more important than anyone, hand it over to Thanos in order to save Tony Stark’s life. It’s possible he’s seen that one iteration of time and history where Tony will be integral to defeating Thanos and restoring order. Of course, I’m betting it’s going to be a combination of all these things and no one person is going to defeat Thanos or reboot the entire universe. That is unless Hawkeye’s got that special arrow he’s been keeping all this time.

In conclusion, lots of heroes and characters have survived ‘Infinity War,’ we may see all or some of them in ‘Avengers 4,’ and some likely are going to be essential to saving the galaxy. Speculate on and let me know what you think.