The term plot hole for movie criticism, generally fan criticism, is an extremely problematic, flawed terms. Plot holes have become a catch-all term for anything that someone doesn’t like or feels like didn’t make sense to them. It’s like “hipster” as a pejorative, a meaningless catch-all term that means dozens of things to dozens of people (people have even made video essays to explain you have no f*cking clue what you’re talking about when you’re complaining about what you think is a plot hole; most of the time anyhow). But if there’s ever a time where the term plot hole seems to fit—a gigantic inconsistency that seems to fundamentally break the logic of a movie—Gamora (Zoe Saldana) coming back to life after perishing in “Avengers: Infinity War” sounds like fair use of the term given the rules applied to other characters in similar circumstances.
As stated by Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye in the movie and backed up by the ‘Endgame’ directors, the Russo brothers in several of the long form spoiler special podcast interviews: the Soul Stone exchange is everlasting and cannot be undone. Banner said in the movie when he used the Iron Gauntlet of infinity stones to break the vanished back, he also explicitly tried to bring Natasha, the Black Widow, back from the dead, but his wish didn’t work.
READ MORE: ‘Avengers: Endgame’ 14 Of The Big Questions Answered
“In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul, for a soul,” as the Red Skull says. Aka, once someone dies during the Soul Stone exchange, they are dead for good, and there’s no coming back. This seems to match. Scarlett Johansson is doing a “Black Widow” prequel, but all the filmmakers have basically stated the character is dead and never coming back.
But this leaves us to the loophole paradox of Gamora the filmmakers have left themselves. She too is killed in the Soul Stone exchange when Thanos sacrifices her in order to achieve his despotic goals in ‘Infinity War.’ However, there’s a get-out-of-jail-free maneuver in ‘Endgame’ for their own rules.
The Avengers travel back in time and the Gamora of 2014-ish eventually travels forward in time to 2019 during the climactic Endgame battle, eventually switching teams and betraying Thanos and the forces of darkness. At the end of the movie, in a big tease, Gamora has mysteriously vanished. Peter Quill looks for her on the ship’s monitor, but the “searching…” function never turns up any results, and he quickly shuts it off when others enter the room. Nobody on the ship, aside from Quill, seems to have questioned where she has disappeared to suddenly (which is odd since all the “Guardians Of The Galaxy” know she died in Infinity War, but fought alongside her in ‘Endgame,’ specifically at least Nebula and Mantis. This logic is questionable at best).
Her very existence defies all the MCU rules and or, at least none of the Avengers have figured out if they just used the existing time travel machine that Cap uses at the end of ‘Endgame,’ they could ostensibly bring Nat from the past back to their present day if they wanted.
Long story short. Is Gamora still alive? We never see her vanish along with the rest of Thanos’ army. “The argument could be that Tony wished away all the evil,” Joe Russo told FOX 5 in a recent interview. “Was she evil or just the enemy? Is she still alive? Who knows, that’s a story for another time.” Anthony Russo echoed the sentiment, asking, “If Tony wanted to get rid of Thanos and his entire army, was she still part of his army?”
READ MORE: Russo Brothers Tease Another Chris Evans/Captain America Story To Tell “One Day”
Maybe the collective unconscious of the infinity stones made that call and decide she was no longer evil? Let’s face it; you don’t put a tease like that at the end of a movie for nothing. Gamora is still alive, the argument likely being made she’s not the same Gamora that was killed in ‘Infinity War’ which is kind of bullshit, but whatever.
Marvel isn’t going to let that one sit and James Gunn’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3,” will likely address her whereabouts very specifically. A search for Gamora? It’s hard to say, but Gunn’s previous comments about wanting to close out the story of the ‘Guardians’ family in the third film, his final one of that franchise, it seems like a good bet that Gamora, a key family member, has to fit into that final reconciliation of narrative.
Watch the interview below. “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” is expected to hit theaters in 2021 as of right now.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://theplaylist.net/russos-gamora-alive-dead-20190630/&media=https://cdn.theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/14221317/avengers-infinity-war-gamora.jpg&description=She went missing at the end of "Avengers: Endgame." Is Gamora alive beyond the events of that movie? The Russos weigh in.){kind=link}