Carlos Bastarache: ThanosFeature

Marvel

[Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War, obviously]

You’ve read the interviews, you’ve marveled over the record-breaking success, and you’ve gone through every tiny detail. So let’s get to the good (but also sad) stuff: Avengers: Infinity War‘s deaths. We placed odds before the superhero film came out, and now it’s time to see which characters we correctly predicted would meet their demise, and rank how tragic their death scenes were.

6. The heroes who disintegrated

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If Marvel actually has the stones to kill Black Panther, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Winter Soldier, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Star-Lord, Groot, Drax, Mantis, Nick Fury, and Maria Hall, who all crumbled into flakes after the all-powerful Thanos snaps his fingers, that would be the boldest move in blockbuster history. However, it’s extremely (I can’t stress that word enough) unlikely that we’ve seen the last of Chadwick Boseman, the star of a billion dollar-grossing movie; or Tom Holland or Chris Pratt, considering sequels to Spider-Man Homecoming and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 have already been announced; or Sebastian Stan, who hasn’t completed his nine-picture contract; or Samuel L. Jackson, because he’s Samuel Motherf*cking L. Jackson. I would be especially bummed if Infinity War was the last we saw of Drax and Mantis, who have become the MCU’s comedy dream team. (I would be less sad about Star-Lord never returning, considering his arrogance led to Marvel’s The Leftovers) But considering it’s well established in the canon that anyone can turn back time if they’re in possession of the Time Stone, I would bet the (Hawkeye’s) farm that everyone here is coming back, hence the low rating.

5. The Collector (probably?)

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R.I.P. Tobias.

4. Heimdall

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The impossibly cool, impossibly handsome Idris Elba is way too famous to be the 17th highest-billed actor in Infinity War. He’s Stringer Bell! He’s Luther! He’s… in Pacific Rim! So while it sucks, in theory, that the MCU is losing Bifrost Bridge guardian Heimdall (who had his hero moment in Thor: Ragnarok), it’s a win-win for everyone involved: Elba is free to do other projects, and we get to enjoy Elba’s other projects, like a Netflix series where he plays a struggling DJ.

3. Vision

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If I was building an Avengers Dream Team, I wouldn’t pick Iron Man or Captain America first — I’d go with Vision, then Scarlet Witch, and the rest of the team wouldn’t matter. They’re almost too powerful — he’s a flying computer who can pick up Thor’s hammer like it’s no big deal, and she’s a near-unstoppable mystic — which is why one of them had to go, and it happened to be the guy with the Mind Stone in his head. Vision died the way he didn’t live, as a human (or as “human adjacent” as an android can be), which is medium tragic. Less so: the end of his romance with Scarlet Witch, which was never established enough to make us care. Even Christopher Markus, who co-wrote Infinity War, pointed out, “Chemistry-wise, he’s a robot, she’s a witch. It’s one of those relationships where you wonder, should this be working?” We have our answer.

2. Loki

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Infinity War set the stakes early but having Thanos kill Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston in more movies than months he dated Taylor Swift. Of course, Thor’s brother, ever the rogue trickster, has perished before, but his death here felt more permanent. At least, it should remain permanent. Infinity War is already getting a lot of guff for its finale, which will almost assuredly be undone by Avengers 4, and if Loki were to rise again too, what’s the point of anything? This question applies to Marvel movies, and life itself. The real tragedy: the MCU has lost its best two villains, Loki and Killmonger, in consecutive movies.

1. Gamora

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It was obvious where the scene was going as soon as Red Skull explained that the only way Thanos could acquire the Soul Stone is if he sacrificed the soul of someone he loved (“A soul for a Soul”). But that didn’t stop the tears from flowing when he threw Gamora, his daughter (sort of), into a pit on Vormir. It’s the second most moving scene in Infinity War, after Spider-Man clutching onto Tony Stark out of fear before fading away, and an emotional linchpin for everything that follows. Of course, Zoe Saldana may have already casually revealed the title of Avengers 4 and that she’s in it, but maybe (hopefully) it’s only a flashback appearance. Losing Gamora, one of the strongest female characters in Marvel’s catalogue, is a big blow, but it’s one that needs to stick.