What's next for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Avengers: Infinity War isn’t just the most epic Marvel movie to date — both in terms of roster and box-office earnings — it’s also the biggest bloodbath in the franchise’s history. Joe and Anthony Russo’s all-star spectacular begins by dispatching some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s long-running characters and doesn’t let up for the remainder of its two-and-a-half-hour run time. Suffice it to say, not everybody makes it out alive. Nonetheless, as those who’ve already seen the film now know, Infinity War’s deaths aren’t created equal. While certain figures have surely come to the end of their MCU runs, others seem destined to return — albeit in ways that haven’t yet been fully revealed. We won’t have answers to those questions until the May 2019 debut of the as-yet-untitled Avengers 4. Yet that’s not stopping us from breaking down which heroes and villains we think are really gone, which are sorta-kinda-maybe finished, and which are definitely destined for resurrection — and the means by which that last group might rise again.