Which Avengers: Infinity War Deaths Are Permanent?

The Infinity War death count is the highest of any MCU movie. Let's look at everyone who dies and who might come back in Avengers: Endgame.

Warning: This article contains MAJOR Avengers: Infinity War spoilers. If you’re looking for Avengers: Endgame info, go here instead!

Avengers: Infinity War does not skimp on its death count. This is an MCU movie with real consequences in which we see many of our favorite characters die. The last few minutes of the movie, in fact, are an exercise in pain and figuring out which MCU characters are truly your favorite, as you watch 50% of them disappear into ash, bartering internally (and probably, in some moviegoers’ cases, aloud) with the MCU gods to spare certain characters and take others.

There’s a lot that happens in Avengers: Infinity War, and it can be hard to keep track of who lives and who dies in the course of the story. Therefore, we’ve compiled this handy guide for who dies in Infinity War—complete with how they died, who only maybe died, and which characters might have a chance of coming back in Avengers: Endgame.

Note: This article does not include minor villains because who has time for that?

Characters who die the old-fashioned way.

Most of the characters who die in Infinity War are taken out with Thanos’ finger-snapping in the film’s third act, but there’s still some old-fashioned MCU death elsewhere in the movie. Here are all of the characters who die before Thanos’ ash-flavored rapture.

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Heimdall

Idris Elba sees the writing on the MCU wall and gets out of this movie early on, but he sure does make his death is worth it. Already dying following Thanos’ ransacking of the Asgardian refugee vessel, Heimdall uses his dying breath to open the bifrost and send Hulk to Earth, effectively giving the Avengers a warning that Thanos is coming. Thanos kills him for the act.

read more – Avengers: Endgame Trailer Breakdown and Analysis

Odds of coming back: Unlikely. The MCU never gave Idris Elba the screen time he deserved. If I were Elba, I would find a franchise that does. 

Loki

This one hits hard, setting the stakes for the rest of the movie. The God of Mischief to the very last, Loki pretends to offer his wily services to Thanos as he moves into position to try to take out the gem-collecting madman with a knife to the something. Alas, Thanos is much too smart for this, stopping Loki’s stab in its tracks and skewering him with his own massive weapon. Damn, what a way to start this film.

Odds of coming back: Pretty likely. Marvel is developing a TV series starring Tom Hiddleston!

Gamora

Gamora was one of the chief badasses of this movie, stabbing Thanos multiple times, even though it broke her heart to seemingly kill the sociopath who raised her. She met her untimely end, however, when Thanos threw her off a mystical cliff on Vormir in order to secure the Soul Stone.

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Odds of coming back: Likely. Gamora is one of the stars of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and Red Skull’s yammering about the price of the Soul Stone seemed to be open to a lot of interpretation. Director James Gunn has stated that his characters’ stories all have to conclude in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, not here. Of course, Gunn is no longer directing that film (having moved on to the competition’s Suicide Squad 2 instead), but it’s looking likely that some version of his script will be used.

Vision

Always the overachiever, Vision actually gets in not one, but two deaths in this movie. First, he dies at the hands of Wanda, as she destroys the Mind Stone that gives him life. Then, he dies when Thanos’ pries the Mind Stone from his forehead, after reversing time to bring Vision back to life. Poor bot.

Odds of coming back: Hard to say. Vision seems pretty dead. Then again, he is an android. Maybe Tony has his personality backed up on a hard drive somewhere?

Characters who die in Thanos’ culling.

In one fell swoop, Thanos wipes out 50% of the people not only on Earth, but in the entire universe. Basically, Thanos knows how to villain. This means that we lose lots of the characters we know and love in this film’s horrifying denouement. They disappeared so quickly, you may have had a hard time keeping track. Here’s a handy, heartbreaking guide…

Bucky Barnes

“Steve…”

The first of our heroes to get turned into ash, Sebastian Stan really sold this death. Bucky reaches out a confused hand to Steve, his best friend’s name the last thing he says before being torn into non-existence. Way to start out on your rapture with a bang, Infinity War. This one was particularly heartbreaking.

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Sam Wilson

Sam didn’t get much to do in Infinity War, and even his death is relatively skated over, as War Machine calls out for his buddy as Sam disappears under a Wakandan frond.

T’Challa

This was the death that actually made me feel better—not because I don’t love T’Challa, but because I know there is no way the MCU would properly kill Black Panther off forever. (You can’t have a Black Panther 2 without a Black Panther.) It still hurt to watch Okoye watch her friend and leader slip away, though.

Wanda

By the time Wanda is turned into ash, she is properly traumatized from having to watch her boyfriend die twice, once at her own hand, so the death-by-ash is not even the worst thing that has happened to her that day. 

Drax

Drax is the first character on Titan who begins to disappear, reaching out to Peter Quill as he does so.

Peter Quill

When Peter Quill starts to disappear, it seems to confirm that Infinity War is whittling down the cast list to those who were around for the original The Avengers movie. Prepare yourself for a swan song, everyone.

Peter Parker

For me, the most painful death to watch was young Peter Parker’s—not only because Peter is a cinnamon roll who should be protected at all costs, but because it happens in Tony’s arms. This is pretty much Tony’s worst nightmare (like, literally, he dreams about this kind of thing in Age of Ultron): his surrogate kid begging for Tony’s help as he slowly disappears, and Tony powerless to help him.

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read more – Everything You Need to Know About Spider-Man: Far From Home 

Stephen Strange

Oh, yeah. Doctor Strange disappears, too.

Groot

Like the Tony/Peter situation, Rocket Raccoon has to watch his semi-surrogate kid (given Groot’s changing age, these two have a complicated relationship) disappear. It’s rough.

Mantis

The Titan gang loses more than 50% of its people, including Mantis.

read more: Infinity War’s True Superpower is Making Us Believe the Stakes

Maria Hill

If you stick around for the post-credits scene, then you see Maria Hill disappear before she can mobilize anyone into action.

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Nick Fury

Nick Fury also disappears before he can do much, though he does get a beep off to Captain Marvel, so that’s something.

Odds of everyone in this section coming back: Likely. The real question is: How will the remaining Avengers & friends pull it off in Avengers 4? And who will die for real in the process.

Characters who maybe dead.

There are a number of characters who are unaccounted for in the conclusion of the film. We’ll have to wait until Avengers: Endgame to see which characters survived Thanos’ culling.

Shuri 

The Avengers could really use Shuri in their bid to figure this mess out. Also, it would be too mean to take both T’Challa and Shuri, right? But based on what we see in the Avengers: Endgame trailer, she’s at least missing. We have our own theory that she’ll be back, though.

Pepper

We only see Pepper at the very beginning of the movie, which means it is not only unclear where she is come the Wakandan battle, but it’s unclear if she survives the culling. I’m not sure if Tony can handle losing both Peter and Pepper, though, and he clearly isn’t sure what happened in the Avengers: Endgame trailer.

Valkyrie, Korg, and Miek

Last time we checked, this scene-stealing trio from Thor: Ragnarok was on the Asgardian ship when Thanos and his goons boarded. They’re not mentioned in Infinity War, but we have a feeling at least Valkyrie survived and we certainly hope Korg and Miek did.

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Which Avengers: Infinity War death hit you the hardest? Which characters do you think are truly gone and which ones will come back from the dead? Let us know in the comments below.