@Scarilian -

Here are some of my thoughts.


IW2 Ponders and Theories
We now know to what lengths or at least some of them, which Marvel and the Russo brothers had went to and had tried to make viewers and fan boys/girls believe what appeared to come in the movie, via trailers, comic con video and bts images, without spoiling some of what was really going to take place. They have certainly learned a thing or two from the God of Mischief himself. Some of those scenes may yet still take place in some shape or form in the second movie, but it is safe to say that we all now agree that the battle charge in Wakanda with Hulk was a clear and clever deed of trickery. With that being said, it is safe to assume that in the Infinity War sequel we will also see more crafty and devious antics that Loki would smile upon.
So without further ado here are some potential theories and directions I have pondered about.
1) Gamora: She died but she will come back. Her death was a trade for the soul stone. After IW II, if the Soul Stone is returned she may come back to life. “What If” the Red Skull has now escaped to freedom after the IW events and "The deadliest woman in the Universe" Gamora has now become the new protector of the Soul Stone?
2) Vision: Welp, many of us saw something terrible coming the way of Vision. Not as many recalled the White incarnation of Vision though and since given the jargon of that “there is more of us in Vision than just the stone”, Vision comes back via Wakanda tech. Maybe not the pale off whites we are used to but maybe he comes back as a pastel green, red and yellow. I can even see him gain a new gem or something of the like for his forehead. Just not an Infinity Stone.
3) Captain America: Chris Evans hanging up the shield has been long rumored and talked about. But at this cinematic point, his two successors are now dead, Bucky and Falcon. So if Cap is going to sail into the sunset for some years, the question is, does he need to die or can he walk away? It seems safe to assume one of the two, Bucky or Falcon will be brought back to life. My guess, Captain America dies. Also it was nice to see that Cap could muster the force to stop Thanos from clinching the gauntlets fist near the end, did the stones sense something?
3) Black Panther: With T’Challa dead, I am stuck at a fork in the road, will Okoye dawn the suit for revenge or will it be Shuri to be the avenger who carries the Black Panther mantle? Maybe Okoye and she falls, leaving Shuri to be the last of the inner circle and forcing her to dawn the newest Black Panther suit she could construct?
4) Thor: Thor is riding high on resurgence of late and for him to die now would be a deep and sad regret. Also half of Asgard is still alive. Thor should be the one to properly rebuild Asgard for the foreseeable time. But what if Loki or Beta Ray are to step in and replace Thor and rebuild Asgard. Even worse, Jane Foster picks up Stormbreaker. But my bet is on Beta Ray Bill. Stormbreaker is his weapon and in Thor 3 he was a Gamemaster champion and his face was on the main building. Valkyrie is probably a shoe in, she is most likely with the remaing half of Asgardians that survived. Thoughts?
5) Rocket Raccoon: With the current GotG decimated and with Rocket Raccoon being the only one left, maybe he recruits the GotG new guard, which shows up for the climactic battle with Thanos. Once the IW II battle is resolved, will the old resurrected GotG (Groot, Drax, etc.) merge with the new team or will Starlord, Gamora, Drax, Mantis and Groot remain dead?
6) Hulk: The Incredible Hulk finally shows up, but is the Hulk no longer going to be under powered, and he can finally showcase his real power, or maybe the Bruce Banner moment inside the Hulkbuster suit is the real telltale sign, when Banner tells a stage freight Hulk that they are going to have to have a serious discussion later. Does this mean a prelude to the Gray Hulk? Banner brains and Hulk power?
7) Nova Corp: If Xander is truly destroyed, planet and all, maybe it will take the next wielder of the Infinity Stones to create the True Nova Corp as the comic book fans know them as. Maybe the base will be in the decimated Knowhere? Bring me Richard Rider.
8) Will Nebula steal the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos like the comic book version, will Nebula die as many suspect in IW II and will Adam Warlock show up like in the comic books. If Nebula gets the gauntlet will she resurrect her sister, even if it means she has to sacrifice herself? Or will Nebula go sideways and Adam leads the team to take her down and Warlock comes up with the gauntlet? My bet Nebula will not forget about her sister.
9) Stan Lee: Okay, follow me for this one, The MCU is making a huge promotion of the fact that 10 Years and 18 Movies later have led to this moment. Yep, them 10 years and 18 films have led to Stan Lees ultimate cameo and his final revelation as The Living Tribunal or better yet the One-Above-All. At this caliber, you could sit down on any planet in any galaxy and have a chat with whatever intellectual life is around Watchers or Celestials.
10) Tony: The MCU, it begins with Tony, here it ends with Tony. Many thought the old guard of Avengers would be the ones suffering casualties’ in IW, but to many a surprise it was the new generation of Avengers and the Guardians who lost the most. Tony Stark was one of the old guard expected to die. Heck, even go to Google and type in “Infinity War to” and you will see “Infinity War Tony Stark Death”. Granted it is not the first auto search result to show now since the debut (it was the first one on Thursday early morning), but it is still there and that gives insight into a fair bit of people’s searches and predictions.
Nonetheless, Tony dies in IW II, Downey finally hangs up the jersey. Tony goes out on top. With all the talk in IW about “a one man sacrifice for many to live”, and then too have this theme repeated over again. Followed by the continued counter argument that, “you can’t sacrifice yourself, we can still win this”, this is ultimately how Tony can finally once and for all break his image.
Through his MCU years he had developed progressively in areas such as personal growth, understanding and actual caring. He no longer is the playboy, though he still had liked to hold that title for a bit. But the more and more we had seen of him, maturity continued to set in and that personal trait had linked with his growing sense of responsibility. He had evolved to the point of wanting to start a family with Pepper. He had been dreaming about having children and asked her if that is something she may have given thought too.
Now combine these events together with Tony who had shown a father like mentor desire for Harley Keener in IM3 (the little blond boy), but this father figure and genuine concern rose highly with Peter Parker. With a mature Tony Stark who sees himself as a paternal figure for a young fatherless Peter Parker. In Civil War, Homecoming and in IW we had seen a progressive build in contact, giving Peter gifts (of protection) and monitoring his whereabouts. We had even seen Tony swoop in to save/help Peter while telling him go home, keep a low key, he is not ready yet. But then in IW Tony has to watch Peter’s spider sense pick up the danger, plea for his life and slowly reach for Tony’s protection before he dies.
Tony will sacrifice his life to stop Thanos and bring back Peter and the others who fell. Whether it is a Thanos – Tony both die sacrifice or after a defeated Thanos, Tony has to give into the Soul Stone demands of a sacrifice to overturn events. This is the high note.
So, what if this is not to be and the Russo’s throw us a curve ball here?
One know one thing though, they are going to need some more help, and I don’t think Captain Marvel will be enough.

Thor: Join us. Join Earth's mightiest heroes.
Mantis: Like Kevin Bacon?

@TheGoatKing -
Some interesting thoughts, will try and summarise a response to them. Forgive me if i miss aspects;

1) The idea of Gamora returning as some sort of Guardian for the Soul Stone is a pretty brilliant solution of having the character return without a true 'resurrection'. Perhaps she can still move about the cosmos, but is effectively a vessel for the Soul Stone. Definitely feel they should take this route with the character.

2) Vision returning in some form is also something i expect will happen. Like with Ultron downloading his conciousness, Shuri coudl have been partially downloading Vision's mind while trying to seperate him from the Mind Stone. I expect he'll basically return and just have lost his memory and experiences. As Tony said, Vision is evolving, so perhaps he'd just be reverted back to his Age Of Ultron state and have to rebuild his relationship with Wanda.

3) I dont think the death of T'challa will be permanent. Personally i see Okoye being forced to sacrifice herself with Shuri potentially taking up the mantle of Black Panther or ruler of Wakanda in the meantime.

4) Thor will eventually take up the mantle of Odin, perhaps he's formed an Asgard somewhere in the meantime with the help of Stormbreaker. Valkyrie i think could work as a temporary replacement, but i would prefer Beta Ray Bill to take up the mantle - the issue is the character is CGI intensive and i doubt we'd get a solo movie focused solely on him. His backstory is also a bit convoluted and difficult to adapt.

5) I would not be suprised if he forms a new team just for the sake of A4 - probably Rocket, Nebula, Thor and Valkyrie. Nova is most likely going to show up for GotG3, especially if Xandar remains destroyed. I expect the GotG3 team to be; Starlord, Gamora, Drax, Nebula, Groot, Mantis and Nova.

6) I expect Bruce has now proven himself as 'not puny' in the eyes of Hulk, so Hulk will eventually return and allow more of the Bruce Banner personality to seep through - potentially a 'Gray Hulk' scenario but without the third personality - instead a sort of merge when he's hulk?

7) I think Richard Rider will be one of the survivors of Xandar and form his own corp, taking up the name Nova. Given we have not seen the destruction of Xandar they are probably saving that for a flashback or backstory for Nova.

8) I dont think Adam Warlock will show up in A4, as his goal is to beat the Guardians of the Galaxy and they have all (except for Rocket) being snapped. Nebula could potentially take the Gauntlet from Thanos in sort of a spy mission alongside Ant-Man and a few others. I dont think getting the Gauntlet will be the goal, instead altering the past somehow may be the focus.

9) I'd like him to be the 'one-above-all' however i think it would be awkward to see him meeting Thanos or others directly if he maintains the Stan Lee form. Maybe as a spiritual being inside one of Thanos's soul stone related visions. I think if the 'one-above-all' appeared then the manifestation of light would work well, and the movie could end with it being revealed that Stan Lee is the 'one-above-all' seeing the being of light turn into Stan Lee as a final cameo would be perfect.

10) Tony i definitely feel is gone at the end of A4, i think an ending similar to when Starlord and Nova ended up trapping Thanos could work well. I'm not sure if it'd work best with Iron Man & Captain America OR Iron Man & Starlord, but i think it needs to happen. A dual sacrifice of the main heroes. Then we'd see a massive funeral for him and the other fallen heroes at the end of Avengers 4.

"Thor: Join us. Join Earth's mightiest heroes.
Mantis: Like Kevin Bacon?"

Would be hilarious if they cast Kevin Bacon as Adam Warlock or something and had him appear in A4 xD

@manofillintent1 -
Most likely, at least in regards to the heroes. Would be surpised if that extended to all the humans who survived. Trading one half of humanity for the other would be a pretty ballsy move.

@manofillintent1 - I see Cap and Iron Man dying. I see the rest going off to "retire". Thor will either be King to Asgardia or join GOTG.