Even by two-and-a-half-hour movie standards, Avengers: Infinity War worked its way through a whole lot of plot to arrive at its grim conclusion, and along the way, the film left us hanging on the fates of quite a few characters.
Among these supporting players was The Collector of Guardians of the Galaxy fame, who appeared only in illusion form after his den on Knowhere was destroyed by Thanos. Given the state of his lair and the character’s absence from the scene, many fans have all but assumed that he didn’t survive his encounter with the Mad Titan. Actor Benicio del Toro, however, seems optimistic about The Collector’s fate, hinting during his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that Taneleer Tivan may still have a future in the MCU yet.
“I think he’s alive, yeah, I think that you know, I think he’s alive.”
Of course, even if we had seen The Collector die on camera, we couldn’t be sure that he was out of the franchise for good, seeing how there’s hardly a death in this film that fans haven’t suspected might soon be reversed.
In particular, the mass dusting that ended the movie is almost inevitably going to be undone, with several of the perished characters already having sequels lined up. Meanwhile, Loki’s supposed demise has been the subject of many a theory and statements earlier this year from Paul Bettany even hinted that Vision might still have more outings to come.
As for The Collector, assuming he survived the events of Avengers: Infinity War, it remains to be seen whether Marvel Studios has any further projects lined up for the character, but with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 expected to arrive at some point in the distant future, we wouldn’t rule out seeing more of del Toro in the MCU’s next phase.
