As the release date of Avengers: Endgame looms ever closer, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has taken it upon himself to remind us that no character in the MCU will be around forever.
The moment came in an interview with Screen Rant during the Captain Marvel press tour, when the producer was asked how a character as powerful as Carol Danvers can be kept grounded and vulnerable. In response, Feige noted that even the saga’s strongest heroes can die at any moment, including in Avengers: Endgame.
“I think, as with some of the other characters you’ve mentioned, there are no characters — certainly no Marvel characters — that are invulnerable and that are immortal. They can all be killed at some point as Loki says to Thor in Avengers 1. So we may see that at some point, introduce that at some point.”
Of course, though every hero is constantly vulnerable from an in-universe perspective, real-world factors play a major role in deciding exactly when Death catches up with each character. Take the many dustings that concluded Avengers: Infinity War, for instance. Did anyone really believe that, say, Black Panther was dropping out of the saga after just one hugely successful solo movie?
Similarly, contractual obligations for Marvel’s biggest stars have often made it easy to predict who would live to see the end of each film. However, for the same reasons, it’s also looking very likely that Avengers: Endgame will be the last major outing for certain Phase 1 players like Captain America and Iron Man. Of course, whether their runs end in tragedy or quiet retirement is another matter entirely, and one that’s been the subject of continuous speculation and debate for the past year.
Incidentally, Serena Williams got the internet talking earlier this week when she mentioned in a now-deleted Instagram post that she was “devastated” when a certain superhero “died in that movie, Avengers.” Whether the spoiler was legit remains to be seen, but all will become clear when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.
