Avengers: Infinity War was a big game changer in the grand scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Univserse and there be major repercussions for how the events of the film will affect future films, specifically the untitled fourth Avengers film when it hits theaters in 2019. Not trying to spoil anything, but if there is one thing everybody knows by now, Thanos remains as the big threat in the universe after snapping himself into the annals of cinematic history. This would, of course, mean that Avengers 4 is in need of a character -- if not, an entire team or universal effort -- to finally knock The Mad Titan off of his big addled feet whenever the inevitable rematch takes place between him and the heroes of the MCU.
Believe it or not, there are several different candidates who have the potential to fill those shoes and knock Thanos down and out for good. We are going to take the entirety of this list to break it down for our readers as to who in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- as in characters we have already been introduced to so far in Marvel movie canon -- stand a chance at conquering the god known as Thanos in Avengers 4.
20 HAWKEYE
Ok, we know just how ludicrous this one sounds, and we understand why most of our readers are taking the moment to laugh out loud at just the mere mention of his name, but just hear us out for a second. Yes, we know, it's Hawkeye. Just Hawkeye -- the guy with nothing to his name but arrows. Lots and lots of arrows. On the surface, it would be ludicrous to even suggest he could lay a scratch on Thanos, yet alone finish him off.
But out of all of the superheroes who showed up to fight Thanos in Infinity War, Hawkeye was noticeably absent from the festivities.
We could blame that on the fact that he retired at the end of Age of Ultron, but fans were thrown off by the fact that he came out of retirement to join Captain America in the fight against Team Iron Man during Civil War. That, and the fact that Jeremy Renner has been confirmed to reprise the role in Avengers 4. One would assume that Hawkeye would have to be doing something big to come out of retirement for a second time, and we can't think of anything much bigger than to put a nail in the coffin of Thanos.
19 CAPTAIN AMERICA
Chris Evans has made it no secret that he plans to retire the role of Captain America after the fourth Avengers film, and we expect him to go outw with a bang, and there is no bigger bang that the Captain could go out on than staring down Thanos in one final brawl. We saw in Infinity War that no matter how outmatched he was against Thanos, Steve Rogers was willing to duke it out with the Mad Titan until the very end. We can see Captain America going out in a blaze of glory by crossing Thanos off of his bucket list before riding into the sunset once and for all.
There is something oddly patriotic and perfectly within the realms of Captain America's character for Steve Rogers to use his final breath to put a stop to Thanos and his character. It would make for a fitting, perfect end to the character and we can totally see Captain America going out like that by time Avengers 4 finally rolls around in 2019. It is an end to the character that not only Steve Rogers deserves, but an end that Chris Evans deserves for everything's he's contributed to the MCU.
18 THOR
Thor nearly dealt the killing blow to Thanos during the climax of Infinity War but before he could finish Thanos off for good, the villain teleported away and dealt a snap to erase half of the universe. If Thor has anymore fight left in him, and we think he does, he is going into Avengers 4 determined to finish the job, especially since the God of Thunder still has vengeance on his mind.
And if he wasn't so cocky the first time around, he could've saved half the universe from that snap.
But in the span of two movies -- Infinity War and Thor: Ragnarok -- Thor has lost his father, his half-brother, his homeland, and just about all of his friends on that Asgardian ship. And since Thanos is partially to blame for that stuff, Thor has the Mad Titan in his eye's sight as a prime target. Thor is walking into Avengers 4 the same way that he opened Infinity War -- as 200 pounds of anger, hellfire, and brimstone looking to knock the Mad Titan into the ground. Thor is one of the more obvious choices to end Thanos, but that does not make him any less of a fitting choice to do the deed.
17 IRON MAN
Over a decade ago, Iron Man was the first superhero to enter the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so in terms of franchise storytelling, it would make perfect sense for Iron Man to be the one to defeat the biggest threat that the MCU has ever faced. As fitting as that would be, it is a little hard to imagine how he could defeat Thanos, considering that he had such a hard time against him in Infinity War and nearly got ripped to shreds during their fight.
However, thematically, there are plenty of reasons pointing at Iron Man as the one who not only could beat Thanos, but should beat him. For starters, in more recent years, Tony Stark has seen better days. Civil War put the billionaire in a dark place where he is in need of a redemption arc. Going from the antagonist who practically broke up The Avengers to becoming the guy who beats Thanos would more than redeem Stark in our eyes. Not to mention that watching his underling, Spider-Man, disintegrate in front of his eyes clearly left a toll on Tony, and he's going into Avengers 4 with a stronger will and more motivation to pick a bone with the Mad Titan. Oh and that whole deal with Dr. Strange seems pretty suspicious, don't you think?
16 ANT-MAN
Ant-Man was another notable Marvel Cinematic Universe character who was noticeably absent from the fight in Infinity War. As with Hawkeye, we don't know why Ant-Man was left out, but we do know that his upcoming movie -- Ant Man and The Wasp -- is pretty important to what happens in Avengers 4 (something in the Quantum Realm, perhaps?). Some are starting to speculate that Ant-Man could actually be the secret weapon the Avengers need to take down Thanos. After all, the bigger they all, the harder they fall and sometimes, size doesn't matter when Ant-Man has technology on his side -- namely, the tech of the Quantum Realm.
The Quantum Realm itself show allow Ant-Man to travel through space and time, and early reports are telling us that Avengers 4 very well could be a time travel story.
Time travel may be The Avengers's best shot at undoing the damage done by Thanos, and if Ant-Man has that sort of technology up his arsenal, then he is the universe's best shot against the Mad Titan. And perhaps, as a twist, Ant-Man's partner, The Wasp, swoops in out of nowhere and deals the final blow to Thanos herself, cementing herself as a new member of The Avengers.
15 DR. STRANGE
Out of all of the Avengers who played their hand in trying to defeat Thanos, Dr. Strange proved to be one of The Mad Titan's more formidable adversaries. His special spells and tricks proved essential in the fight against Thanos, and played a big part in the team nearly neutralizing and vanquishing the would-be god, and the team on Titan came awfully close to taking the Gauntlet right off of him. Unfortunately, thanks to a rather brass act from a certain Star-Lord that screwed their plan up, it did not work and Dr. Strange was one of the many heroes to be reduced to ash in the closing moments of the film.
Assuming that he returns from the ashes and comes back to life by the end of Avengers 4, he could try to re-group The Avengers and re-formulate a game plan. If he could find a way to use his magic and combine all of their powers together to foresee a much more foolproof plan, the heroes could possibly topple Thanos once and for all. Of course this all depends on Strange coming back to life and getting his hands on the Time Stone once more because without it, he's no match for the Mad Titan no matter how many tricks he may have up his sleeve.
14 GAMORA
Gamora putting an end to her father would be something fitting to see, but at the same time a very difficult feat, since Thanos put an end to her in Infinity War. In fact, if any death from that film was final, Gamora's would have to be one of them. She was not reduced to dust during the snap, but she was rather pushed off a cliff to her death. We can see her being revived with the Reality Stone, but we also can imagine Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 without her among the cast, perhaps with a storyline focuses on Star-Lord trying to cope with the passing of his lady.
But let us take a moment to just assume that Gamora could come back from the dead to pay her dad back for everything that he has done to her.
As we saw in Infinity War, the heroes's conflict with Thanos resonated the most with Gamora considering how personal the stakes were. We can see either one of his daughters -- Gamora or Nebula -- put an end to their father, but considering just how much focus was put on Gamora in Infinity War, we think Gamora would be the most likely out of the two to do the deed to their dad -- if she could somehow get out of Soul World.
13 BLACK WIDOW
If we can be honest for a second, Black Widow was one of the least memorable aspects of Avengers: Infinity War. In fact, we could all agree that she was kind of just... there and did not really do anything of note. It would be easy to just peg that as a case of one character getting lost in the shuffle among a sea of other colorful characters, but maybe that is exactly what the Russo Brothers and Co. want us to think. Maybe, they want us to think of Natasha as nothing more than an afterthought for the time being so that she could creep into Avengers 4 and when we least expect it, she deals the final blow to Thanos in the next film.
Despite Black Widow being a mere mortal, it is not too hard to imagine her being the one to stop Thanos. After all, Black Widow did play a vital role in vanquishing the Chitauri army in the first Avengers film, so we could see her playing a similar role in Avengers 4. Plus, if we can give Black Widow credit for anything, it's that she has the one thing that none of the other Avengers have: a killer instinct. She wouldn't hesitate to stop a villain's heartbeat, whereas most of the other Avengers probably would.
12 DORMAMMU
Dormammu may not be on the heroic side of the gate, and if he ever crosses paths with Thanos, it likely would not be to ensure the safety of the universe and its inhabitants. However, if there is one thing that is for certain, it is that Dormammu has the potential to be a far more powerful being than Thanos ever was, with or without the Infinity Gauntlet. We caught a taste of just what Dormammu is capable of when he squished Dr. Strange 1001 times in a row in an infinite time loop.
Keep in mind that Dr. Strange went through all of that turmoil to ensure that Dormammu would stay away from the planet earth and destroying it.
Strange knew that if Dormammu wanted to, he can destroy the earth in one fell swoop, and he could do so possibly quicker than Thanos ever could do in a similar, single snap. He certainly would not have any problem taking out Thanos if the Mad Titan had plans that the Dark Dimension dweller didn't see eye to eye with, and Dormammu could possibly take out Thanos with ease. Maybe our heroes reluctantly call on Dormammu for a favor, if possible, to finish Thanos off once and for all.
11 MANTIS
Mantis was one of the characters who were reduced to dust during Thanos's snap during the climax of Avengers: Infinity War. While most fans speculate that everyone -- or at the very least, most -- of the characters who evaporated during the snap will be revived in Avengers 4, it's still unlikely that Mantis could deal the final blow to Thanos. However, there are two reasons why we think Mantis could shock everyone in the upcoming Marvel sequel.
The first reason being that her powers played a big deciding factor in the team neutralizing Thanos when they nearly took the Gauntlet off, and the second being because of her comic book counterpart. As a skilled martial artist, telepathic, and goddess of life, Mantis is far more powerful in the comics than she is on the big screen, and in the past she has held her own against not only Thanos, but the entire Avengers team. During the "Celestial Quest" arc, Thanos aims to destroy the goddess of life and all of her clones to prove himself as a god of death, but he struggles. When the last clone is destroyed, Mantis is merely revived more powerful than ever before. Like a phoenix from the ashes, MCU Mantis could return powerful enough to defeat Thanos once and for all.
10 LOKI
Again, this prediction forces us to take a shot in the dark because out of all the people who bit the dust in Avengers: Infinity War, Loki's death is one of the more likely ones that will stick. Loki was didn't evaporate into dust as did many heroes did in the film's final minutes, rather Loki was strangled to death by Thanos aboard the Asgardian vessel. And while Loki has been known to fake his death in the past, there is something very final about his death scene this time around, not only because Loki's redemption story arc was wrapped up in a neat little bow at the end of Thor: Ragnarok, but because Thanos finished Loki off by quipping "No resurrections this time,".
However, there is a slim chance that Loki could come back from the dead as Tom Hiddleston has been reported to be returning for Avengers 4.
Even if this is true, it seems he is only going to show up in a flashback scene of the Battle of New York from The Avengers. But if there is a chance Loki could come back into present day MCU canon, it could help bring his redemption arc full circle, as he would go from being a top supervillain, to a full-fledged superhero who toppled a mad god.
9 ROCKET RACCOON
Yes, yes, we know, and we get it -- this one might be an even bigger shot in the dark than predicting Hawkeye to be the one to end Thanos. However, we do have some valid points to back up our claims, believe it or not. For one thing, like many of the heroes going into the next film, Rocket has got vengeance against Thanos on his mind. Not only because most of his friends got disintegrated from the Guardians of the Galaxy --and Gamora was pushed to her death -- but his best pal in the world, Groot, happened to disintegrate right in front of his eyes.
In fact, more than just a pal, Groot was like a son to Rocket and he's going to go into Avengers 4 guns blazing to get his much needed payback against Thanos. Speaking of blazing guns, Rocket played a big part in taking out Thanos in the comic books. In the final issue of the second volume of Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos awakes and is stared down by the entire team. Rocket, Star-Lord, and the rest of the team riddle Thanos with bullet holes before a blow from a Cosmic Cube finished him off. Maybe Rocket could play a similar role in the sequel.
8 SCARLET WITCH
Avengers: Infinity War saw Scarlet Witch at her most impressive and at her most powerful. In her attempt to ward off Thanos and protect her love, Vision, Wanda really tapped into her previously untapped potential as an all-powerful wiccan. She actually managed to hold Thanos back and was able to achieve in shattering Vision to pieces so that Thanos could not get the Mind Stone from his head. Of course, Thanos had the Time Stone and was able to rewind time to get the Mind Stone from a living Vision, and prove the entire effort to be all for naught, but it proved to be a valiant effort from Scarlet Witch nonetheless.
The entire altercation made us wonder just how much of a chance Wanda would stand if it was against Thanos without any of the Stones.
If we were betting people, we would say that Wanda could beat the Mad Titan in a fight if no Infinity Stones were present. Perhaps during the next smackdown with Thanos, the heroes all somehow manage to get the Infinity Gauntlet off of his hand and Scarlet Witch would take the opportunity to deal the final blow. It sounds so crazy that it just might happen.
7 HULK
In the opening moments of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos demolished The Hulk to the point that Hulk is too afraid to ever come out of Bruce Banner again for the rest the film. We have never seen -- nor could we ever have imagined -- a point in time or Marvel canon where Hulk was afraid of anything or anyone, but it seems as though his ordeal against Thanos was so rough that he wants to remain dormant in Bruce Banner.
We like to think that this newfound dormancy for the big green machine is temporary, and he could make a big comeback in Avengers 4 in . a huge crowd-pleasing way. Perhaps in Avengers 4, he shows up to Thanos's doorstep for the second round and this time, he gets the better of the Mad Titan as the two come to blows. We are not sure what kind of new power or strength that The Hulk will have to tap into in order to put a stop to The Mad Titan's relentless rampage (although we think he will be at his angriest so that might help), but we certainly think that Hulk still needs to redeem himself in some sort of fashion after Thanos plastered him in their first fight.
6 NEBULA
When we first saw Nebula in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, she carried some pent up aggression against her sister, Gamora, for being their father's favorite daughter. In the sequel, the two find a way to hash out their differences and reconcile, but in Infinity War, Thanos kills Gamora, and now, Nebula can use all those daddy issues that have been boiling up and focus it into an unrepentant rage against her old man.
That anger certainly has to make Nebula a top contender to strike down Thanos in the next movie.
That, and the fact she did get the upper hand in the original comic book. In Infinity Gauntlet, after Thanos acquires all of the Infinity Stones, he still wants to be even more powerful than he already is. Thanos leaves his body to assume a more astral form, basically becoming one with the galaxy. This gives Nebula the opportunity to retrieve the Infinity Gauntlet from her adoptive dad's body and claim it for herself, banishing Thanos into interstellar space. Of course, the heroes then had to worry about a mad power hungry Nebula on the loose with the Infinity Gauntlet, but one step at a time -- at least Thanos was taken care of.
5 STAR-LORD
Those who have seen Infinity War by now are probably still outraged, frustrated, and cursing at Star-Lord for letting his emotions get the best of him and ruining what could have been a foolproof plan to get the Infinity Gauntlet off of Thanos's hand. However, let's not let one blunder --albeit one major one -- make us forget that Star-Lord is hiding some untapped potential within his body.
As a half-human hybrid who has Ego the Living Planet for an absentee father, Peter Quill has the essence and powers that come with being a celestial being. The problem here is that Quill does not know how to control said powers yet, but for solely the sake of being hypothetical and speculative, let us say that maybe, just maybe, Quill can tap into that celestial potential the next time he runs into Thanos in Avengers 4. Of course, first of all, Quill will have to first return from the heap of ash that he ended up as by the end of Infinity War, but never say never. If he manages to get a grip on his powers whenever the moment finally presents itself, that unleashed pent up emotion that he has could turn the tide in the battle with Thanos.
4 DRAX
Ever since the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, Drax has belted about wanting to put Thanos into an early grave for what the Mad Titan did to his family. And since then, fans speculated that Drax would be the one to end Thanos as a means to keep his promise, and frankly we do not see why he can't do it. Some would argue that it would be a predictable move for Marvel to make simply because it is something that we would all see coming, but sometimes doing the predictable leads to more satifsying results.
Drax has been reduced to a more comedic role and many don't see him as a "destoyer" anymore.
While we can see where audiences are coming from -- just watch him try and be invisible on the Milano or cracking jokes as the Guardians encounter Spidey, Strange and Iron Man aboard Ebony Maw's ship -- maybe this is just a way of lowering Drax's threat level. An unaware audience would pop huge if Drax dropped the comedy shtick just for a second and unleashed all his emotions by gutting Thanos. While plausible, he has one giant hurdle to jump before he even gets the chance at the Mad Titan: he's got to come back to life.
3 THANOS
When we say that Thanos could defeat himself, we mean in both a figurative and a literal way. Figuratively, Avengers 4 could depict Thanos in a similar light to how he was in The Infinity Gauntlet comic. His downfall was always that he wanted to be more powerful -- even when he alredy had the most powerful weapon in the universe -- and in the comic, he tries to become beyond powerful by allowing his consciousness to leave his body and become an astral being. Once Thanos leaves his body, this allows Nebula to take his Infinity Gauntlet off and defeat Thanos (for the time being).
Ultimately, it's Thanos's own hubris that defeats him. But in a more literal sense of Thanos defeating himself, there is a more recent comic called Thanos: Thanos Wins, where Thanos is sent millions of years into the future to meet an older version of himself -- a Thanos who has managed to destroy every living creature within the Marvel Universe to impress Death. Death finally shows up, but says the only way Thanos could be united with Death is by dying, and only Thanos can stop Thanos. The two Thanoses fight to the death -- or, rather, for Death -- and young Thanos wins, but refuses to put an end to old Thanos.
2 HELA
In the comics -- specifically during the original Infinity Gauntlet comic -- Thanos's motivation for trying to snatch all of the Infinity Stones is to impress Death. Thanos is in love with Death -- as in Mistress Death, an actual physical embodiment -- and he hopes to get her to fall in love with him by becoming a god by holding all of the Infinity Stones in the universe. Eventually, he realizes that Death will never fall in love with him after she plays a part in trying to attack him. Since Mistress Death is not an active character in the MCU (yet) she likely won't play apart against Thanos in Avengers 4.
However, we could get the next best thing with the MCU's Goddess of Death, Hela.
Last time we saw Hela, she was assumed to have passed away during the fall of Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok, but if we have learned anything, it's that if we don't see a body, there's still a chance that person is living. Plus, it's hard to believe that the Goddess of Death is capable of dying. This leads some fans to speculate that Hela could be a stand-in for Death as Thanos's object of affection, but since there can only be one big evil, she'd rather put him in the ground than view him as an equal.
1 CAPTAIN MARVEL
For those who stuck around for Infinity War's post-credits scene, we know that right before Nick Fury was snapped into oblivion, he sent out a signal with a mysterious insignia on it. For those unaware of who that insignia belongs to, it belongs to Carol Danvers , aka Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel is, essentially, the Marvel equivalent to Superman, essentially making her one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Universe. In the comics, Carol Danvers is a United States Air Force pilot who happens to be friends with Kree superhero Mar-Vell. When an explosion causes Captain Marvel's DNA to fuse with the DNA of Mar-Vell, Danvers is granted superpowers.
These powers include flight, superhuman strength, has a "seventh sense" (similar to Spider-Man's infamous spidery sense), can discharge explosive blasts of energy, and can absorb energy as well. By the time Avengers 4 comes out, we'll already be well acquainted with Captain Marvel as her solo movie starring Brie Larson is set to be released about three months prior to the release of Avengers 4. Many fans are speculating that Captain Marvel will be the one to swoop in and save the day by dealing the final blow to the Titan who would be a god, Thanos.