Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2: Predicting Who Lives & Who Dies

There's one thing that's certain in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2: emotional stakes that leave a mark. The first film in James Gunn's planned Guardians trilogy was easily the most emotionally devastating of the MCU to date, boldly opening with Meredith Quill's death and dealing with the looming shadow of abandonment (often violent) over all of the characters.

And while the stinger of Groot's "death" was fixed by the revelation that he's basically immortal, that didn't remove any of the impact when he and Rocket exchanged their devastating conversation as he steeled himself to die for his friends. The little raccoon still lost his best friend, after all.

This being a sequel, it feels inevitable that Gunn will try and outdo those gut-punches on a grander scale. We know that the explosive issue of Peter's parentage is fully in focus, which immediately suggests teary ramifications, and you just know there's no happy ending there. And there's no way that will be the only tear-jerking element either.

But what about death? Could the escalation of the middle sequel follow the model set by Star Wars and "kill" a major character? Will we see a more permanent homage to Han Solo's Carbonite imprisonment? Could James Gunn buck the trend of the MCU and actually kill major characters off?

In short, which of the Guardians and their associates might bite the big one?