10 Comics You Must Read Before Avengers: Infinity War

7. The Death Of Captain America

Despite the fact that Infinity War is still very much an Avengers film, and will feature just about the biggest superhero ensemble ever put to screen, there is a general feeling that Cap is going to feature the most prominently. After all, it's difficult not to get the sense that Marvel have been planning Chris Evans' exit from the franchise for at least a while, and with both Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes and Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson looming overhead, it very much feels as though the writing's on the wall for Steve Rogers.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Both Stan and Mackie are more than capable of leading that particular franchise, and it wouldn't be without precedent. Steve was, after all, killed in the wake of 2006's Civil War, an event that saw longtime partner turned frenemy, Bucky Barnes, take up the mantle in the fallout that followed. While Steve may live through Infinity War - and we all sorely hope he does - the matter of Evans' contractual obligations to Marvel, along with his past comments about wanting to direct a Cap film himself, make the nightmare of a Steve-less MCU all the more possible.

Ed Brubaker's 2006 storyline attains an all new kind of salience now, especially since the preceding arc, The Winter Soldier, has already gotten the big screen treatment. Fans already have a sense for Brubaker's style and, seeing as how Cap has yet to have had it as good as Brubaker gave him, the fact that Marvel are continuing to look to his run for inspiration can only be a good thing.

You know, depending on how you feel about having your heart torn out and thrown halfway across the galaxy.