Avengers 4: 11 Things It Must Avoid

7. Thanos Survives At The End

The common expectation among fans is that Thanos will be killed at the end of Avengers 4 and order will be restored to the universe, with rumours pointing to the Avengers possibly building their own Infinity Gauntlet to battle the Mad Titan.

There's a theory doing the rounds, however, that Thanos will in fact survive the events of the movie and instead be trapped in Soul World by the Avengers.

This would feel unmistakably anti-climactic given Thanos' tyrannical rampage and the fact that, honestly, he's too dangerous to be kept alive. Plus, keeping him around just reeks of sequel bait, when it'd be far more gratifying if the MCU had a clean break from the big purple guy once this movie is over.

Will It Happen?: As much as the Russos love to toy with the expected, it'd be incredibly difficult not to make this feel like a cop-out, and killing Thanos just feels like the ultimate payoff to all those years of hype.

Kevin Feige has indicated that MCU post-phase three will be distinctly different, and a key way to achieve that is to unambiguously wipe the Mad Titan out. It's probably happening, though it'd be somewhat understandable if they wanted to keep Thanos' real fate ambiguous for the future.