How Avengers: Infinity War Completely Changes The MCU

3. So Many Heroes Are Dead

Spider-Man. Black Panther. Doctor Strange. They're three of the MCU's biggest names, and three who you'd expect to be helping make up the Avengers or whatever superteam is formed in Phase 4. And yet, because of Infinity War, they're just three among a dozen of dead characters.

That itself is a game-changer, because of the implication that Marvel really are prepared to kill off their heroes. And putting aside the fact the ones killed in The Snappening will return at some stage, those who died prior to it - Loki, Heimdall, Gamora, Vision - will almost certainly have to stay dead, which is the biggest commitment to killing off heroes the MCU has ever made.

Circling back around to the return of the three named at the top of this entry, alongside Bucky, Groot, Scarlet Witch et al, it's true their deaths can't really stay permanent. However, they should leave a real impact on those characters, because that sort of thing can't happen lightly. More so, though, is that it very much sets the stage for the departure of the heroes who are left alive.

Thor, Iron Man, and Steve Rogers are among those still standing, and Avengers 4 is shaping up to represent the final bow for at least a couple of them. Infinity War's ending, and in particular the seeded notion of trading a soul for a soul, means that there's a way for them to really kill those guys off for good.