Before anything else, let me preface this with a very large SPOILER warning. If you haven’t seen Avengers: Infinity War yet, this will be discussing the final minutes.
(Of course, the Internet already spoiled that with memes about three days after the movie came out, so that might be a moot point.)
At the end of Infinity War, Thanos successfully gathered all the Infinity Stones, and with a snap of his fingers, wiped out approximately half of all life in the universe. While I do have questions about the logistics of that (Does “all life” include things like insects, or just sentient life? Are the deaths divided by species? Ecosystem? Planet?) that’s not what we’re looking at, but rather, the moments after, where we see familiar and beloved characters suddenly turn to dust as their loved ones watch on.
Even for those who knew Thanos would do it, and though we all know it will be reversed after the next movie, the way the scene was executed still made it powerful and heart-wrenching.
However, we only saw the film characters, while Marvel still has a strong and growing television presence. And while the events of the TV shows never impact the movies, the movies most certainly affect the shows.
As such, we’ll embark on a little journey of speculation as to who may or may not have survived Thanos’s purge within the Marvel television shows. Keep in mind that this is all speculative, and will not likely ever be shown in any of the series, but think of it as a fun thought exercise.
Who lives and who dies? Most likely whoever provides the biggest emotional impact.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the post-credits scene for Infinity War, we see Nick Fury and Maria Hill prepare to send out an emergency call. Though the two of them disappear, the message still gets through, but not to anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D.
Meanwhile, on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., we have confirmation that Thanos is on his way, if he’s not there already. As such, if any show is going to include characters disappearing at the end, this would be the one.
Given that this season may be its last, it could very well end with half the team (if not more) getting erased, and that’s it. We’d only have to assume they get restored with the rest of the universe. While it’s unlikely the show will end on that note – maybe not even the season if it does get picked up for a season six – we can imagine who would vanish.
First of all, Coulson would survive. Why? Because he’s already dying, and he’d already died before. Now imagine Coulson, satisfied with the borrowed time he lived on, watching everyone else around him turn to dust while he lives on. Tragic? Yes. Darkly ironic? A little. But most of all, it would motivate him, a man with so little time left, to do everything he can to bring back those he lost.
Next, we have Daisy Johnson, AKA Quake. She’s a plot-important character, so her survival seems likely, but on the other hand, with Coulson surviving, her own survival would reduce the impact. However, I hate it when shows kill off female characters just to have an impact on male leads, so just to avert that, I’d say she lives.
However, Melinda May would not be so lucky. As much as I love her character and actress, she’s simply too badass to live, and would create a suitably painful loss for both Coulson and Daisy (not just Coulson).
Then we have Fitz-Simmons. It seems every season something tears the two apart, leaving one in shambles as he or she tries to bring back the other somehow. Fitz went into space for Simmons, and Simmons went into the Framework for Fitz. Both have already lost the other so many times over. As such, they’re both gone, so we don’t have to deal with that plot point again. We get the two of them desperately clinging on to each other, each so focused on keeping the other alive that they don’t notice their own bodies disappearing until they can no longer feel the other’s touch.
Continued belowWith his grandparents gone before he could be born, Deke would blink out of existence. While that may go against the show’s established time-loop rules, it would demonstrate that a suitably powerful force (like, say, the Time Stone) can change time, and if he remained when they vanished, it would make it too clear that something would bring Fitz-Simmons back.
On another romantic couple note, we have Mack and Yo-Yo. Mack already had to say goodbye to his virtual daughter in the Framework, holding onto her before she simply stopped existing. He’d already suffered through it. That would mean it’s Yo-Yo’s turn to watch, as they try to quickly make amends before he’s dusted.
Exactly half of the Koenigs will vanish, but we’ll never be sure which ones they were.
With that, the S.H.I.E.L.D. team will be emotionally crippled and will have lost some of their best agents. Coulson’s clock is still ticking down, Daisy and Yo-Yo are still at each others’ throats, and they don’t even know how Thanos did it.
The Defenders
There was plenty of collateral damage while Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man were fighting the Black Order in New York. While Luke Cage, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist weren’t able to get to the party on time (thus missing out on everything), there’s still plenty of cleanup work to do, at least until everyone starts vanishing. But we need to look at how they’d be affected individually.
Daredevil
Matt Murdock survives, but he’s none to thrilled. After all, with his senses, he can hear everyone crying out in confusion and fear as they vanish, every heartbeat the suddenly stops, every crying child looking for a parent that’s no longer there, or worse, the crying suddenly silenced.
Karen Page is gone, because she’s too competent to survive. Foggy Nelson vanishes too, because no source of levity survives Thanos’s purge.
Jessica Jones
Like Daredevil, Jessica survives. She’s the only one, though. The rest of her supporting cast – Malcolm, Trish, everyone – they’re all gone. Because as much as Jessica hates to admit it, she still needs them, and it’s only when they’re gone that she can truly recognize that.
Of course, that’ll just drive her to drink even more heavily. Because life sucks if you’re Jessica Jones.
Luke Cage
I’m sorry, Luke, but half the Defenders are still alive, and you’re simply too good a person to survive Thanos’s snap. Luke is gone, no doubt using his last moments alive to hold up a massive piece of rubble just long enough for a kid to get out from under it.
Misty Knight, on the other hand, survives even as the rest of the police force disappears around her. She and her cyborg arm will be back to make everything right.
Iron Fist
Danny Rand is gone. So is everyone else. Absolutely everyone in that show, hero and villain alike, vanishes. As well it should be; erasing this show is the one good thing Thanos did.
Well, there is one character who does get out alive…
Claire Temple survives, in part because she’s been in more shows than just Iron Fist. She survives everything, no matter how many shows she’s been in. Sure, she’s working overtime to treat all the disappearance-related injuries (plenty of car crashes) and get in touch with her surviving super-friends, but nothing can keep this girl down.
The Punisher
Frank Castle does not die easily. Even when the villains he’s shooting start turning into dust, he doesn’t stop. In fact, he’s killing them so quickly even the Infinity Gauntlet has to pause and recalculate to get a proper halving. By the time he pauses to reload, it’s hard to tell how many bad guys he killed and how many Thanos can take credit for.
He’s still there, though. No matter how many times Frank is on the verge of death, something always keeps him from crossing over.
Runaways
It feels a bit early to start chipping away at the Runaways team, in part because their story just began when the first season ended. The fact that they’re all teens makes it tougher as well, but if Spider-Man could vanish, then so can they.
Continued belowFirst off, Gert has to go. Yes, she dies in the comics, so she might die in the show eventually as well, but if she disappears before handing off control of Old Lace, then it raises the question of whether or not their pet dinosaur can be kept on a leash.
Old Lace survives, of course, because until the Savage Lands appear in the MCU, she’s the last dinosaur around.
Molly also gets out alive, but losing her adoptive sister will mentally scar her for some time to come. At least Chase will still be around to support her, because he’s also got to suffer through it.
Sadly, Nico has to go as well, because the Staff of One is too useful, and she has to be taken off the board. But with her vanishing, Karolina stays (though the planet Majesdane is still getting half its population wiped out anyways).
What about Alex? If his fate is anything like his comics counterpart, he should probably be taken out of the picture as well. Yet he survives, in part to build up what he means to the team should he betray them in season 2, and also in part because it can’t just be the white guys that survive.
Inhumans
After all of Iron Fist got erased, you’d think Marvel’s other television misstep would be on the chopping block too, right? But surprisingly, every Inhuman survives.
Yes, in spite of how poor the show was, somehow the Inhuman population is spared Thanos’s wrath. Why? Because, like most of the world, the Infinity Gauntlet decided to just skip over Inhumans and pretend the show never existed. I think Marvel would prefer it that way as well.
Well, this has been a fun thought exercise. Now let me know what you think – do these deaths sound impactful enough for you, or would you change who lives and who dies? Do you think we’ll see the movie’s impact on any of the shows, or will the best we get be offhanded comments about how someone’s cousin got erased during “the other incident?” Let me know in the comments, and let the waiting for Avengers 4 commence.
