The day has finally come, Captain America: Civil War tickets purchased months ago will be redeemed (for me and all the other rabid, early-viewing fans) tonight at a theater near me. Obviously we’re all antsy in anticipation of what could possibly be the best Marvel movie to date, but lets not forget at least one of our beloved heroes won’t be making it past the end credits of Civil War. The question is… who will it be?
Agent Coulson, as we all know, was the catalyst that bonded the Avengers as we know them today (although he exists in the TV Marvelverse, unbeknownst to the Avengers). Civil War seems to beg for the same kind of divisive death to spawn the Infinity War (or whatever the Russo brothers decide to rename the movies).
Since the split between Cap and Iron Man is evidently going to be over Bucky, it stands to good reason that the obvious death would be Bucky. He has played a key role, albeit not a major role in the previous Captain America movies and the emotional rift it would create absolutely seals the required emotional response from all involved.
However, is Bucky really the obvious choice? He’s just been promoted to The Winter Soldier, essentially debuting in the Marvelverse in a very limited manner in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. There could very well be much more to Bucky and his story in the MCU. In the interest of expanding the MCU and exploring new characters, Bucky would be perfect to continue throughout phase 3 and 4. Eventually we’re supposed to see the original group of heroes give way to a new age of heroes in a never-ending renewing of Marvel superheroes.
In that light, what if Sir Evans himself doesn’t come back? What if Captain America freaking dies in his own movie? His “not fitting in” trope is rather obvious and we all know the love of his life was left behind when he fell into the ocean. Maybe it’s a fitting end to a man that exists in an era he was never meant to. We already know Captain America will of course be reborn as a new person takes up the mantle, but is it the end of Steve Rogers’ reign as Cap? He’s not been confirmed to show up in any future movies. We know Iron Man is safe (thank Odin) since he’ll be in Spider-Man: Homecoming and the Infinity War movies. Obviously Spidey, Ant-Man, and Black Panther are safe since they have upcoming movies as well. Hulk and Thor are out since they don’t even show up in the movies (allegedly) and you can’t kill a character off-screen and not lose your entire fanbase and basically watch the world burn to the ground.
Black Widow, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, War Machine, and Vision could also be on the chopping block. Vision doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense since he’s one of the Avenger’s newest members but that didn’t stop anyone from axing Quicksilver in his intro movie. Scarlet Witch could follow her brother’s fate and would alleviate the awkward explaining of how she’s really supposed to be Magneto’s kid but then Vision would have to find a new love of his life (if the movies follow the comic books for their stories). Black Widow has been the behind-the-scenes glue of the Avengers and would definitely be an emotional departure. We all thought we were watching Hawkeye’s last moments in Ultron until Quicksilver took the bullet for him (literally). Maybe his time is up now. Falcon is another newbie that seems like he would be on the front line of the second generation of Avengers. Do we even count War Machine as a hero? Eh. For argument’s sake, lets suppose he is. Already that says a lot about how expendable he is, so I don’t think his death would have the power and impact the MCU would need to rage a war.
Maybe, JUST MAYBE, Cap kills War Machine and Iron Man kills Cap and then the Avengers are truly divided into more than just a _civil_ war.
What do you think? Who dies in Captain America: Civil War? Hit us up in the comments or on social media!
