On April 27, 2018, we watched half of our universe get snapped out of existence. Included in those casualties (whether by Snap, or directly by Thanos’ hand), are Black Panther, Shuri, Starlord, Gamora, Groot, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Nick Fury, Hank Pym, The Wasp, Falcon, Bucky, and Loki, among others. That’s a lot of firepower lost that would have been instrumental in stopping the universe’s most successful genocidal maniac. But when you’re in the middle of the war, you can’t get stuck mourning your losses, and, as the trailers for Avengers: Endgame have reiterated, they’re willing to do whatever it takes to win. Let’s take a look at who did survive, and how each one of them has a unique characteristic that will come into play when taking the Mad Titan down.
Happy Hogan: Emotional Support
Tony Stark’s chauffeur, Happy Hogan, holds far more importance than the MCU has given him credit for. It shouldn’t be understated that in the whole of the galaxy, he is one of the two people that Stark implicitly trusts. Happy’s loyalty to his boss and his love for one Peter Parker are two very important emotions whose importance will be underestimated in the grand scheme of Endgame.
Pepper Potts: Saving Tony. Again.
No one has saved Stark’s life more than Virginia “Pepper” Potts. She’s the reason that he survived long enough to face Thanos to begin with, and she’s likely who will be saving him off the planet he’s currently trapped on. Pepper donning the Rescue suit one last time is a perfect reminder of the importance of the character before her and Tony’s chapters come to a close.
War Machine: Fire Power, Snark
Rhodey could be the one to head out to save his best friend, Tony, but he and his arsenal are better suited to the front lines. Whether it’s taking the fight to Thanos, or protecting the Earth when the war inevitably returns to its soil, Colonel James Rhodes has become the living embodiment of a tank class. Plus, he seems to be the only one willing to keep Carol’s ego in check.
Wong: Magic, Knowing When To Dip
With Scarlet Witch dusted, and magic being one of Captain Marvel’s few weaknesses, Wong will be an invaluable member of the team when it comes to taking down Thanos. His knowledge of the Time Stone and the other dimensions will also be of incredible use, since one Sorcerer Supreme took his knowledge with him when he got snapped.
Valkyrie: Scrapper, Excellent Drunk Fighting Skills
The MCU makes it easy to forget that Asgard once had an incomparable force of female fighters. As the last surviving member of her sisterhood, and one of the few Asgardians left, Valkyrie brings with her a scrappiness that Thor has yet to achieve. She’s already lost everything once. She went through it alone the first time, but now she’s part of a team greater than herself. That greater purpose, combined with her undeniable survivor skills, will prove incredibly useful to the team.
Ant-Man: Flying Up Thanos’— Er…Quantum Realm Knowledge
Scott Lang caught on security outside Avengers HQ (Courtesy: Marvel Studios)
Thanos has an unfathomable amount of power with the Infinity Gauntlet, but he can’t stop what he can’t see. It’s easy to laugh off what a goofball like Scott Lang could possibly bring to the team, but his shrinking ability coupled with his knowledge of the Quantum Realm brings something truly unique to the Avengers. If all else fails, there’s always Plan Sphincter.
Rocket Raccoon: Weaponmaster & Inventor
He’s gonna need that guy’s leg. Mostly because Bucky’s dust and he can’t use his arm (too soon?). Joking aside, Rocket can make anything out of anything, and has proven he can do so under heavy fire. They’ll need his love of blowing things up and his ability to rig a deadly weapon out of scraps when it comes to fighting Thanos
Okoye: Laser Focus
Okoye’s life has held one purpose: protecting her country. Lady would kill her own husband without blinking if it meant defending Wakanda. She may be a human in a team with its fair share of gods, but laser focus like hers is not to be underestimated. Her devotion to her country and king means that she will do anything to get T’Challa and Shuri back, or at least have them avenged. If the rest of the fallen are saved in the process, great!
Nebula: Endless Amounts Of Rage
After Frigga is slain, Loki looks to his brother and tells him to trust his rage. She is her own woman, but Nebula and Loki have more in common than one might think. Complicated sibling relationship, a terrible father (though her rage is a tiny bit more justified than Loki’s), and an endless wrath that will either be her doom or help her achieve the one thing she deserves more than any other member of the survivors: killing Thanos with her bare hands.
Captain Marvel: Binary, BDE
Captain Marvel as Binary
We’ve already discussed Captain Marvel’s full power set. Carol Danvers was a formidable foe well before she took on her Kree powers, but now? Now there’s basically nothing in the universe that can stop her. We’ve seen her wipe out an entire Kree fleet, terrifying a warrior that it took the entirety of the Guardians of the Galaxy to defeat, and that was when she was first learning how to use her powers. As it stands, nothing in current comic book canon can stop Captain Marvel when she goes Binary. Plus, while her cockiness might initially rub some of the Avengers the wrong way, it might be exactly what they need to light a fire under them again. Have fun with that, Thanos!
Bruce Banner: Genius…And Maybe The Hulk?
The Hulk might be MIA at the moment, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that, with Shuri gone, Bruce Banner is currently the smartest person on Earth. Those smarts also leave him as basically the only surviving Avenger with a level head. His smarts, coupled with his ability to uphold logic over passion, are going to be an incredible asset to a team full of pissed-off warriors looking for the closest purple Titan to beat to hell.
Clint Barton: Master Marksman
Though he’s been pushed to the sidelines, you should never ignore a marksman who doesn’t miss. A well-placed arrow to the eye could have saved us from all of this Decimation business. A Titan might think a man’s family is nothing, but let’s see how he feels about that after Clint’s skills are matched with tech from the likes of Bruce Banner and Rocket Raccoon.
Thor: Vengeance, That Whole Calling Lightning Thing
Never undervalue the power of a warrior with nothing to lose. Thor has lost everything. His planet, his family, his people, his eye, his hair… the list goes on. Couple that with the knowledge that he could have stopped it all had he only aimed for the head, and you’ve got an Asgardian on a suicide mission. The last son of Asgard sees this mess as his fault, and he’s got the strength to take out the monster that did it.
Black Widow: Loyalty, Master Strategist
Black Widow (Courtesy: Marvel Studios)
Natasha Romanoff is a woman without a country and has been for a long time. A couple of hard lessons may have shifted her loyalty from institutions to people, but one thing has remained the same: the master assassin never fails. Plus, we shouldn’t overlook the fact that Nat is and has always been Steve Rogers’ emotional support system. She’s the glue that holds the team together. Thanos will underestimate any human who faces him, but underestimating women like Nat and Okoye will be his gravest mistake.
Iron Man: Desire For A Legacy
We all know the drill with Tony. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, occasional borderline supervillain. He’s smart, he’s resourceful, and he’s the king of snark, but the most important thing that Stark brings to the table is his obsession with his legacy. Thanos killed Peter Parker, the closest thing Tony has to a son. You can bet on Iron Man using everything he has in his arsenal to rip the Titan’s head off his shoulders as a result.
Captain America: Sacrifice, The Team’s Soul
“You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.”
We’re all going into Endgame with the knowledge that a lot of the heroes we love will die. While characters like Black Panther and Spider-Man will undoubtedly be saved one way or another, everyone’s painfully aware that we’re about to watch most of the original six go down. At the front of that line is Steve Rogers, who has willingly sacrificed himself time and time again. Whether it’s lying to enlist to save his country at the risk of jail, throwing himself over a dummy grenade, ignoring direct orders at every turn, crashing the Tesseract into the bottom of the ocean, or going against the whole of his country because he knows it’s right, Steve Rogers is always the one who will lay down on that wire.
It was always going to be Steve, not only because cutting the wire often isn’t an option, but because there’s no world that Steve Rogers exists in where he doesn’t fight. Bruce, Tony, Thor, Clint and even Nat could exist in the post-Endgame universe without getting involved in the new heroes’ fights. They can live their lives without standing between the weak and a world full of bullies. Steve Rogers cannot. That is a selflessness that the likes of Thanos cannot fathom, and it will play a major part in his undoing.
Avengers: Endgame hits theaters this Thursday. Get your tickets now!
