Every dead character who stays dead in the MCU is potential money that's slipping through
Disney's couch cushions.
So when a hero or villain takes a dirt nap, you can rest assured there was a solid reason
for it, and possibly one that will have larger implications down the road.
Many spoilers ahead!
Remember the Other?
In The Avengers, this double-thumbed alien acted as middleman between Thanos and Loki.
In 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy, he's casually murdered by an irritated Ronan the Accuser.
The madman wants Thanos's attention and is frankly quite tired of the Titan's emissary
barking at him.
"I only ask that you take this matter seriously."
No, the Other isn't a major character, though fans of early Joss Whedon TV shows Buffy the
Vampire Slayer and Angel were probably a little disappointed to see him go.
The alien was played by Alexis Denisof, who played Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, a Buffyverse
character initially so annoying it's amazing no one ever broke his neck.
"Excuse me."
In the 2018 prose novel Thanos: The Titan Consumed by Barry Lyga, we learn that Ronan
did more than dispatch an annoying intermediary here.
The Other is a Chitauri, specifically the only Chitauri to be a bona fide individual.
He negotiated Thanos taking over the leadership of his people.
The rest of the Chitauri share a hive mind, which is why they all die when their command
ship is destroyed in Avengers.
When Ronan kills The Other, it's really a bit like finding the Holy Grail and tossing
it into an active volcano.
Of course, Ronan is also a psychotic maniac.
"He chose… poorly."
When Quicksilver was killed by Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron, it was natural for many viewers
to assume the choice was made to forestall any confusion between the MCU Quicksilver
played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and the version of the character introduced in Fox's X-Men:
Days of Future Past, played by Evan Peters.
"You didn't see that coming?"
Not according to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, who in 2015 told MTV that Quicksilver
died to elevate the stakes of Age of Ultron, and more importantly to guide the future of
his sister Wanda, played by Elizabeth Olsen.
Feige told MTV the speedster's death acted to
"...solidify Scarlet Witch's character, and Wanda's arc in the movie and where we'll see
her in the next films."
If Quicksilver had lived, he maybe would've had a thing or two to say about his sister
getting into a relationship with an android.
Whichever side Quicksilver would've chosen in Captain America: Civil War would've likely
impacted Wanda's choices.
She may not have automatically sided with him, but Quicksilver's support or lack thereof
could've affected her decision.
By the time Infinity War rolls around, it's safe to assume that the Scarlet Witch we're
left with is one who is much more independent.
All the "decimated"
What exactly happened to the planet Xandar?
In Avengers: Infinity War, Thor explains to the Guardians how Thanos and his forces got
the Power Stone:
"There are six stones out there.
Thanos already has the power stone because he stole it last week when he decimated Xandar."
"Decimated" is a powerful word, but not a specific one.
Did he literally kill everyone on the planet?
Or 10% of the planet for all you "that's not what decimation means!" people.
You know who you are....
One tantalizing possibility: We're going to see Xandar transformed in one of Marvel's
upcoming movies.
We may even see its Nova Corps grow closer to the source material.
In Guardians of the Galaxy, the Nova Corps is made up of relatively normal people..
In the comics, it's a different story: every member of the Corps has super powers.
They're essentially Marvel's answer to the Green Lantern Corps.
Instead of rings, they're given helmets that grant them powers.
Their abilities aren't nearly as versatile as the Lanterns', but at the same time they’re
a whole lot less CGI then them as well.
"Ahh Green!"
If Xandar survived after weathering two separate assaults by alien maniacs, its inhabitants
may decide it's about time they build an army capable of more than just piloting spaceships
and arresting raccoons.
They might do whatever it takes to found the real Nova Corps.
Kurt Russell's Ego identifies as a Celestial before his defeat at the end of Guardians
of the Galaxy Volume 2.
This race of mysterious beings has nearly limitless power.
In the comics, they even hold the keys to many of the universe's biggest mysteries.
That's one of many ways Ego differs from his comic book counterpart, who is literally a
planet with a giant planet-sized face.
But that's not the part that's particularly meaningful about his death.
Instead, it points towards one of the MCU franchises we haven't seen yet.
We know Marvel Studios is gearing up to introduce audiences to the Eternals, a race of superhumans
whose origins are very much intertwined with the Celestials.
In the comics, the Celestials created the Eternals specifically to defend the Earth
against their opposite the Deviants.
If the movie characters remains true to the comics, it's likely we'll be learning way
more about the Celestials than we ever did in Guardians of the Galaxy or any other Marvel
Studios films.
The fact that Ego was killed by an Earthman could be of great interest to Marvel's newest
heroes.
"You shouldn’t have killed my mom and squished my Walkman."
He evidently believed he was the only Celestial in existence.
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we learn that Arnim Zola died years before while
secretly working with the freshly resurrected terrorist organization Hydra.
"Hail Hydra."
But Zola also sneakily transcribed his memories and personality into data.
The result is an exposition scene outlining what Hydra had been up to for 70 years.
It's also a clever visual tribute to the Arnim Zola of the comics.
Curiously, there's something that's been left completely unsaid in the MCU so far: For Hydra,
Arnim Zola Artificial Intelligence had to have been an important step down a very specific
road.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we learn a piece of vital information during a conversation
between Bruce Banner and Tony Stark about the possibility of finally realizing their
Ultron project, Stark says his research on the scepter leads him to believe Hydra was
using it to develop an advanced artificial intelligence.
"Artificial intelligence."
"This could be it, Bruce.
This could be the key to creating Ultron."
If Stark is correct, then the creation of the Zola A.I. must have been part of the research
that ultimately leads to the birth of Ultron and Vision.
In fact, fans almost saw some persuasive evidence to back up this theory.
In November 2016, some concept art from Ant-Man leaked, and it revealed that director Peyton
Reed considered bringing Zola back for the prologue scene at the SHIELD Triskelion, still
under construction.
Since Ant-Man was the first film to follow Age of Ultron, it might have helped cement
the notion that Zola was, in fact, Ultron's ancestor.
In Iron Man 2, Mickey Rourke's character Ivan Vanko , also known as Whiplash, swears vengeance
on Tony Stark.
That's because Ivan was taught that Stark's father Howard stole the idea for the game-changing
Arc Reactor from his father.
Twice in the film, we see a small bit of evidence that seems to support this: design schematics
with Vanko's name listed before Stark's.
Nick Fury employs an interesting strategy when trying to rein in Stark's crazy behavior:
He tells Stark that Vanko was full of it, insisting that all of his claims of stolen
innovation could be chalked up to his anger after being shipped off to Siberia.
"He spent the next 20 years in a vodka-fuelled rage."
But we never definitively learn whether Whiplash's father's accusations were valid.
Fury says they weren't.
In The Avengers, Fury also says that SHIELD is only interested in the Tesseract because
of the clean energy it can provide, and that's a big fat lie.
Fury is far from a reliable source.
It is curious that Vanko's name came first on the schematics both on the copies Vanko
has early in the film and the one Stark finds in the stuff S.H.I.E.L.D.
brings him from storage.
Regardless, we'll probably never get to the bottom of this one.
Whiplash certainly didn't.
In Doctor Strange, the death of the Ancient One raises questions that aren't answered
by the end of the film.
And even though Stephen Strange appears in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War,
those questions still have yet to be answered.
There are hints, perhaps, but nothing concrete yet.
You know what we're getting at here.
Basically, what exactly happened to Kamar-Taj?
Immediately after the Ancient One's death, Strange and Mordo head to Hong Kong.
By the end of the film, The Ancient One's death leaves a huge void in Kamar-taj's leadership
and we have no idea who, if anyone, has stepped up to fill it.
When you think about it, The Ancient One and her students are apparently the only ones
standing between the MCU's Earth and hordes of malevolent forces.
So honestly, the question of who's steering the ship now that she's gone seems like a
pretty important one to answer straight away.
One of the hints we get is Doctor Strange's conspicuous leap in terms of his mystic skills.
In Doctor Strange, he can barely keep up with Kaecilius's henchmen.
But by Infinity War, the guy gives Thanos a better one-on-one fight than just about
any other hero in the movie, and that's when Thanos has four Infinity Stones.
Could it be possible that Strange was allowed to assume leadership of Kamar-taj in spite
of being the new kid on the block?
"It's Strange."
"Maybe.
Who am I to judge?"
Discuss amongst yourselves.
Want to know our vote for the most surprising death in 2018's Black Panther?
It had to be when Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan, kills Ulysses Klaue.
"And to think I saw you as some crazy American."
Initially introduced as a weapons dealer in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron, some
fans thought Klaue might be the main villain of Black Panther, and for very good reason.
For quite a while, Ulysses Klaw has not only been the Wakandan monarch's most persistent
foe, he was actually T'Challa's first enemy.
In the comics, Ulysses Klaue is much more than a thief to Wakanda: He's the killer of
a king.
While trying to steal Wakanda's vibranium for himself, it's Ulysses who murders T'Challa's
father T'Chaka.
Still just a boy, T'Challa shoots Ulysses with his own sonic weapon, causing him to
be transformed into the villain Klaw, a being composed of solidified sound.
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler didn't like killing off Klaue.
In May 2018, he told the Toronto Sun:
"I like Klaw.
It really bugged me having to [kill him].
It's tough when you have to kill characters off and I really did love that character."
"I'm sorry.
I'm so.
Ohhhh…
I'm sure that's gonna be okay.
I'm sorry.”
Considering Coogler's fondness for both Klaw and actor Andy Serkis, could we one day see
Klaue return as a villain that's a little closer to the source material?
It seems quite possible, especially considering it looks like Coogler might be willing to
resurrect a certain special someone for Black Panther 2.
"Just so I could kill you."
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