Who Will Die In 'Avengers: Doomsday'? Our Theories, Explained
Everyone and their mothers has a list of characters we'd likely revolt for if anything happened to them in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Understandable. (Mine's Tom Holland's Spider-Man.) But at the same time, we're all gearing up to fight battles for Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes at this point because the character's gone through too much to die. He needs to retire on a perfect island instead (or anywhere else of his choosing).
In addition, considering what happened with Robert Downey Jr. hanging up his suit as Tony Stark but returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom—that also wouldn't be surprising for other actors. It wouldn't exactly be ideal because other stars should get a chance to show off their chops in this universe, but it'd still be something, I suppose.
Not to mention the fact that the bridge between the multiverses is still so chaotic that anything can happen there as well. Now, we have confirmation that we'll be getting back a lot of characters—and likely others who haven't been announced yet—so the list of superheroes who could be dying in Avengers: Doomsday (2026) is growing. While some, like members of the Fantastic Four, are likely safe, others not so much.
Before Avengers: Doomsday releases on December 18, 2026, here are our theories about the characters we might be seeing for the last time.
Thor (But He Returns as Rune King) - Least Likely
Alongside Doom, Chris Hemsworth's Thor is set up as the most prominent key player from the original Avengers. The significance of him saying that Doom is an even bigger threat than Thanos, when we saw the ramifications the snap had on him in Avengers: Endgame (2019), is a key indicator of how much he means this. He's now legitimately more scared than ever before.
Still, Thor's a god, and given what we saw with Tom Hiddleston's Loki in the multiverse, the MCU is well aware of how vital both these characters are to the overarching story. Thor could die, but I know I'm not alone in theorizing that if he does, it'd be under the condition that he returns as the Rune King, a more powerful version of him.
Namor - Likely
In a lot of ways, Black Panther 3 (2028) is going to feel like a hard but significant reboot because of our new king in David Jonsson's King Toussaint (aka T'Challa II). That universe needs expansion in a completely different way to give it its own stakes. While I can't imagine anything happening to Letitia Wright's Shuri or Winston Duke's M'Baku, Tenoch Huerta's Namor could be a possibility.
Audiences first met him in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), as he was on a quest for vengeance and leading an army against Wakanda. While there was essentially a truce at the end, it wouldn't be surprising if he died in Doomsday, but even to a degree, his character returning at all is somewhat surprising.
Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian - Likely
With everything that went down in Thunderbolts* (2025), it's hard to imagine anything happening to any of them, especially the younger members like Florence Pugh's Yelena, Hannah John-Kamen's Ava, Olga Kurylenko's Taskmaster, Bill Pullman's Bob/Sentry, and even Wyatt Russell's John. But that doesn't mean that they'd be off the hook completely, and few things would make as much sense as Red Guardian sacrificing himself in some way for Yelena, or the rest of them.
If the stakes are higher than ever in Doomsday, then we're likely going to get character deaths that we can't come back from the way we did with Loki. It also wouldn't shock me if Marvel drew some sort of parallel between Black Widow's death and Red Guardian's.
Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow sacrificing herself for the Soul Stone is still the kind of decision that enrages us all, and rightfully so. It should've always been Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton/Hawkeye. But we've grieved, and Yelena's rightfully fought for her sister's name. It'd be a horrific kind of grief if she lost Alexei as well, but the Yelena we know today wouldn't be alone in her grief, and the parental figure element is something the MCU can be ruthless toward.
Steve Rogers - Very Likely
You know how no one wants their favorite character to die? Somewhere in the back of my mind, I always prepared for Steve Rogers' death. As a character who's always been a man out of time, it made far more sense for him to die than Tony Stark, and despite how many years it's been, that's a piece of Marvel canon I still can't wrap my head around. Tony had a kid and a life that he could've and should've lived. In more ways than one, Steve had always settled on the belief that the same type of life wasn't possible for him in this timeline.
That's also why a large majority of his return makes no sense in Avengers: Doomsday, because I was always under the belief that when he went back to visit Peggy, the version of him who returned would've been the version that knew his days were over. It's why he passed down the Captain America shield to Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, and why—perhaps more importantly—Bucky always knew with his smirk.
There are too many theories about the version of Steve we're going to get in Doomsday and whether it's actually the one we've known, a different multiverse version, or someone else in disguise. But if it is the real Steve Rogers, for the sake of continuity and thoughtful storytelling that uses both nostalgia and the timeline correctly, Steve has to die. It's his time.
Captain Carter - Very Likely
The same can be said about Peggy Carter. Before anyone comes for me because she's so high up in this ranking, let it be known that no one's loved her more than I have. I named my cat after her. But none of these human characters are immortal—Peggy, especially. Her humanity is where her character strength always lived—her grief, her resilience, her determination at a time when women were vastly undermined and ridiculed. Peggy's humanity and her training as a spy are where her strengths lie, and seeing her outside of the time period she's shaped feels wrong on so many levels.
The ordinary beats we got with her character were always the moments that showcased her strength the most, so seeing her in any capacity today after we watched her essentially die feels like cheating somehow. And sure, we can argue that this version might not be the version we knew in Agent Carter (2015) or even Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), but it still makes very little sense. It especially feels strange when her niece, Emily VanCamp's Sharon Carter, was poised to have a bigger arc from the comics.
In addition, when we bring back characters like Peggy and mess with various arcs in the process, it puts a bad taste in people's mouths. It makes them care less about them, which is why Marvel needs to not only help people care again, but they've got to leave some of the characters in the past where they belong.
The Original X-Men - Most Likely
With the new X-Men officially announced, the least surprising deaths would be from any of the originals. For the sake of nostalgia, it'd be heartbreaking in more ways than one, but they're also the deaths that make the most sense for this era of Marvel. They've got to pass the torch, and some of them, like Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto, have had some of the most significant runs in the MCU.
Their every appearance has made us giddy, and their tethers to the MCU are so vast that even those who are removed from the franchise know their names. No deaths would feel like a bigger gut punch while simultaneously being so earned for the sake of the story. These aren't just deaths that would be for shock value, but they'd be deaths that you just get despite the undeniable pain it causes. The same can also be said for James Marsden's Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn's Mystique, Alan Cumming's Nightcrawler, and Kelsey Grammer's Beast. I could also see something happening to Channing Tatum's Gambit, but I almost feel like they'd at least let him make it to Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
