Power Rankings:
Heading into "Avengers: Endgame," I asked co-workers, family, friends and the Internet at large to power rank Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I created two "Power Ranking" polls - one to rank the characters by overall strength and importance, and the other to place the characters in order, from favorite to least favorite. Thirty-five people, myself included, were kind enough to participate.To help explain how the power rankings were determined, please consider the following points:
1) Votes were weighted by a points system tied to the overall rank. Twelve points were awarded for a 1st Place vote, one point was given for a 12th Place vote, etc. The "Cumulative Rank" listed below was decided by taking the total points received by each character and dividing by the number of respondents (35). It is worth pointing out that this was how a character like Captain America, who received the most 4th Place votes in the Power poll, wound up getting bumped up to 3rd Place in the final standings: the number of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place votes he received improved his ultimate placement.
2) It is also of note that the Pre-"Infinity War" rankings were based on 20 major heroes that were alive at that point in the MCU timeline. With 11 of those characters getting "snapped" by Thanos at the end of "Infinity War" and three new characters being added to the second poll, the movement shown between the pre-"Infinity War" and pre-"Endgame" surveys may seem somewhat skewed. For instance, War Machine, a perennially disliked character, jumped up eight spots in popularity, in comparison to the last survey, yet remained in last place overall.Here are the results:
Predictions:
Editor's note: One week after "Endgame" hit theaters, I went through and updated our predictions to show which ones we got right. Obviously, spoilers.
Who will rescue Tony Stark from Space?
- 42.9% Captain Marvel
- 23.8% Himself
- 14.3% Pepper Potts
- 9.5% Nebula
- 9.5% Other
- 0% Thor
In the first official trailer for "Endgame," Tony Stark is shown, stranded in outer space, sending what could be his final message to Pepper Potts. The majority of respondents believe that he will end up being saved by the newest comic wonder in the MCU, Captain Marvel.
The second most popular response was that he'll do the most "Tony Stark" thing possible - save himself.ANSWER: Captain Marvel saved Tony and Nebula from space.
How will Scott Lang escape the Quantum Realm?
- 61.9% Any other method
- 38.1% Time travel
In the mid-credits scene for "Ant-Man & the Wasp," Scott Lang is preparing to enter the Quantum Realm. Before he leaves, Janet Van Dyne ominously warns him not to "get sucked into a time vortex." Moments later, Janet, Hank Pym and his daughter Hope get "snapped," leaving Scott without viable means of rescue. However, it appears that those who took my survey believe that Ant-Man is going to somehow find a way back to reality that does not involve the aforementioned time vortexes.ANSWER: A rat pressed a button in Scott Lang's van to help him escape the Quantum Realm.
Who will be the first character to be resurrected, if any?
- 52.4% Doctor Strange
- 19% Gamora
- 9.5% Nick Fury or Maria Hill
- 9.5% Vision
- 1.5% Scarlet Witch
- 1.5% Other
- 0% Everybody else that got "snapped"
There are a few good options here. It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect Nick Fury, who organized the Avengers Initiative in the first place and has a close bond with the apparently all-powerful Captain Marvel, to return to the land of the living before all others. It also wouldn't come as a huge surprise for Vision, who literally had an Infinity Stone embedded in his forehead, to discover a way to come back to life. Gamora, Thanos' adopted daughter, has perhaps a more personal reason to be the first character to be revived. But more than half of respondents believe that Doctor Strange, who foresaw all conceivable outcomes of the war against the Mad Titan, will be the recipient of the first on-screen resurrection. Not a bad pick!ANSWER: Falcon's voice was heard moments before the "snapped" characters were resurrected.
Is Loki permanently dead?
- 52.4% No
- 47.6% Yes
I mean, Thanos said he was... right? But one of my biggest problems with Marvel is that they seem to have a hard time committing to actual, permanent deaths. Groot has supposedly died twice. Nick Fury was fake-killed in "The Winter Soldier." Agent Coulson was brought back from the dead on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Loki has already faked his own death on numerous occasions - and Marvel recently announced that the Asgardian Trickster is going to have his own TV show on Disney+. Is it going to be set before "Infinity War," or is Loki going to get resurrected with everybody else, even though he wasn't killed in the snap? Ponderous.ANSWER: It appears that the Loki we knew in the MCU is permanently dead, although a Loki from another alternate timeline escaped with the Tesseract.
Who is most likely to die in "Endgame"?
- 57.1% Captain America
- 33.3% They will all survive
- 9.5% Iron Man
- 0% Thor
Captain America's death (or a potential self-sacrifice) seems inevitable... but I don't want to talk about it. Also, apparently nobody fears for Thor's life whatsoever.ANSWER: Iron Man was the only one of these three characters to die in "Avengers: Endgame."
How many major characters will (presumably) be dead at the end of the movie?
- 47.6% 3-5
- 33.3% 1-2
- 9.5% None
- 9.5% More than 5
Pain! Lots of pain! Nearly half of voters believe that between three and five major characters will bite the big one.ANSWER: Major characters (presumably or unquestionably) dead at the end of "Avengers: Endgame" include Vision, Gamora, Iron Man and Black Widow.
Who will kill Thanos?
- 57.1% Group effort / Multiple heroes simultaneously
- 23.8% N/A - Thanos will not die
- 14.3% Captain America
- 4.8% Captain Marvel
- 0% Iron Man
- 0% Thor
- 0% Any other individual
Although several heroes have individual motivation to stop the Mad Titan, most of the group believes that killing Thanos will be a group effort, not unlike how the Avengers teamed up at the end of "Age of Ultron." Interestingly, nearly a quarter of respondents believe that, one way or another, Thanos will survive.ANSWER: Iron Man killed Thanos and his army by snapping his fingers while possessing the Infinity Stones. Earlier in the movie, Thor killed the original Thanos at his garden hut.
Where will the killing blow to Thanos be dealt?
- 38.1% Anywhere else
- 33.3% The head
- 28.6% N/A - Thanos will not die
All right, this math isn't adding up. More voters said that Thanos would survive in this question than in the last one. Who's flip-flopping? Nevertheless, two-thirds of respondents believe that the Avengers will either disregard or fail to follow through on Thanos' cynical advice from "Infinity War," when he told Thor, "You should've gone for the head."ANSWER: Thanos' first death in the movie comes via decapitation. Thor went for the head. At the end of the movie, Thanos is killed via the Infinity Stones.
Assuming that these characters are still alive at the end of the movie, who should be the leader of the Avengers?
- 33.3% Captain Marvel
- 19% Captain America
- 19% Doctor Strange
- 14.3% Thor
- 4.8% Black Panther
- 4.8% Black Widow
- 4.8% Iron Man
- 0% Bucky Barnes
- 0% The Guardians of the Galaxy
- 0% Other
If Cap survives, there is a contingent of fans that want him to remain the leader of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. But a shake-up could also be in the works, and there are many who would like to see Captain Marvel or Doctor Strange take the reigns. For the sake of marketing and diversity, Carol Danvers is the obvious choice, but time will tell.ANSWER: Although he is not specifically named the leader of the Avengers, it can be assumed that Sam Wilson (Falcon) will take on a prominent role in future movies as the new Captain America.
(Select all that apply) Will the movie's post-credits scenes:
Three hours later, we may not be able to handle any more drama, so it could be highly likely that Marvel treats us to another Shawarma scene or oddball cameo like Howard the Duck. It would also be the perfect opportunity to tease the post-Infinity Saga future or introduce a "bigger fish" or tease that someone we thought was dead, in fact, is not (please no).ANSWER: There were no post-credits scenes.
(Optional) Make a bold prediction or "hot take" in 1-2 sentences.
- Aaron Christensen: "The Avengers make their own Infinity Gauntlet with the extra one shown briefly at the forge in 'Infinity War.'"
- Riley Gisseman: "Killing Thanos is a group effort, but Gamora puts in the final blow, saying, 'I'm sorry,' while she does it."
- Thomas Batts: "Bold prediction! Thanos snaps himself."
- Marcus Craig: "Ant-Man will be most essential in disarming Thanos."
- Jonathan Blackham: "The surviving Avengers will have to sacrifice/trade themselves for the other Avengers who died. We can't have them all back. (Bucky or Captain America, Star or Spiderman, Rocket or Groot, War Machine or Falcon, Thor for Loki, etc.)"
- Suzzanne Bailey: "The original Avengers that survive will probably continue to appear in future movies, but largely in an advisory capacity. Doctor Strange will take all of the credit for beating Thanos, even though he wasn't there to help, because he saw all of the possible outcomes and made it happen."
- Mickael Stevens: "Galactus will be revealed during the movie."
- Cole Morgan: "Gamora is coming back."
- Robin Green: "The cat [Goose, from 'Captain Marvel'] will be the big hero."
- Garn Christensen: "They will leave everyone hanging."
- Braden Pirami: "Cap will use Thor's hammer to stop Thanos."
- Kevin Savage: "All heroes will come back at one point or another."
- Scott Aylett: "Thor does not die, but leaves to find a new home with Asgardians who are resurrected."
- Cody Christensen: "Everyone who 'died' is stuck in the Soul Stone or the Reality Stone. Once the Gauntlet is destroyed, they will all come back to life."
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There you have it! What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Have any other theories we should know about? Leave us a comment below or whatever, and we'll meet up to discuss all things "Endgame" in a week or two.
SotT: Underground will return... with more Avengers blogs.
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