Who's going to die in 'Avengers: Doomsday'? Here are the latest odds on Polymarket (and which Marvel heroes I think won't make it)
Latest from Tom's Guide ·
null
The Doomsday clock is ticking away. In just over a month, "Avengers: Doomsday” will land in theaters. The arrival of Robert Downey Jr.’s Victor von Doom promises to shake up the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a big way. This could mean waving goodbye to some beloved MCU heroes, because it’s hard to see every single Avenger surviving Doomsday.
“Avengers: Infinity War” saw the Marvel roster ruthlessly culled in a snap of Thanos’ fingers. While most of the heroes were un-blipped in the epic follow-up “Avengers: Endgame,” some deaths have proved rather more permanent, like Black Widow and, of course, Tony Stark, aka Iron Man.
I’m expecting “Doomsday” to have a similarly sizable impact on the MCU, maybe even a bigger one as Marvel looks to get back on track following its wilderness years post “Endgame.” Speculation about who will live and who will die is reaching a fever pitch, so I’m looking at the odds (courtesy of Polymarket ) and making a few personal predictions.
Character
Odds of death
Loki
91%
Thor
70%
Spider-Man
67%
Sam Wilson
51%
Ant-Man
45%
Doctor Strange
44%
Steve Rogers
43%
Shang-Chi
28%
Doctor Doom
9%
Based on Polymarket’s current data (as of Nov. 10), Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is most likely to kick the bucket in “Doomsday,” with his brother, the God of Thunder himself, in second place. If both these predictions came true, Doomsday would be particularly brutal on the Thor family.
Spider-Man comes in third — an interesting prediction considering Spidey isn’t actually confirmed to appear (but is rumored). Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who’s taken up the mantle as Captain America, and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) round out the top five, and the death of either character would hit longtime viewers hard, as Mackie and Rudd have been MCU staples for years.
At the foot of the list is Doctor Doom himself, though only with 9% odds, which feels appropriate. Surely Marvel will want to take Doom into 2027’s “Avengers: Secret Wars.” Frankly, all this Doomsday build-up leading to a titular villain who’s defeated after a single movie would be quite an anticlimax. I reckon Doom, like Thanos before him, is a multi-movie foe.
Diving into my personal predictions, I’ll guess first that Loki is safe. The trickster god was choked out in the opening scene of “Infinity War”; his death was used to display the overwhelming threat that Thanos posed. Multiverse shenanigans saw his return in his own Disney+ series, but killing off Loki a second time probably won’t have the same effect. I reckon Loki will survive.
Over the summer, Marvel teased that Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine will return after teaming up in “Deadpool & Wolverine” for “Doomsday,” and I could totally see them getting on the wrong side of Dr. Doctor and meeting a grisly fate. Plus, both have healing factors, so Marvel could always rely on that to revive them later down the line if desired.
I expect the Fantastic Four to be safe, alongside Black Panther (Letitia Wright). But the Thunderbolts, rechristened The New Avengers, might take casualties. I think Florence Pugh’s Yelena will make it to the credits alive, but David Harbour’s Red Guardian might not. Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) also looks in a precarious position, but, sorry to be blunt, I’m not sure killing off Ghost would even register with most viewers; the character is forgettable.
Based on the trailers, “Doomsday” is building around some of the MCU's original stars, namely Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth. As mentioned, I think Downey Jr.’s grand return will last beyond one Avengers movie, but the fate of Evans’ Steve Rogers and Hemsworth’s Thor is definitely up in the air. Thor especially has been a linchpin of the MCU since Phase One, so if Hemsworth is ready to hang up his hammer, Thor snuffing it in a showdown with Doom would probably leave fans in floods of tears.
“Avengers: Doomsday” is assembling one of the most stacked casts in Hollywood blockbuster history, and with so many returning characters from across the MCU (and beyond—Fox’s “X-Men” universe is also represented), it feels like at least some characters won’t make it. The clock is ticking, and come December 18, we’ll finally find out which Marvel heroes live or die.