*Massive spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War below!

For those who saw Avengers: Infinity War this week, questions linger as to how the next installment will move forward. As you break into heated discussions on the topic, we suggest keeping four points in mind. You may have already considered some or all of these points. If so, you’re ahead of the game!

Superhero deaths are rarely permanent

Starting first with the most obvious point: all those characters Thanos wipes out when he finally assembles the Infinity Stones? There’s no way all of them stay that way. Characters like Black Panther and Spider-Man represent the future of the MCU (Sony already has a sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming scheduled for 2019). The only real question is how they will come back. It’s slightly more possible that some B-list characters who were reduced to ash may not return (Bucky, Falcon, Mantis, etc.). To be fair, Infinity War may have the only Spider-Man death scene we’ll ever see on the big screen, so the deaths aren’t completely devoid of value. But honestly, if Groot stays dead, how does Disney expect to keep selling those damn Groot Funko Pop! figures?

OG Avengers are best Avengers

Among the surviving half of existence are all of the original Avengers team: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, and presumably Hawkeye. That suggests that there may be something pivotal about this original group moving forward. Perhaps the key is somewhere in Thanos’ first attempt at conquering earth in the first Avengers movie, possibly even a time travel angle? That may be a stretch, but it’s hard to think that the survival of the original six is coincidental. Perhaps an opening scene of Avengers 4 showing Hawkeye minding his business in his home, holding members of his family as they fall to dust in his arms? High drama, plus it provides a quick recap of Infinity War‘s ending?

Adam Warlock was a no-show

Those familiar with the Infinity Gauntlet comics probably noticed the absence of Adam Warlock, a character who played a pivotal role in those classic stories. While he’s not the only major character from these comics absent from the movie, Disney doesn’t have the rights to characters like Silver Surfer (yet), and Adam Warlock was even teased at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2. In explaining why Adam Warlock was missing in action in Infinity War, the writers commented that he was considered in early drafts of the script, but that he was removed as they couldn’t find a way to fit him in. They’ve said the same thing about Avengers 4, but could that just be misdirection at this point?

“It was the only way”

Dr. Strange made a very puzzling decision when he traded the Time Stone to Thanos in exchange for Tony Stark’s life, especially after claiming that he would sacrifice both Tony Stark and Peter Parker to protect the stone. Dr. Strange only explains himself by telling Stark that “It was the only way.” However, Dr. Strange previously used his power to discover the one and only chain of events which resulted in victory over Thanos, so does Tony Stark have to survive for that reality to come about? Perhaps Thanos had to be victorious in the short term in order for the Avengers to defeat him in the long term (similar to the plot of Mortal Kombat 9). Unfortunately for his allies and us and the viewers, Dr. Strange pulled an Admiral Holdo and didn’t exactly lay out the details of his plan, but he does seem to have one.

Got any other points to consider? Chime in and let us know!

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