This ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ MCU Fan Theory Predicts Dead Villains’ Return

Avengers: Infinity War is still shrouded in a lot of secrets, but there have been hints we could see some really big twists thrown into the mix. For a lot of fans, speculation about those twists has usually revolved around the idea of big, unexpected, superhero cameos, but there has been another theory of growing popularity in chat threads.

That theory stems from the fact that so many Marvel Cinematic Universe movie villains have met untimely ends. The recent release of the Avengers: Infinity War prelude comic came with the hint that Red Skull may not be as dead as originally thought. According to theory, the villain’s involvement with the Tesseract / Space Infinity Stone in Captain America: The First Avenger may have instead left him in a place where he will soon resurface – as a cohort of Thanos.

This theory not only extends to Red Skull, but rather the entire lineup of MCU villains who were seemingly destroyed by the Infinity Stone power sources they sought to bend to their evil whims. The path of fan logic states that the deaths of these villains was never meant to be permanent – they all died as direct result of the stones’ power, and in theory, that same power could be tapped by Thanos to bring all of those “dead” villains back to the land of the living, to help the Mad Titan achieve omnipotence.

It’s a hard theory to prove or disprove either way, as the secrecy of Avengers: Infinity War could’ve allowed for several of the big MCU villain actors to have filmed cameos for Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers 4, or both. We know that Avengers 4 will definitely have a time travel component, so literally any kind of retcon is possible, at this point.

So which villains would be making a return? Here’s the lineup:

Red Skull

We last saw Captain America’s nemesis aboard the massive plane he tried to use as his WWII warship. Skull was seemingly vaporized when he grabbed the Tesseract by hand. Based on what we now know of the Space Infinity Stone inside the cube, Skull could’ve simply been transported across the universe. Only problem to bringing back Red Skull? Actor Hugo Weaving has been especially cagey about returning to the role. 

Malekith

The leader of the Dark Elves (played by Christopher Eccleston) was knocked out of The Aether by Mjolnir, as, Thor used Jane Foster’s tech to transport the villain back to the Dark Elves realm of Svartalfheim, where he was promptly crushed by his own crashing warship. Malekitch claims that The Aether (aka The Reality Stone) can never be destroyed – so maybe those bonded with it can’t be destroyed either? 

Ronan

Ronan the Accuser was consumed by the energy of The Power Stone in Guardians of the Galaxy, after Peter Quill and the Guardians shared the energy of the stone, in order to wield it against Ronan. This already sets up the possibility that maybe the Power Stone doesn’t just destroy, but absorbs things as a continued source of its power. That would mean the stone can still bring Ronan back – which the MCU just might need, as the character is a major factor in events like the Kree-Skrull war, a conflict that will be introduced to the MCU during Captain Marvel.

Ultron

Ultron was presented as being nearly immortal in Avengers 2, due to the fact that his A.I. consciousness could be downloaded into any mechanical body, or housed on the web. In order to defeat the villain, The Avengers had to cut off his Internet access and destroy every single copy that Ultron could escape in. In the epilogue of the “Battle of Sokovia,” The Vision tracks down the final Ultron body trying to escape, and eliminates it after a deep ‘Father / Son’ talk. The actual killing is done off-screen, and has always been a matter of big fan speculation. Given the nature of the Mind Stone, vision may not have “killed” Ultron at all: he may have just trapped the villain’s consciousness in the Mind Stone, where Thanos can draw it out again. 

Loose Ends

Clearly we didn’t include

 or Dormammu from Doctor Strange, even though both villains tangled with Strange’s Time Stone. The reason for that is simple: Kaecillius wasn’t a major enough villain, nor was he actually taken out by the Time Stone; he was transformed into a mindless one by Dormammu. Meanwhile, the dark dimensional lord wasn’t destroyed, seemingly or otherwise. Strange just used the Time Stone to trap him in a temporary loop. So while the Time Stone could also be the key to bringing all these villains back (if Thanos plucks them from the time stream to serve him), it doesn’t have an individual villain attached to its energy right now. 

Meanwhile, the Soul Stone is till out there in some unknown location. Given the nature of that stone, it could (individually or in conjunction with the Time Stone) be an easy way for Thanos to resurrect the greatest threats the MCU heroes ever faced. 

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Do think that Marvel movie fan theory is onto something? Could Avengers 3 and/or 4 bring back some classic MCU villains? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Black Panther is now in theaters. It will be followed by Avengers: Infinity War on April 27th, Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.