It was a pop culture moment like no other. The roll call of who died in Infinity War reads like a list of gut punch after gut punch: major Marvel heroes and villains alike all perished in the third Avengers movie as Thanos claimed several victims.
While we're several years after the fact now, many will still be recapping the MCU in earnest via marathons or catch-ups. If you're one of them, here's a handy list on who died in Avengers: Infinity War. Don't worry, no spoilers for Avengers: Endgame (or anything else) beyond that here.
If you want to catch up on all of Marvel's movies (and shows) so far, there's also our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
Loki
Of course, it just had to be a betrayal. After Loki seemingly joined Thanos and handed over the Tesseract, he tried to kill the Mad Titan by putting a knife right between his eyes. Unfortunately for the God of Mischief, Thanos had it scouted well in advance, and choked him to death. Poor Loki.
Heimdall
Yep, at Thanos’ hand again (that becomes quite the theme, as you’ll soon see). Heimdall doesn’t play dead very well after the Black Order’s attack on the Asgardian vessel, instead choosing to use the power of the Bifrost to send Hulk hurtling back to Earth. Thanos, though, doesn’t react kindly to such a power play, stabbing him through the chest. Ouch.
Gamora
This one really stings. Needing to sacrifice a loved one to claim the Soul Stone on Vormir, Thanos throws his adopted daughter, Gamora, over the edge of a cliff and to her doom. Who saw that coming?
Ebony Maw
The first of the Black Order to die, Ebony Maw kidnapped Doctor Strange and whisked him away on a spaceship. Unfortunately for him, both Tony Stark and Spider-Man come to the Sorcerer Supreme’s rescue and disposed of Ebony Maw by sucking him out of the ship and into the cold, dark reaches of outer space.
Proxima Midnight
Probably the most brutal death when you stop and think about it, Proxima Midnight is thrown into the gears of an oncoming Black Order vehicle by Scarlet Witch after a scrap with Black Widow on the battlefields of Wakanda goes south.
Cull Obsidian
Despite getting the better of Bruce Banner in the Hulkbuster, Cull Obsidian was sent to a fiery grave by Hulk's human alter ego. He sticks the Hulkbuster’s decapitated arm on Obsidian’s fist, hits the eject button, and watches the villain fly headfirst into the forcefields surrounding Wakanda. Ouch.
Corvus Glaive
While on the verge of choking Captain America to death, Corvus Glaive (Corvy to his friends) crucially turns his back on a downed Vision. The all-knowing android gets back up and stabs him through the chest with his own scythe.
Vision
Vision, the poor soul, dies twice in Infinity War. First, he has his lover Scarlet Witch kill him so Thanos can’t get his hands on the Mind Stone. Then the Time Stone comes into play. We’ve already witnessed the power of the Time Stone for the purposes of good in Doctor Strange, but here Thanos uses it to rewind time and pluck the yellow stone from Vision’s head, before tossing him to one side.
Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier
Now we’re getting to the many, many dustings that took place after Thanos’ snap. The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, was the first to fall, looking as confused as we all were at the dust radiating from his fingertips. He falls to the ground, evaporating in a cloud of dust as his good friend, Captain America, tries to figure out what the hell happened.
Sam Wilson/Falcon
The second of the dustees to shuffle off this mortal coil (or should that be soil?), Falcon actually died in supremely quick fashion, evaporating during a montage that rattled off a few other deaths on the Wakandan battlefield. Actor Anthony Mackie has since admitted he thinks Sam could have "died in a better way", especially as everyone else got their own "cool death scene" in comparison.
In his version of Infinity War, Falcon would have sacrificed himself to save Black Widow's life, who then kisses him in his last moments while every Avengers admits that he was always the favourite of Earth's mightiest heroes. Good luck pitching that one to the Russos.
T'Challa/Black Panther
This one’s a little more tragic. While attempting to help Okoye to her feet, T’Challa disappears in a whirlwind of dust thanks to Thanos’ universe-balancing snap. Okoye’s reaction makes it: a mixture of utter fear and confusion, mirroring our own feelings as one of the MCU’s biggest heroes gets thrown to the wind.
Wanda Romanoff/Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch fell to the same fate as so many of her comrades, also being dusted. Tragically, she is seen cradling Vision’s body then, it hits hard: the dust takes over her entire body, working its way upwards, before whisking her away.
Groot
Right. In. The. Feels. This is when we knew it was getting serious. Rocket makes his way over to his good buddy, and fellow Guardians of the Galaxy member, Groot, but it’s too late. The big ol’ plant… thing, is hunched over and dissipated before Rocket can even spit out a few “No, no, no!” cries.
Mantis
Over to Titan now. Mantis is, inevitably, one of the first to understand what’s going on, but that doesn’t save her. She’s one of the quicker dustings, too, with her entire body just evaporating in an instant.
Drax
The Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t get a good deal out of this whole balancing thing, huh? Drax turns to dust, calling out to Quill while his right arm slowly fades, then his left, before his whole body is taken over.
Peter Quill/Star-Lord
In typical Star-Lord fashion, Peter Quill goes out in the coolest possible fashion. He’s a victim of Thanos’ snap too but, instead of over-egging the moment (I’m looking at you, Peter Parker), he simply utters “Oh, man” before disappearing.
Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange, meanwhile, seems weirdly subdued by his fate. Yes, he’s dusted just like so many of the others, but his last words to Tony Stark – “There was no other way” – hints that all of this deaths aren’t for naught and are, in fact, they key to defeating Thanos.
Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Peter Parker (or Spider-Man, if we’re using our made-up names) dying in Infinity War was perhaps the biggest gut punch. Of course, he gets swept away in a dust cloud, Tom Holland sells it like a champ, collapsing into Tony Stark’s arms, giving it the old David Tennant “I don’t want to go” and that he “Didn’t feel so good.” A million memes followed, but this original dusting was brilliant in its execution.
Maria Hill
Now onto the Avengers: Infinity War post-credits scene. Maria Hill and Nick Fury are tracking the various cataclysmic events that have taken place in the movie before, yep, that snap happens. Chaos ensues. Cars crash around the pair before the kicker: Maria Hill gets dusted too. But, hey, at least Nick is still around to save the day…
Nick Fury
About that. Being the twelfth and final big dusting in this movie, Fury manages to sign off with half a swear word, as well as a message to the stars as a tease for what's to come: Captain Marvel is on her way.
Hope van Dyne/the Wasp (plus Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne)
Infinity War was so wide-reaching that it even affected other MCU movies. The Ant-Man and the Wasp post-credits scene sees Scott Lang trapped in the Quantum Realm (not good) after Hope van Dyne/the Wasp and her mum and dad, Janet van Dyne and Hank Pym, are dusted by Thanos’ snap (doubly not good). It serves as one of the creepiest, grimmest endings to a Marvel movie ever, but could be crucial in setting up Endgame.
Read more: Ant-Man and the Wasp ending explained - everything you need to know after watching
Anthony Russo
In more light-hearted Snappening news (we think), the purpose of balance was hammered home when co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo took part in a Thanos-style Reddit snap, which saw half of the users of the Thanos subreddit /r/ThanosDidNothingWrong banned completely. In the interests of fairness, Anthony Russo was also swept away, as revealed by his brother Joe on Reddit.
