In August of 2011, Marvel’s Captain America introduced the tesseract, the first of a series of all-powerful relics called “Infinity Stones.” A year later, we were introduced to Thanos, a powerful Titan on the hunt for the six Infinity Stones, which have made several appearances across Marvel’s other movies. And now, six years after Thano’s introduction, he’s finally going to take the place as the main villain in the third installment of the Avengers.

This is the culmination of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, featuring just about every superhero we’ve seen on the big screen, from Iron-man to Black Panther, and their struggle against Thanos, who’s on the search for the final Infinity Stones.

As millions of fans around the world wait in anticipation for the newest film, it’s up to us to predict what we can expect to see in the movie.

The Lore

Firstly- the story. When asked about how the story will play out, Anthony Russo, one of the Russo Brothers (The directors of the film), said that it will be “a heist film in the fact that he’s going after the Infinity Stones in a much bolder, successful way than he has in the past,” confirming that the movie will revolve around Thanos’ attempts at obtaining the final few Infinity Stones.

In the original Marvel comic that the movie is based on, Thanos wants to use the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of the universe’s life with a snap of his fingers, all to please his love interest – Death. Yes, the literal physical representation of Death.

While movie plots usually adapt and heavily change the details and concepts from the original comics, in the recent trailer, Gamora confirms that Thanos does want to use the Infinity Stones in order to wipe out half the universe with a snap of his fingers, just like in the comics.

As for Death, some believe that she will be replaced by Thor’s sister herself – Hela, the goddess of death. While she did ‘technically’ die in Thor Ragnarok, we never actually see her die; rather, we only see her get crushed.

This leaves us with the possibility of Hela coming back, and this will likely happen in order to create some sort of motivation for Thanos, since, after all, this villain has been teased for several years. He isn’t going to be just a cardboard cut-out villain, but he is going to have a motivation that will push him, and we can be sure of that.

The Characters

While pretty much every superhero introduced so far will make an appearance, fans are much more focused about the absence of certain cast members. When asked about the death of any our favorite heroes, the Russo brothers replied with, “you asked for it,” and, “I’m sorry,” assuring that we’ll be saying goodbye to some fan favorites in this movie.

Both Chris Evans (Captain America) and Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) are well past their Marvel contract, and are ready to leave and take on new roles. This means that both of them are likely to be killed off.

But one of those characters is much more likely to die than another – Captain America. In the comic version of Infinity War, Captain America is killed.

While Iron Man’s contract ended a long time ago, Downey Jr. stuck around for an additional four movies, implying that he won’t mind sticking around for a few more. On the other hand, Evans’ contract ends with this final installment, meaning that both his contract and comic book counterpart points towards his death in this new Avengers installment.

The Sequel

Believe it or not, the sequel  has already been filmed; it was shot back-to-back with Infinity War, and will be released exactly one year after Infinity War comes out. But as to what the sequel holds, we cannot know. The Russo brothers refuse to reveal the name of the fourth installment, as they claim it will spoil the events of the new movie.

This has sparked a lot of speculation, some fans claiming that the title might include an important event or character’s name, which could unravel how Infinity War ends or which characters live and which do not.

When asked about whether Avengers 4 will be a continuation of this year’s installment, Joe Russo said that, “We weren’t interested in making one long film and getting out the scissors and and cutting it in half,” establishing that Infinity War is going to be contained to a single movie.

But in the meantime, we can only sit and speculate about what Avengers: Infinity War has in store for us.

Avengers: Infinity War premieres on April 26 in the Grand Cinema Digiplex at Baneasa Mall. Buy your tickets to the premiere here!