Who will save the world in Avengers: Endgame? Here are the leading fan theories

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame

The last Avengers movie left on quite dramatic terms, with arch-enemy Thanos getting all six Infinity Stones and turning half of the population, including the superheroes, into dust with a snap of his fingers.

The latest Avengers movie, a sequel-of-sorts to Infinity War, comes out on April 26. In the lead up, fans have been dissecting the comics, other Marvel movies, and the Endgame trailers to figure out what might happen.

Den of Geek editor in chief Mike Cecchini told Day 6 about some of the most popular theories.

Captain America will die

Self-sacrifice is built into the character of Captain America, according to Cecchini, which can be seen from the first Captain America movie. Before he became the superhero, and was "still scrawny little Steve Rogers," he threw himself onto a grenade to save his comrades.

But the pin hadn't been pulled. It was a test to see who should become Captain America — and he was the only one who chose to die to save others.

"If he was willing to do that before he was even a hero, he's certainly going to be willing to die in order to bring back half of the life in the universe," said Cecchini.

Another consideration, Cecchini says, is that Chris Evans, the actor behind Captain America, is looking to move on from the character. His contract is up, and Cecchini says he has "made noises" about wanting to do smaller films, and maybe go into directing.

"But whatever happens, it's going to be done in the most noble and heroic way imaginable because that's what the character deserves," Cecchini said.

Iron Man and Ant-Man will combine technology to save the day

According to Cecchini, fans are predicting that Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, is going to work with Scott Lang, a.k.a. Ant-Man, to enter other realms of the universe, and possibly travel through time.

In order for Ant-Man to become subatomic (ant sized), he enters a different realm, Cecchini explains, and he has to wear a special suit. As part of their Marvel dissection, fans are pointing to a shot in the Endgame trailer where the heroes are wearing outfits similar to those Ant-Man wears.

Will they attempt time travel?

"This could be a question of various elements of Marvel Universe science coming together and allowing for something that we haven't seen before," said Cecchini.

Goose, the cat, will unlock other realms — and maybe time travel

Goose is not really a cat though, as those who watched Captain Marvel found out. Goose is actually shapeshifting alien known as a Flerken.

Along with being able to swallow hugely powerful objects, like Infinity Stones — which Thanos now yields, remember — he has portals into other realms in his cheeks. Yes, his cheeks.

Fans are theorizing that Goose may unlock other realms, and may be able to hold onto the Infinity Stones should the heroes be able to wrest them from Thanos.

"Personally I don't know how likely it is, but what we've learned with Marvel Studios is not to rule anything out [and] that very little happens by accident," said Cecchini.

Gamora isn't actually dead

Perhaps one of the most shocking parts of Infinity War was Thanos sacrificing Gamora, the sword-bearing Guardian of the Galaxy and daughter of Thanos, in order to get the Soul Infinity Stone.

"The important thing to remember with Gamora is that of everybody who died in Infinity War, she is the least likely to be actually dead," said Cecchini.

The theory out there is that she has become a resident of the Soul Stone.

"There's a lot of precedent for that from the comic book stories," said Cecchini, "where the Soul Stone was where various characters would cool their heels until they were ready to take on Thanos properly."

Cecchini says it's "very likely" that Endgame will have "a really great, dramatic, punch the air, hell yeah moment with Gamora taking on her father once and for all."

Captain Marvel will face-off with Thanos

"Captain Marvel is certainly the most powerful of the Avengers right now," said Cecchini. "She is the one who is most likely to be able to take on Thanos just from a pure raw power standpoint."

She was the one called to the rescue as everyone was being turned to dust, after all.

He also points out that she is powered by one of the Infinity Stones in Thanos's arsenal, the Space Stone.

"There's a certain symmetry to this character's entire origin story being tied to one of those Stones, and then having her be the one to play a key role in his defeat," said Cecchini.

Everyone turned to dust will come back

By the end of Infinity War, Thanos had killed off half the population of the universe. But Cecchini isn't worried.

"I wouldn't be surprised if, before everything has its final resolution, we'll see characters like Black Panther, Spider-Man, the Winter Soldier and the Falcon all coming back and coming to the rescue with everybody else," he said.

Cecchini points out that some of these characters have upcoming series in the roles that were turned to dust. 

What does Cecchini think is the most likely?

A combination of theories.

"I think ... there is a grain of truth in a lot of these, and no one character is going to be the ultimate key to Thanos's defeat," he said.

He says it'll be the raw power of characters like Thor, the Hulk and Captain Marvel, the strategy of Captain America and Black Widow, and the tech-savvy of Iron Man and Ant-Man.

But the big caveat in all of this is that Marvel Studios could pull (another) fast one on all of its fans.

"There is a 100 per cent chance that Marvel is going to do something that nobody is thought of," said Cecchini.

To hear the full interview with Mike Cecchini, download our podcast or click 'Listen' at the top of this page.