Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Endgame.

Avengers: Infinity War was semi-shocking because characters “died” but we knew that there was a chance of them coming back through the power of time travel and undoing what Thanos wrought. But not everyone who died in Infinity War was dusted, so what happens to them? And what about those deaths in Endgame? Let’s sort out the dead from the living.

Seriously, stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled on character deaths.

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Image via Marvel Studios

Dead: Tony Stark/Iron Man

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Image via Marvel Studios

This is the big death of Avengers: Endgame. And there’s no sly way out here. He didn’t upload his consciousness into a suit. He didn’t create an alternate timeline where he lives. Tony straight up sacrificed his life to stop Thanos and his minions, but died in the process. Iron Man was the start of the MCU, so it’s only fitting that he’s also be the end of the first three phases.

Dead: Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow

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Image via Marvel Studios

This is one is a little trickier. Between Infinity War and Endgame, it’s well established that when someone is sacrificed on Vormir for the Soul Stone, that person stays dead. Black Widow and Hawkeye fought to sacrifice themselves for the Soul Stone, but eventually Black Widow “won” that battle and gave her life to get the stone for the rest of the team. It’s then established that the stones don’t work in bringing people back from the dead, or at least not someone who died to get the Soul Stone on Vormir.

However, there’s still a Black Widow movie on the way. We can only assume that this is a prequel that goes into one of Natasha’s old missions (her “Red Ledger” if you will). But right now, it looks like there’s no bringing back the Natasha Romanoff who died in 2023.

Dead: Thanos

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Image via Marvel Studios

He’s dust. I won’t even begin to broach the time travel paradoxes created by killing off 2014 Thanos, but Thanos is dead. Maybe they try to bring him back one day, but I think they’ve done all they can with the character. He’s gone, and he should stay gone.

Dead: Vision

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Image via Marvel Studios

So this is where it gets tough. If a character died but they weren’t dusted, their fate is a little murkier. Vision had the Mind Stone pulled from his skull in Infinity War, and his lifeless body was thrown on the ground. When everyone came back through the portals, Vision wasn’t among them and there’s no sign anyone was coming to put him back together, especially since he’s partially powered by the Mind Stone.

That being said, the Disney+ series WandaVision is on the way, and star Elizabeth Olsen says that it will be set in the 1950s. So are there more time traveling shenanigans on the way? Is this an alternate reality? Like Black Widow, we’re not done with Vision, but he appears to be dead in the current MCU timeline.

Dead: Heimdall

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Image via Marvel Studios

Like Vision, Heimdall died without being dusted. Unlike Vision, there’s no series on the way for Heimdall to be the star. Idris Elba is done with the MCU, and we thank him for his service.

Dead and Not Dead: Gamora

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Image via Marvel

So this is where time-traveling shenanigans are able to save at least one character. 2018 Gamora is killed when Thanos throws her off the cliff on Vormir to obtain the Soul Stone. That 2018 Gamora and everything that happened between 2014 and 2018 for her is gone. But 2014 Gamora, who basically comes right up to the line of volunteering to retrieve the Power Stone, travels forward in time to 2018 and she stays there. We don’t know where she is, but she’s presumed alive. If she had been dusted with the rest of Thanos’ forces, we probably would have seen it due to the impact it would have on Nebula and Quill.

So to clarify: 2018 Gamora is dead, but 2014 Gamora is alive, and will presumably be seen in Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Far Too Confusing: Loki

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Image via Marvel Studios

This one is going to be (appropriately) maddening. So Loki, like Heimdall, dies at the hands of Thanos at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. However, in Endgame, the timeline gets very screwy. Originally in 2012, Loki was apprehended and taken back to Asgard. But then the 2018 Avengers screwed with the timeline and Loki escaped with the Space Stone, a problem the Avengers never resolved (Cap and Iron Man just go further back in time and retrieve the Space Stone from the 1970s).

We now have a Disney+ series on the way starring Loki, but we don’t know what it’s about, or even when it takes place. So maybe Loki is dead, but maybe, by virtue of being part of a screwed timeline, he’s alive. It’s Schrödinger’s Loki.