Entertainment

Here's Why You Won't See Some Of Your Fave Heroes In 'Infinity War'

by Danielle Burgos

Avengers assemble! Oh... some of you are busy? Well, can the Avengers mostly Assemble? They can? Great. Avengers: Infinity War manages the impressive feat of cramming more Marvel characters on screen than any other crossover in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but eagle-eyed viewers and hopeful fans alike will catch there are a couple key members not taking part in the battle against Thanos. But just which Avengers are missing from Infinity War, and why didn't they show up?

Finding out who's M.I.A. first means getting an accurate count of who showed up. Back in January, Thor actor Chris Hemsworth told SlashFilm there'd be 67 characters in Infinity War, then 70, then told told Postmedia it was more like 76. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, meanwhile, pegged the number of speaking roles at 40 recently during an interview with CinemaBlend. Man, this gets confusing fast. Still, a number of characters that fans counted as extremely confirmed due to being shown in the trailer or promotional materials, present when Thanos attacked, like Valkyrie, don't actually show up in the film. So if you're not quite sure what the final listing looks like, here's the official group of Avengers sadly missing from Infinity War.

1

Hawkeye

After an early retirement Hawkeye rejoined the fight in Captain America: Civil War, so where was the founding Avenger team member during their big battle against Thanos? That's right, Hawkeye is not in the movie, and it's because he took a deal after the Sokovia Accords to stay out of trouble and take care of his family.

2

Ant-Man

The latest trailer for the upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp shows the reason Ant-Man had to sit out Infinity War: that hefty ankle bracelet slapped on him due to what went down in Captain America: Civil War.

3

Valkyrie

Ok, Ant-Man and Hawkeye had the same deal going down, but why would the Asgardian be absent from the fray? She was definitely on the ship when Thanos first attacked them, making her absence notably weird. It's likely because her very human representative, Tessa Thompson, had a schedule crammed full filming Westworld, Annihilation, and Creed II.

4

Kraglin

The Guardians of the Galaxy's latest member Kraglin, former first mate/second in command on Yondu's ship, doesn't show up for the fight with the rest of the team. Well, that's not entirely true; actor Sean Gunn, who plays Kraglin, is also the on-set actor for Rocket Raccoon.

5

Queen Ramonda

Another character specifically stated to be in Infinity War who didn't actually show up in the film, Ramonda might have been one Wakandan too many in an already bursting-to-the-seams film.

6

Adam Warlock

Despite Guardians director James Gunn specifically stating the character would make his first appearance in Guardians 3, some fans still thought the ultimate artificial human might show up in Infinity War with the Soul Stone. But screenplay writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely said including Warlock would've been "a massive back-bend" for the entire story, according to ET.

7

Happy Hogan

Though Jon Favreau's fan favorite was slated to be in Infinity War back in July 2017, he doesn't show up on-screen, though as Favreau points out, he does show up as Executive Producer. Cinemablend got the scoop from the man himself that he'll likely be back in Avengers 4.

8

Hugo Weaving

Weaving's an honorary super-villain at this point, having played so many in his career. The versatile character actor played Red Skull in Captain America, but while Red Skull shows up in Infinity War as a Stone guardian, he's played by Walking Dead's Ross Marquand.

9

The Ancient One

Early promotional material led many fans to believe Infinity War might just bring Doctor Strange's Ancient One back from the dead. Nope! Was it a psych-out on the part of Marvel? More likely it's what happens when you have over 10 directors working on 20 separate movies — there's bound to be a mistake or two.

10

Yondu

Now this was a psych-out. Guardians director James Gunn intentionally had Yondu actor Michael Rooker walk around on set in costume, all to keep fans from guessing the character would die in Guardians of the Galaxy 2.

11

Wasp

Evangeline Lilly will add another lady to the Avengers lineup.bBut even that won't happen until the second half of Infinity War; the folks at MCU wanted to save her superhero reveal for the upcoming movie bearing her name — Ant-Man and the Wasp.

But let's focus on the positive. Sure, a couple fan favorites were missing from the fray, but for the most part it's because their actors were busy working on other great projects, or their characters have their own star vehicles coming up. And even dead characters have a sneaky way of coming back over and over again in the land of comic characters. So there's no need to mourn their absence from Infinity War as they'll probably turn up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sooner or later.