Avengers: Infinity War directors confirm Loki is definitely dead. This year's epic Marvel crossover event ended with the catastrophic Thanos snap, which wiped out half of the universe's population. Several of the franchise's most prominent heroes were among the dead, though it's largely expected several (if not all) of these will be undone by the time Avengers 4 concludes. After all, Marvel is already working on sequels for some of the deceased characters, like Spider-Man and Black Panther.

That being said, there were some MCU figures that met their end well before the infamous snap. Chief among them was Loki, who perished in Infinity War's opening sequence as he attempted to stand against the Mad Titan. Considering the God of Mischief has faked his death before and Tom Hiddleston is returning for a television show on Disney+, a popular fan theory is that Loki's still alive and he'll also return in Avengers 4. But according to the Russos, that may not be in the cards.

Related: Loki's TV Show Means His Infinity War Death Should Be Undone

During a post-Infinity War screening Q&A hosted by Collider, the directors were asked about the hypothesis that Bruce Banner is actually an in-disguise Loki. Their response, as shared by /Film's Peter Sciretta, seems to have debunked that particular line of thought. Check out the Twitter post below:

This sounds like a straightforward answer, but it's worth noting there are still six months remaining until Avengers 4 debuts. The Russos are not going to reveal any major plot twists about the film this far out, so the brevity of their answer leave the door (slightly) ajar for interpretation. Especially if Earth's Mightiest get into any time travel shenanigans to undo the effects of the snap, there remains an outside possibility Loki's alive at the end of Phase 3. Perhaps the movie can help set the stage for the character's upcoming show (of which details are difficult to come by) and give the God of Mischief an exciting future to look forward to. All that can be really discerned from the Russos' response is that in the current, publicly-released state of the MCU, Loki is dead and won't factor into the narrative again unless something extraordinary happens.

It'll be interesting to see if anything becomes of Loki in Avengers 4. With so many of the post-snap deaths poised to be reversed, it would potentially be anti-climactic if some of the others were undone as well. Granted, there are ways to maintain dramatic tension in a story without resorting to killing main characters, but this has been a common criticism of the MCU for years. Very few of their deaths stick, and it would be nice (if a little bittersweet) if that started to change. Loki went on an incredible journey over his run in the MCU, so it would be a shame if his emotional sendoff was revealed to be yet another hoax.

More: The Avengers 4 Trailer 'Delay' Is Smart for Marvel

Source: Peter Sciretta

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