Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Avengers: Infinity War.

The official poster for Anthony and Joe Russo’s Avengers: Infinity War is perfectly balanced with regards to who lives and who dies. The blockbuster movie successfully united the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with the Guardians of the Galaxy, along with Doctor Strange and Wong, for an ultimate showdown with the Mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his loyal Black Order, aka the Children of Thanos.

Ever since Thanos debuted in the mid-credits scene in 2012’s The Avengers, the shared universe has been slowly but surely building up to this latest film, a confrontation that would lead to trillions of deaths and set the MCU down a new path. Although the Mad Titan’s motivations in the movie significantly differ from the comics - Thanos wants to save the universe in Infinity War, whereas he wants to court Lady Death in the source material - his purpose in each story arc was to get the Infinity Stones and wipe out half of all life, thus ensuring a perfectly balanced universe.

Thanos succeeded in doing just that. He obtained all six Infinity Stones by traversing the galaxy and killing his fair share of people. And, at last, with what appeared to be his dying breath, Thanos snapped his fingers and slaughtered trillions, removing half of all life in the universe. That not only included half of humanity but also half of the movie’s heroes, thus bringing balance to the universe - which is evident in the official Avengers: Infinity War poster. Take a look (deaths are accentuated):

There are 24 characters on the movie’s official theatrical poster, including Thanos himself. Taking that into account, 12 of those 24 were killed either by Thanos or via disintegration thanks to the snap: Vision, Drax, Gamora, Groot, Mantis, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, White Wolf, Spider-Man, and Star-Lord. The rest are still alive, including Thanos and the original Avengers. Remember, it’s not about just killing half of the heroes; it’s about killing half of everyone so that the other half can live bountiful lives without ever having to worry about consuming too many resources. At least, that’s what Thanos believed with his megalomaniacal plan. In that regard, the poster - and the universe - is perfectly balanced.

What’s interesting is that most of the characters that were killed off via the snap were either new or relatively new characters, such as Black Panther and Spider-Man - two superheroes that have many more years to go in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Perhaps by “killing” off those characters, they are really saving them - preserving them - for the future. After all, Avengers 4 is right around the corner and the original Avengers are going to have to go up against Thanos again to bring everyone back and save the universe. So, maybe they’re the ones fans should be worried about.

More: Avengers: Infinity War Wastes Marvel’s Future Avengers

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