Friendly reminder: it’s never been *confirmed* that someone actually dies in Avengers: Infinity War

For the last few months — heck, honestly for the last few years — we’ve been bracing ourselves for the worst when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ever since Agent Coulson bit the dust during the first all-heroes outing back in 2012, we’ve been on our toes, worried that any one of Earth’s mightiest heroes might be next.

Thankfully, over the span of 18 movies, aside from Coulson, we haven’t had to say too many goodbyes. Honestly, maybe the worst goodbye so far was Killmonger, simply because he was played by Michael B. Jordan, and it’s always sad to say goodbye to Michael B. Jordan, you know? But with Avengers: Infinity War quickly approaching, one thing is harrowingly clear: Someone is totally going to die in this movie.

We know it in our hearts, and for most of 2018 we’ve been seeing headlines like “Who is going to die?” along with the odds for every single Avenger. But take a step back for a second, and think about the fact that this hasn’t actually been confirmed. Sure, Chris Evan’s contract might be quickly coming to a close in regards to Captain America, and Chris Hemsworth has already said there are (maybe) no more Thor movies left. But that doesn’t mean anyone is actually going to die.

Because actually, everyone is going to die.

“We’ll confirm that everyone dies. They all die,” Co-director Anthony Russo jokes to HelloGiggles during the Infinity War press day in Los Angeles. “Audiences should be prepared to watch them all die.”

“Except we don’t die,” Joe Russo, the other half of the Russo Brothers, jumps in. “That’s the one thing that we can tell you.”

“We’re the only guys who survive the movie.”

They’re kidding, obviously. But, both of them back up the statement that they’ve never said, on the record, that we have to say goodbye to an Avenger — we just assume it’s going to happen.

"This is the culmination of ten years of a story, right?" Anthony continues. "If Marvel were writing a book over the last 10 years it's the final chapter of the book. It's the big finish. There are stakes because Thanos is without question the most intense villain that they've ever faced. We appreciate stakes. I think we illustrated that in Winter Soldier and Civil War that we aren't afraid to leave the audience with complicated feelings at the end of a movie. I think that [there] is a constant in our films, emotional realism is really important to us. We really like to deconstruct things through emotional realism."

But in regards to death, the brothers still aren’t confirming or denying we’re going to lose someone near and dear, rather, “I think the audience should be prepared for a lot of surprises. You yourself should be prepared for a lot of surprises.”

So bring tissues, because between surprises and a maybe-death, you’re 100% going to need them.