The Avengers: Infinity War movies (which will, of course, be renamed before they’re released) are coming in 2018 and 2019, respectively – and that’s something everyone can admit to looking forward to.

According to directors Joe and Anthony Russo, the two-part epic Marvel Cinematic Universe event will feature a whopping 67 (sixty-seven!) characters – but that doesn’t mean that everyone you might be expecting will appear.

In this article, we’ll run through the characters that we’d like to see in the movies, for various reasons, but who won’t end up appearing, also for various reasons.

Note that we’re still holding out some hope that the MCU’s television characters will appear in some capacity – the likes of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Defenders – so don’t expect to find them on this list.

Here are ten characters we’d love to see in Avengers: Infinity War who won’t actually appear.

Mistress Death

In the Infinity Gauntlet comic book arc, when Thanos tried to conquer the universe using the Infinity Gems, he did so to impress the “woman” he loved, Mistress Death – the personification of the concept of death in the Marvel universe.

Having that character appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe might be a step too far. Sure, we’ve had talking raccoons, walking humanoid trees, frozen super soldiers and Asgardian demigods, but bringing in a character who controls all of the life and death in the universe could be a bit too over-the-top for the considerably more grounded live action MCU.

Hela – Asgard’s own more watered-down goddess of death, played by Cate Blanchett – is likely to replace her as Thanos’ love interest and ally in the Infinity War movies. And we’re more than okay with that.

Now, on to a character who’s already a huge movie star, but not in the MCU.

Wolverine

One of the superheroes at the forefront of the battle when Thanos got his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet in the comic book arc of the same name was Wolverine – and it would undoubtedly be really cool to see him in the Avengers: Infinity War movies.

Unfortunately, that simply won’t happen, as Fox famously holds the rights to the character, and Hugh Jackman has been playing him in the X-Men movies since the year 2000.

Wolverine brought some memorable moments to the Infinity Gauntlet story, such as when Thanos used his godlike reality-warping powers to turn his skeleton to mush, rendering him a floppy mess on the floor. Sadly, we won’t see that on the big screen.

Now we’ll move on to another character that Fox holds the rights to.

The Silver Surfer

In the Infinity Gauntlet comic book arc, after half of the universe’s population was removed by Thanos wielding the titular item, it was the Silver Surfer who informed the heroes of Marvel Comics about the reason for the monumental genocide.

Consequently, it was he and Adam Warlock who mounted the counter-assault on the Mad Titan, gathering heroes and cosmic entities alike to go up against him. But that won’t happen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Fox owns the character, unfortunately, as evidenced by his appearance in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It’s a real shame, but we imagine another space-based character will replace him. We just hope that character is a worthy replacement.

Now we move on to another Fox-owned character – this time it’s a villain.

Doctor Doom

In the Infinity Gauntlet comic book arc, Doctor Doom joined the superheroes of the Marvel universe in the fight against Thanos – and he headed into space to join them in battle.

However, Doom being Doom, he actually attempted (unsuccessfully) to take an opportunity to acquire the Infinity Gauntlet for himself, when a shot from Thor’s hammer Mjolnir momentarily left the Mad Titan prone – and that would be a cool moment to see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Sadly, Doom is another character whose movie rights lie with Fox, but that could open the door for his role in the Infinity Gauntlet comic book arc to be taken by Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. He’s just the kind of character to initially appear to side with the Avengers, only to attempt to betray them with an ulterior motive.

Let’s move on to a pair of characters who come as one entry, due to their team-up nature.

Cloak & Dagger

Cloak and Dagger played an important part in the Infinity Gauntlet comic book arc, as when Thanos snapped his fingers to erase half of the life in the universe, Dagger was one of the many superheroes to disappear, leaving Cloak alone.

This prompted the male half of the duo to join the task force of remaining heroes in the fight against the Mad Titan – and seeing that dynamic on the big screen would be very cool.

Sadly, it won’t happen. Marvel Studios has the rights to the characters – and there has been talk of a Marvel Cinematic Universe television show based on the duo – but they just aren’t big enough for a movie appearance. And that’s a real shame.

We’ll now move on to the next entry, who already exists in the MCU.

Abomination

A weird entry, you might think, but Abomination has been extremely conspicuous in his own absence since he last appeared in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, and it’s about time he reappeared. The Infinity War movies would be a great time for that to happen but, sadly, that won’t be the case.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Earth’s authorities should be looking for all the help they can get – good and evil characters share the same planet, after all – and unleashing the Abomination on Thanos and his allies would probably be a good idea and a great excuse to bring the Hulk rogue back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While they’d be no match for the Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Mad Titan, seeing Hulk and Abomination teaming up in an attempt to smash him would be very cool indeed.

Time to move on to a cosmic superhero who it would be great to see in the MCU.

Quasar

So far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we’ve only seen one human superhero in the cosmos – Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord. Hulk will be out there soon, but he’s hardly what you’d call a space-based hero, and he’ll be back on Earth as soon as he’s done with the events of Thor: Ragnarok.

With that in mind, the MCU is lacking in such characters, and Quasar would be a great such addition to the franchise. He is Wendell Vaughan – a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who proved himself worthy of wielding the powerful Quantum Bands – but he won’t appear in Avengers: Infinity War, sadly.

He was in the Infinity Gauntlet comic book arc – Thanos used his mighty power to cause the Quantum Bands to explode, killing the hero – but the character of Nova is more than likely to take his spot.

We will now move on to the second character on this list who already exists in the MCU.

Odin

Anthony Hopkins has portrayed the Allfather Odin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2011’s Thor, and many fans have hoped that he would face-off with Thanos at some point in the franchise. Sadly, that won’t happen – at least not in the Avengers: Infinity War movies.

You see, Odin is likely to meet his demise in the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok movie – having already suffered at the hands of Loki previously – and his demise may well come at the hands of Thanos, when the Mad Titan turns up in Asgard at the end of the movie to retrieve the Tesseract.

That’s a real shame, because it would be genuinely awesome to see him turn up on Earth to give the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy some much-needed (and seriously powerful) backup – but we can’t see Hopkins remaining in the MCU long enough for it to happen.

Now on to a villain who was a major part of the Infinity Gauntlet comic book arc.

Mephisto

In the Infinity Gauntlet comic book arc, Mephisto operated at Thanos’ side, acting like an ally to the Mad Titan, with the ulterior motive of gaining the power of the Infinity Gems for himself – but he won’t appear in the Avengers: Infinity War movies.

Supernatural characters are expected to start cropping up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe following the arrival of Doctor Strange to the franchise, but to have Mephisto suddenly appear without having appeared previously would be somewhat weird.

Expect the character who replaces him to be someone like Surtur – who is likely to first appear in the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok – while Mephisto is rumored to appear as the main villain in the Defenders television series.

Now let’s move on to our final entry, which features the biggest guns on this list.

Galactus & The Abstract Cosmics

Given the number of bizarre cosmic entities who appeared to stand against Thanos in the Infinity Gauntlet comic book arc, this list could easily be flooded with them, so we’ve opted to place them all in the one entry.

As already touched upon briefly in this article, along with a task force of superheroes, a group of Marvel’s cosmic entities stood up to the Mad Titan when he was wielding the power of the Infinity Gems. That group included the likes of Galactus, the Stranger, the Titan Kronos, Epoch, the entities Love and Hate, two Celestials, Master Order and Lord Chaos, and Eternity – but they won’t appear in the Avengers: Infinity War movies.

Although Celestials have been confirmed to exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the existence of all of those abstract beings wouldn’t fit with the live action nature of the franchise, so don’t expect them to appear.

And that’s end of our list! We hope you enjoyed this article, folks!

What do you think? Will any of these characters actually turn up in Avengers: Infinity War? Who else won’t appear who people might expect to see? Have your say below!