movie deal, and Bucky (Sebastian Stan) doesn't have a strong skill set outside of murdering people. With contracts ending and some heroes not really seeming to have a lot of solo franchise potential, why didn't the directors really let 'er rip and mow down as many good guys as they could get away with?
It doesn't really seem like there's one right answer. Endgame gave us a ton of heroes, and in most likelihood the filmmakers had different reasons for keeping each survivor off the chopping block. Here's why we think the following Avengers survived Endgame.
It would've been interesting to see what might have happened if Rocket ever found himself one-on-one with Thanos (Josh Brolin). Considering the Mad Titan murdered everyone in Rocket's found family, his rage might have gotten the better of him and — just like his poorly considered assault on Ronan (Lee Pace) after the death of Groot (Vin Diesel) in Guardians of the Galaxy — Rocket might have written a check he couldn't cash. As it happens, everyone's favorite trash panda came out of Avengers: Endgame relatively unscathed.
The easiest and most likely answer to the question of Rocket's survival is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. In 2017 at the Hasbro HASCON, Guardians writer/director James Gunn told fans he had an origin story for Rocket that he planned to tell. He also warned Rocket's life story would likely be more "horrible" than it was in the source material.
Gunn's plans for that origin story were jeopardized when he was fired by Disney in July 2018 for offensive decade-old tweets... but it might have ended up back on the table that September, when it was reported Marvel would use Gunn's script. By March 2019, Gunn was rehired to direct, so all things considered, it looks like we might be learning more about Rocket's past in Vol. 3, and it would be a pretty big bummer if we only got to see that story after Thanos turned him into a small rug.
Unfortunately we didn't see a lot of Okoye (Danai Gurira) in Avengers: Endgame. She's in the final battle and she briefly speaks to Black Widow in the beginning. Beyond that, she's absent. Admittedly, that's good news because it made it less likely she would die, but at the same time she just plain kicks butt. She kicks so much butt in 2018's Black Panther, you might find yourself wondering why anyone bothered giving the king super powers.
In Infinity War, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) tells Okoye — just before being claimed by the purge — to "get up" because "this is no place to die." In a way, that's also the answer to her survival in Endgame. Okoye is part of the MCU as a whole, but she's particularly important to the Black Panther franchise. If she were to ever make the ultimate sacrifice, it should be in a Black Panther film.
Not to mention that the aftermath of Infinity War and Endgame leaves us with a lot of questions about Wakanda and we're probably going to need Okoye to get some of those answers. After all, while the purged were brought back to life, it still happened — which means T'Challa was dead for five years. The king of Wakanda died without an heir and his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) was dead as well. What happened in Wakanda during those five years? Who is T'Challa going to find on the throne?
Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) was one of the most asked-about absences from Avengers: Infinity War. Along with Korg (Taika Waititi) and Miek, we never see her during Thanos' attack on the Asgardian refugee ship and initially we didn't know if she'd survived the purge. Avengers: Endgame finally gives us our answers: Along with the rest of the surviving Asgardians, Valkyrie settles in New Asgard. With Thor wallowing in depression, alcohol, and Fortnite, someone has to take charge. So the warrior who's so apathetic when we meet her in Thor: Ragnarok that she cares about nothing but kidnapping refugees and drinking her cares away becomes the de facto Queen of New Asgard. Her contributions don't stop at the administrative; she also flies in on a winged horse in the final battle against Thanos.
Valkyrie may very well have been considered an "easy kill" by speculators. She doesn't have a solo franchise of her own and has only appeared in one other film so far. But clearly the Russo brothers didn't feel the same, because Valkyrie ends Endgame alive, well, and the official leader of New Asgard.
Valkyrie's star is rising. Considering Marvel's statements about increasing diversity in its films, and the fact that Valkyrie is a bisexual woman of color — not to mention that regardless of her sexuality or ethnicity she was a hugely popular part of Ragnarok — the character has massive potential in the post-Endgame MCU. Killing her off so early would be a huge waste.
Captain Marvel's ticket sales broke so many records... we're trying to come up with some funny analogy about a record store, but it's just not working. Point is, it broke records and it continues to break more. Unless something crazy happens like old Brie Larsen tweets surface with her saying something like she enjoys punching baby dolphins, there's going to be a sequel to Captain Marvel. So the idea of killing her off in Avengers: Endgame is pretty nuts. If Captain Marvel had bombed? Maybe Thanos taking her out wouldn't seem so far-fetched. But that isn't what happened.
Not to mention that beyond Captain Marvel's own franchise, Avengers: Endgame opens an opportunity for the hero to perform another role. Endgame left a huge void in the Avengers' leadership. Captain America (Chris Evans) is eligible to join AARP now and Iron Man is dead. If the Avengers are going to move forward they'll need a new leader, and those are shoes the Carol Danvers of the comics have filled. We're pretty certain the big screen version could do the same.
Thor was another hero a lot of fans guessed wasn't long for the executioner's block. His entire family is dead, his home exploded, his hammer got squished by Heavy Metal Galadriel, and his people are practically extinct. Why wouldn't the thunder god make a suicide run at Thanos? What does he have left to live for?
Well, for one thing, better movies. Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok revived the franchise — before that, Chris Hemsworth had apparently grown bored with the character. Before Waititi got involved, it's likely Hemsworth wouldn't have objected to the Odinson getting taken out. Hel, he might've asked for it.
But now the sky's the limit, which is exactly where Thor is headed. He hops aboard the Benatar toward the end of Endgame to join the Guardians of the Galaxy. Does this mean we should expect Thor to be a part of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? Are the Guardians just, as Thor says to Valkyrie before he leaves, giving him "a ride," maybe to another Waititi-directed Thor film? Or is this the last time we should expect to see the Odinson outside the comics? We don't know, and Hemsworth says he doesn't either. Regardless, the potential is there, and that's enough to keep him alive.
Anyone with an Avengers: Endgame deadpool probably had Rhodey right at the top of the list. He's a sidekick. He had a shot at a solo film that never materialized. His superhero name is one of the least family-friendly titles you could think of, right up there with Punisher.  During an ill-fated assault on the Mad Titan, Thanos put his fist through War Machine's chest in 2016's Civil War II #0. If you're not a comics reader but you saw Endgame with friends who are Marvel Comics fans, you can bet they were worried when Thanos headed for Morag when Rhodey and Nebula (Karen Gillian) were there trying to get the Power Stone.
All of that, in most likelihood, is precisely why Rhodey survives Endgame. During the span of the four films they've directed for Marvel Studios, Joe and Anthony Russo have proven their mastery at going against expectation.  Considering what we've seen from them, they probably put Rhodey on the Morag team because they knew fans would be seeing skulls as soon as Thanos set course for the rock.
Nebula's survival was one of the most surprising of Endgame. She has a "Hack first, think later" attitude that never serves her well against her powerful father. She's impulsive, damaged, and suffers a well of endless rage. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 she flies a spaceship into a cavern while trying to kill Gamora (Zoe Saldana), and she keeps going even after the wings break off. If there's one thing the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) teaches us in the opening scene of Avengers: Infinity War, it's that your head better pack as much of a punch as your fists if you're going after Thanos. All in all, Nebula seemed doomed from the start.
But she survives Endgame. At least the Nebula of the present survives — her past self gets a hole in her chest.