With Avengers: Infinity War coming to theaters imminently, my curiosity about what will become of the Marvel Cinematic Universe increases exponentially. It goes without saying that Infinity War is going to forever change the way things work for our favorite super heroes. I can still remember when Iron Man first came out. I knew it was a fantastic movie as soon as I saw it, but if you had told me what that single movie would grow into, I would have been surprised (but very delighted).

The Marvel comic book movies have always held a special place in my family's hearts. My dad was the one who bought me my first comic book, my sister was the one who would go with me to get them, and I have kept both of them up-to-date on the latest comic book news. My mother is the only one who has never picked up a comic book in her life. But boy, she adores the movies. You wouldn't think a woman who can get scared by the simplest of jump scares and who enjoys reading romances would like super hero movies, but against all odds, my mom loves them.

As such, she's really worried about what's going to happen to everyone. (I'm telling you, she's going to be devastated if something tragic happens.) This list is for those of you, like my mother, who are curious and more than a little anxious about the future of the MCU. Below, I've collected twenty rumors about what's going to happen next, half of which I believe to be more likely than the others. Read on to find out what people are saying the future holds for Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

20 LIKELY: The Lucky Spider

One hero we don't have to worry overly much about Thanos crushing his head in is Peter Parker. Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, is set to appear in a sequel to the movie Spider-Man: Homecoming. That sequel is slated to premiere after Avengers: Infinity War, so hip-hip-hooray for the Spider-Man fans out there.

The rumor that Spider-Man survives the Avengers' encounter with Thanos is well-founded.

I only hope that Marvel doesn't try to pull a fast one. I'm fond of this latest iteration of Spider-Man, and it would be a waste of a good casting choice if they decided to off him in this latest Avengers movie. Luckily, I think Marvel and Sony don't want to ruin an excellent thing.

19 UNLIKELY: A Quick Comeback

One rumor that is making the rounds (for some reason) is that Quicksilver is going to be brought back to life using one of the Infinity Stones. For those who don't recall, Quicksilver perished during the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. He sacrificed himself while saving Hawkeye and a young child from a storm of bullets. I don't think this is a likely possibility.

Scarlet Witch's character was largely shaped by the loss of her brother.

Bringing him back removes some of the import of his sacrifice. Plus, if they're going to use magic to resurrect someone (which is total comic book bull-turkey), don't you think they should resurrect someone more... vital to the story? I don't mean to belittle Quicksilver, but... well... you know what I mean, right?

18 LIKELY: Removing The Bread And Butter

One rumor that actually worries me more than most is the one that states Iron Man is going to be one of the heroes who will not survive the fight against Thanos. I feel out of all the characters, Tony Stark's character is the one who has been set up to make a huge sacrifice during Infinity War. He alienated most of his friends during Civil War with the whole Superhero Registration Act, and he was at odds with Pepper Potts the last we heard. It feels like he would be the one who would save the world by giving up his life in order to rectify his past mistakes. I told my mom this, and you guys should have seen her face. Tony Stark is her favorite Avenger, and just hearing that he might pass away broke her heart.

17 UNLIKELY: A Skull Of A Good Time

Red Skull is supposed to be one of Captain America's main villains. His eerie, crimson visage is the one we see opposed to Cap's in comic book covers all the time. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Red Skull's time existing as Captain America's arch-nemesis ended all the way back during the World War II-era.

A rumor has begun fluttering its wings regarding Red Skull's return.

It says that Red Skull is going to come back to life in order to fight against Cap once again. Ugh. Just ugh. I get that good villains are in short supply in the Marvel Universe, but come on, a little creativity can go a long way. You can deviate from the comic books or take inspiration from them without following them exactly by the letter.

16 LIKELY: The Next Secret Step

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has done a good job of following comic book story-lines while simultaneously adapting them to make them more palatable for a general audience. You don't have to do research in order to watch an Avengers movie. So I'm very interested to know if and how Marvel plans to handle the Secret Invasion story-line. Secret Invasion was a Marvel comic book event that revealed how a shape-changing alien species infiltrated nearly all levels of the super hero world. Rumors are buzzing around the cosmos about how this is the next big thing Marvel wants to tackle after they finish up Infinity War. It seems like a logical next step, but they haven't even introduced Skrulls to the populace yet. Marvel has their work cut out for them.

15 UNLIKELY: The Flaming Motorcycle Ghoul

I saw Ghost Rider with a friend of mine a couple of weeks after it came out. We had one heck of a good time laughing at it. I don't think the movie was trying to be intentionally funny, but things just seemed hilarious. Seeing a flaming skull talking should have been frightening. Instead, it tickled our funny bones.

Word is spreading that a Ghost Rider reboot is in the works.

While I don't think it's going to happen, I wouldn't mind if it did. I mean, the movie could go one of two ways. Either it's better than the Nicholas Cage version and my mind is blown, or it's worse and my friend and I get to split our sides chuckling together once more. That's a win-win situation if you ask me.

14 LIKELY: From Sidekick To Captain

It may surprise people who haven't read the comic books, but Bucky Barnes was originally a child helping out Captain America during World War II (okay, he was a teenager, but still). Marvel couldn't very well have a young boy following Captain America into potentially lethal situations in Captain America: The First Avenger, so they made Bucky an older man, more suitable to be a partner than a sidekick. In the comics, however, Bucky eventually grows up, does his stint as the Winter Soldier, and then inherits the mantle of Captain America. Fans speculate that we can expect to see similar circumstances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where Sebastian Stan's Bucky takes over the role of Chris Evans' Captain America. It'd be interesting, no doubt, to witness a different take on the Captain, but we'll just have to wait and see.

13 UNLIKELY: Blade Bounces Back

Before Iron Man came out, the Blade trilogy was the best film experience that Marvel could offer. I'm not personally a fan of the last two Blade films, but I thought that the first was excellent. As it turns out, I'm not the only one. Fans of the movie have been eagerly wishing for a reboot to the series, and rumor has it that someone up in Marvel heaven is listening. The answer we keep getting from Marvel when we ask about a Blade reboot is a simple, "Someday."

That's not too encouraging, but it hasn't stopped fans from hoping.

As much as I enjoyed the first Blade movie, I think that Blade has had its time in the sun. (Get it? Because he's half-vampire?) A reboot would be nostalgic, but there are other heroes that need a chance in the spotlight too.

12 LIKELY: The Deadliest Origin

This particular rumor has gotten on my nerves. Not because it is far-fetched or anything like that, but because it seems like such an obvious route for Marvel to take, I'm surprised they haven't taken it already. Both the DC and the Marvel Universe don't have that many female super heroes. DC made sure to promote their main female hero by making Wonder Woman. With Marvel, Black Widow seemed like a clear choice in the decision to make a solo superhero story focused on a woman. But Marvel dragged its feet. It's only recently that Marvel has begun making plans for a Black Widow solo movie. It's about time. Here's hoping there are not too many similarities between it and the recent film Red Sparrow. 

11 UNLIKELY: Subpar Submariner

Namor is not Aquaman, but I'll sometimes tell people that he's Marvel's version of DC's Aquaman in order to not confuse them. Both of them rule Atlantis, just in separate universes.

They were both born from the union of a land-person and a sea-person, and they both returned to the sea in order to rule the city of Atlantis.

On occasion, they leave their home in order to assist their landlocked super hero friends. Some have been saying that Namor is going to be making an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War. Look, I'm all for being proven wrong here, but I don't think it's going to happen. There are already going to be boatloads of characters in Infinity War. The filmmakers run the risk of over-complicating things if they start introducing brand-spanking new characters as well.

10 LIKELY: The Power Of Friendship

One rumor I'm really hoping is true (and hence the reason why I put it in the "likely" category) is the belief that Marvel is going to be making more team-up movies. These are movies in which two or more established heroes go on an adventure together, no matter whose name is actually on the title of the film. Good examples of these would be Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok. Civil War felt more like an Avengers movie with how chock-full of heroes it was, but the focus was still on Captain America. And nothing can compare to how great the buddy-buddy moments between Hulk and Thor were in Thor: Ragnarok. As the roster of heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe grows, I hope we see more movies like the ones I mentioned above.

9 UNLIKELY: Kang You Not

Kang the Conqueror is an interesting villain, despite the lame name. He is this timeline-traveling egomaniac whose only goal seems to be to accumulate power. Oh, and he's a genius. Rumors have come barging through the door that he's going to be the next big bad after the Avengers make short work of Thanos.

Several factors stand in the way of that.

The largest one is that, for the most part, Kang is a villain to the Fantastic Four, and Marvel does not have the rights to the Fantastic Four. Another one is that I don't think Thanos is going to go away so easily. At least, I don't think he should. Marvel movies have been touting him as the darkest of all evils, and if he's just defeated in a single movie, it's going to be a bit of a letdown.

8 LIKELY: Variety Is The Spice

Excitedly, every fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is looking forward to the diverse roster of heroes that Marvel will introduce to us. Black Panther gave us just a small taste of what we hope it will be like in the future, and it was freaking delicious. Aside from T'Challa's solo movie, every other Marvel solo movie has been about some white guy reluctantly becoming a super hero. I want variety! And one of the rumors I'm happy to let into my life is that Marvel is going to make sure to introduce us to a diverse group of heroes alongside our old-time favorites. Black Panther was one step forward, and hopefully, the new Captain Marvel film coming our way will also take us in the right direction.

7 UNLIKELY: Who Is This Guy Anyway?

Sigh. Okay, even comic book nerds might not know who Ka-Zar is. And honestly, I don't blame them. Let's just say he is one of those interchangeable light-skinned barbarians, alongside characters like He-Man, Conan, and Tarzan.

A silly rumor that's been sniffing around the edges of real rumors is the idea that a Ka-Zar movie is going to be made.

I don't want to say that there isn't anything interesting about a man being raised in the wild by a saber-tooth cat, but there's nothing about him aside from that that screams awesome. Sure, introducing us to Ka-Zar could introduce us to the Savage Land, a place that features prominently in several Marvel comics, but there are other ways to do that than giving us a solo movie about a man and his pet cat.

6 LIKELY: Give Hulk A Chance

Hulk has two solo movies under his belt, but neither of them were what you could call great. The first was an emotional disaster that did not please comic book fans or film critics. The second was a mundane action piece that wasn't terribly bad, but wasn't terribly good either. So it might be a toss-up whether or not a third attempt should be made to get a Hulk solo movie out there. Given that Marvel has slowly learned to work out the kinks in their formulas and they have acquired a solid batch of directors and screenwriters, I'd say that it is definitely time to give a Hulk movie another try. Mark Ruffalo has now played the Hulk in several films and done a darned good job of it. Plus, Hulk now has a direction to go in. This is one rumor I hope comes to fruition.

5 UNLIKELY: Lightning And The Thunder

Who are the Thunderbolts, you might ask? They're a team of villains that are trying to follow the straight path. Sound familiar? If you've seen DC's Suicide Squad, you will be able to grasp the concept. DC has been struggling for a foothold while trying to craft their film universe. (It's hard to play catch-up when Marvel is that far ahead of them.) Suicide Squad felt like such a mess because different visions were put into it, and it became this patchwork pile of inconsistency. Imagine if Suicide Squad had been helmed by a company that had a laser-pointed focus for where they wanted to take the film. That could be the Thunderbolts. Unfortunately, a lot of the members of this team are scattered to the winds, by which I mean some of them belong to Netflix, to the X-Men, or to the Fantastic Four.

4 LIKELY: Please, Oh Pretty Please

I'm probably going to get reamed for putting this in the likely category, but just listen to me for a second. Disney has slowly, but surely, been acquiring different companies and, therefore, different franchises. They collected Marvel, and then they swept up Star Wars. Can't you see what's happening? Disney is taking over the world! One day in the not-too-far future, Disney will own everything, including 20th Century Fox.

Fox owns the rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

So eventually, we'll see this MEGA movie that includes the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, all under the giant umbrella that is Disney. Does this alarm you in any way? That's okay. "That indicates only that you are still sane." (Bonus points if you know off the bat where that line comes from.)

3 UNLIKELY: Newcomer Blues

Seriously, Infinity War is going to be huge, not just in terms of the drama it will impart to us, but in terms of the cast. Never before has a movie been stuffed with so many A-listers who all deserve an appropriate amount of screen time. So the rumor that Captain Marvel is going to make an appearance in Infinity War is ludicrous. Carol Danvers deserves her first appearance to be an origin story, not just a cameo in a larger film.

We wouldn't have the time to appreciate her properly if that were the case.

It's been confirmed that she won't appear, yet still, fans insist on keeping the rumor going. Not gonna happen. (Unless Marvel is trying to sucker punch us all by making us think that she's not going to show up, when in actuality, they're going to include her anyway. Oh my ever-loving stars and garters, I am turning into a paranoid freak.)

2 LIKELY: Not Everyone Is Going To Survive

Thanos has been teased as a major villain since the first Avengers movie. Ever since then, he's made appearances on the fringes of several other films, each one leading up to Infinity War. Even fans who haven't read the comic book series know that Thanos means business.

Thanos may be the gravest threat the Avengers have ever faced.

Many believe that the danger level of this particular villain warrants fears for the safety of our heroes. It's been rumored that not every Avenger will make it past Infinity War. I honestly don't know how I will take the loss of any of the heroes we've met. I've grown to love each of them; we all have. The number of days till Infinity War shrink, while my anxiety reaches all new heights.

1 UNLIKELY: Defending The Avengers

Netflix's The Defenders brought together tough heroes who operate on street level, defending innocents from the threats that stalk the alleys of New York City. In the panels of the comic book world, these heroes are on a first name basis with the members of the Avengers, and some of the Defenders eventually join the Avengers. This gives hope to the rumor that one day Netflix's Daredevil will team up with Captain America, or Jessica Jones will actually meet Captain Marvel (once her own film comes out). However, this has grown very unlikely. Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, has said there are no plans in the works for a crossover, and given the highly mature content we've seen in the Netflix series, we doubt the film universe and the show universe would make an easy match.