Marvel Comics is teasing another ominously vague upcoming story, this time seemingly involving the death of a Marvel character - and we have our guesses as to who.
Released with an image of a black box with the words "Fallen Friend" written in red, the spare text of the teaser reads "Fallen Friend #1. A heartbreaking one-shot in July… Learn who it will spotlight on May 31."
At least we know exactly how long we'll need to wait to find out who this "Fallen Friend" might be.
That said, we've got some ideas about who might qualify already, even with just the spare teaser Marvel has offered up.
For one thing, the Fallen Friend title seems to echo the Fallen Son title that was used for the follow up of the death of Steve Rogers way back in 2007, suggesting that the deceased will be someone from among Captain America's circle.
Would Marvel go so far as to kill off Steve Rogers again? It's not impossible, but that would be a bit like killing Superman a second time - the shock has already worn off in the intervening 16 years since Steve's first death (Who else feels old now?).
It seems unlikely Marvel would kill of Sam Rogers, as he's part of the big hyped-up new Avengers line-up debuting in June. His death wouldn't exactly be "heartbreaking" if we knew he was dying that soon before the time of the one-shot, and with him simultaneously showing up alive and well in Avengers.
However, if anyone qualifies as Cap's best friend, it's Sam, and he is one of the few likely characters who hasn't died and been brought back in some way just yet, so it's not impossible Marvel has some trick up its sleeve.
Then there's Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers' other best pal. Bucky might be the most likely character to be the eponymous Fallen Friend of the one-shot, as he's currently caught up with the villains of the upcoming Captain America: Cold War event story.
Bucky has kinda died before, with Steve believing he was dead multiple times. There's the time he almost died back at the end of WWII when he was captured and turned into the Winter Soldier. And then there's the time he seemingly died in the 2011 story Fear Itself - but his death was actually faked.
Could Bucky be the Fallen Friend? If Marvel kills him now, the timing would be just right for him to make a triumphant comeback around the time of the 2024 release of the Thunderbolts movie, in which the MCU version of Bucky will appear.
Whatever the case, we'll know more on May 31.
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