Okay, quick theory.
The writers have said that those dead are going to stay dead. I think probably they’re trying to to word things carefully so that what they really mean is: “Characters who are ACTUALLY dead at the end will stay dead”, and we’ll learn that the dusted Avengers are still alive, so they were never technically lying. But it did get me thinking.
So if they do really mean the dusted Avengers are for sure dead and will stay dead, while also accepting there’s no possible way they are permanently killing off Spidey, Black Panther, and Strange there’s really only one solution I can think of:
What if, in an alternate universe, the Avengers that got turned to ash in our reality are the ones that survived, and those that lived got turned to ash?
And, ultimately, the way to “fix” what happened is to merge the two realities? That would mean the “original” Avengers we knew are dead and stay dead, but we still have these characters going forward.
But that leaves Vision in limbo.
It does; Vision’s fate isn’t going to end up falling under the same umbrella. If we’re going with the parallel reality, then he’s dead in both, since Thanos would have needed the Mind Stone (and the writers will think it’s cheap to have him conveniently never killed).
Maybe more importantly, so is Shuri (assuming she’s alive in ours)*, Tony, and Bruce–the people who have the capability to fix him. So if Vision’s fate is to get fixed by them or a combination thereof, it’s going to happen in the main universe–so if the rumors of a 5 year time skip are true, it means that they haven’t seen each other in that time.
There’s also the possibility that Vision consciousness is in the Mind Stone, but that seems less likely if we are dealing with a scenario where there are two Mind Stones, and so, two Visions. Or maybe not. Get it, Wanda.
* Actually that’s an interesting plot thread–what if Shuri and Bruce (and maybe Tony too) are necessary to rebuild Vision? So if Shuri did get dusted in the main universe, it makes it impossible to rebuild him until the two are merged. They were, after all, very careful to remind the audience that Bruce also had a hand in Vision’s creation. Therefore, just as Vision’s death represents the death/division of half the universe, his resurrection would represent the life/unification of them both.
Those Celestial Bodies 