In the aftermath of making a statement regarding Gamora and the Soul Stone following Avengers: Infinity War's events, the directors of the Marvel Studios ensemble flick have clarified what they meant.

Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War follow! Major spoilers!

Speaking at a high school, Anthony Russo and Joe Russo were asked if Gamora is now trapped in the Soul Stone after Thanos tossed his "favorite daughter" from a cliff to obtain the Infinity Stone. The comments led the Internet, including ComicBook.com, to believe that Gamora's soul was indeed trapped in the stone with her soul living on. Speaking to ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview, however, the directors have clarified those statements, calling the excitement "a misinterpretation," and instead saying Thanos' vision was "a spiritual representation of her."

"The power that it took Thanos to click his fingers, he's so dramatic that if you look closely at the film and the damage of the gauntlet," Joe Russo said. "You look closely at the very last scene, it damages his arm dramatically. And that moment when he clicks his fingers sends him into this ethereal plane inside of the Soul Stone where as part of his quote unquote hero's journey in the film, he has one last moment to convey a sense of guilt about what he's done. It illustrates what a complicated character he is. So, to clarify, it's a spiritual representation of her and obviously that's something that the Soul Stone has power to do. But really it's there to illustrate his pain and his guilt. I wouldn't read much more into it beyond that."

The directors are really sticking to their guns, claiming the characters killed and erased in Avengers: Infinity War are, in fact, dead. "They're never easy conversations to have with people," Joe Russo said. "But I think that people are understanding that the story comes firs,t and a lot of these people have really amazing careers and lots of films that they want to make so, ultimately, I think they go through a grieving process like anyone, but you come out the other side at some point and understand what being part of the Marvel Universe did for you. And, like with us, when we move on from Marvel, it's done amazing things for us and allows us a lot of other opportunities in our careers."

Still, they did have a narrative purpose for taking away the characters they did in Avengers: Infinity War. Drax, Black Panther, Mantis, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Scarlet Witch, and others might just serve the story in one way or another when Avengers 4 rolls around next.

Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War are now playing in theaters. Ant-Man and The Wasp is set for release on July 6, 2018. Captain Marvel will follow it on March 6, 2019, with the untitled Avengers 4 set to tie everything about the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a bow on May 3, 2019.

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