[WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOTH AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR and ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (duh)]
Ladies and gentlemen: it is time. After months of speculation, rumors, and emotional distress (thanks to The Snapture), the first official teaser/trailer for Marvel Studios’ much anticipated fourth Avengers film — officially titled Avengers: Endgame — has finally arrived. Clocking in at about 2 minutes and 25 seconds, this trailer gives us a brief, bleak, and hopeless look into a universe that has 50 percent of its sentient life forms completely obliterated — thanks, Thanos. So what has the surviving half been up to since every other person around them crumbled to dust and blew away in the wind? Let’s try and figure that out.
The trailer opens with a powerless Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) as he records his final log into a battered Iron Man helmet. The person he’s hoping to reach closure with is none other than Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). As he takes a seat on the deck of The Benatar — the ship belonging to the Guardians of the Galaxy — we quickly learn how dire his situation is. We don’t know how long Tony’s been adrift in the middle of space, or how he reached this point, we just know his time is running short. He’s had no food or water for four days, and his oxygen supply is on its last leg. He has hours left. He closes his message by telling Pepper, “When I drift off, I will dream about you. It’s always you.”
This sequence lasts for about 50 seconds, and although it doesn’t seem like much is happening, his speech reveals quite a bit about the world Thanos helped create. We know about the battle on Titan. We know Nebula and Tony were the only survivors, but where is Nebula exactly? We assume she’s on the ship with Tony — a brief shot of her later in the trailer confirms this — but aside from that, she’s seemingly missing from the picture. Is she facing the same fate as Tony or has she fled the scene, knowing there was nothing she could do to help him? Will this be the last of Tony Stark or will someone — Captain Marvel — randomly fly across The Benatar and save him? Thanks to a leaked photo of Gwyneth Paltrow in rescue armor, it’s possible Pepper follows the beacon in Tony’s helmet and saves him herself. I wouldn’t bank on that though because that would be too easy. The Russo Brothers are smarter than that. Plus, I like my theory better.
Although it’s highly unlikely Disney/Marvel will pull the trigger and brutally murder the face of the franchise by having him asphyxiate alone in the depths of space, there’s still a way The Russo Brothers can get away with it. Thanks to Quantum technology (introduced in Ant-Man and later analyzed in Ant-Man and the Wasp), it’s possible we see Tony die, yet live later on in the film. We’ve seen the leaked set photos that seem to re-visit 2012’s battle of New York — the original crew, with the addition of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), seem to be there — but one member looks significantly older than the rest: Tony Stark.
Banking on the fact that these scenes weren’t just shot for the sake of staging a leak to throw the public off, what we could be dealing with is not only a time jump, but a reality hop. Ant-Man and the Wasp revealed quite a bit about how this can be achieved. As Janet Van Dyne was formerly trapped in the Quantum Realm, she revealed to Scott that the longer a person stayed there, the more likely a time vortex would be created. Meaning time and space would seemingly be non-existent. Since Scott was last seen “trapped” inside of the Quantum Realm, it’s possible that due to nobody from the outside being physically able to get him out, he travels off into this vortex and exits into another reality, taking place in a different time. In this reality, maybe a version of Tony’s still on Earth and alive. In this reality, maybe the events with Thanos and Ultron never happened (yet), leaving Loki as the only imminent threat. Maybe this is how The Avengers reassemble.
Moving back to the Endgame trailer, following Tony’s speech, we’re given our first (brief) look at Thanos as he seems to have retired and hung his armor like it’s a jersey; rightfully so. Life can get pretty tiring after sacrificing what he had in order to save the universe like he did. I’d say our TRUE hero earned his rest — I may or may not have been rooting for the big guy in Infinity War.
In the following shot, one interesting thing to note is Thanos’ attire as he’s shown walking through a crop field. It seems he isn’t even wearing his armored vest from Infinity War anymore. Although he still sports the Infinity Gauntlet — which is absolutely destroyed, yet apparently still functional — he’s also sporting a white, knitted shirt. This is a reference to Jim Starlin and George Perez’s Infinity Gauntlet mini-series, as we see Thanos retire from being an intergalactic warlord to a simple farmer at the end of the story. This obviously won’t be the end of Endgame, but it’s still nice to see The Russo’s pay homage to an iconic panel/moment.
The next few shots in the trailer show the remaining Avengers relocating from Wakanda to Avengers HQ in the States. Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) is seen crying, while Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) voices, “Thanos did exactly what he said he was going to do. He wiped out 50 percent of all living creatures.” That he did — and apparently Shuri (Letitia Wright) was included in those who perished. A shot of Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) looking over holographic files of those who “disappeared” shows not only Scott Lang and Peter Parker (Tom Holland), but T’Challa’s sister as well. Given that she’s one of the smartest beings in the universe, it’s possible that she found a way to take herself off the grid without anybody knowing. But as of now, it’s safe to say that her and T’Challa’s remains are blowing in the wind off of the coast of East Wakanda somewhere.
As Steve begins to note how everybody has lost something, we’re given a look at Nebula. She seems to be standing aboard The Benatar. In the following shot, it looks as if her hand is running over an unconscious body (Tony Stark), but if you pay real close attention, the hand doesn’t look like it belongs to Nebula. It’s a clear feminine hand, yes, but it looks more human than anything. This leads me to believe that this is actually Natasha, possibly caressing an unconscious Steve Rogers on the Quinjet. Marvel’s known to cut and edit their trailers to look like one thing, when it’s actually something entirely different, so it’s possible this is what’s actually happening.
Following more shots of depressed and helpless looking Avengers, a familiar face is shown to have risen from the shadows: Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) — or should I say, RONIN! I doubt Clint’s going to actually be referred to as Ronin in Endgame because Steve Rogers was basically Nomad in Infinity War, yet he was still referred to as “Cap” the whole time, but make no mistake: Ronin has arrived. Aside from the badassery of his sword and uniform, one interesting thing to note is the expression on Clint’s face: a look of pain and agony. Could he have donned this Ronin alias due to his wife and kids crumbling to ash before his very eyes? It’s possible. Thanos has ruined the lives of everybody else we’ve seen so far, so why not.
As the trailer reaches its end, we’re shown Natasha and Steve aboard the Quinjet. She tries to assure Steve that “this is going to work.” Steve simply replies, “I know it is. Because I don’t know what I’m going to do if it doesn’t.” Cue the title card: Avengers: Endgame.
But wait, there’s more.
Everything up to this point in this trailer has been dark, heavy and grim. Who else but Scott Lang to bring some hope to the situation? Although it seems like a light moment, this closing sequence is arguably the most revealing in regards to predicting how crazy Avengers: Endgame is going to get. Steve and Natasha are in a room somewhere, probably Avengers HQ, and get interrupted by Scott knocking on the door. They seem to be in shock, which shows some time has passed — years, probably — since The Snapture. One of the more interesting things to note is the van Scott arrives in. It’s the same van that held the miniaturized quantum tunnel from Ant-Man and the Wasp. The same quantum tunnel that he got trapped in and (obviously) escaped from. Is this the answer to how the remaining Avengers save the day? It has been hinted that Quantum technology was going to be a major player moving forward, and this all but confirms that idea.
Lastly, the dialogue during these 15 seconds reveal quite a bit about the time we’re in. As Scott explains his case, stating that they all met a few years ago (Captain America: Civil War), Steve quickly asks Natasha if the video they’re watching is an “old message.” The “archive” text at the top left of the screen, and Scott’s mention of “a few years” — Civil War takes place in 2016, Infinity War takes place in 2018 — indicates that more time has passed than we think. I’m thinking maybe five years at the least. Nevertheless, our heroes are shocked to see Scott, considering he was listed as “missing” earlier in the trailer. “It’s the front door,” Natasha says as Scott continues his case to confirm his identity. The trailer closes.
Avengers: Endgame is going to get crazy. If these time vortex/reality hopping concepts hold any weight to what the future of the MCU holds, I can’t even imagine how much more wild this ride is going to get in the post Avengers 4 world. There’s still much to unpack — and a lot of waiting to sit through — before Endgame arrives on April 26, 2019, so here’s to hoping March’s Captain Marvel successfully holds us over before the ultimate showdown arrives in the following month.
Cinema Ninja 