Ladies and gentlemen, it is finally here! The trailer for the NOW titled Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3 Finale, Avengers: Endgame! While ScreenGeek was the first to report that the trailer would be released this week, it was postponed from Wednesday to today due to the unforeseen passing of former President George W.H. Bush. So, now that we finally have some footage from arguably the most anticipated movie of all time, let’s breakdown the trailer!
“Part of the journey is the end.”
As the trailer opens, we see only a decimated Iron Man helmet, symbolically damaged down one half of it. This, of course, is a visual reminder of the events from Infinity War, and, more specifically, Thanos’ snap, aka ‘The Decimation’. As the camera pulls back, we see Tony Stark, weary from everything he’s been through, on some kind of small spacecraft (which, based on the controls being similar to the ones from the ring shape ship the Black Order used, could be an escape pod or something?).
He flicks on his helmet, and proceeds to record a message for Pepper Potts. He can’t even be sure if she survived or not, and he’s also not delusional of her actually ever receiving the message, but it’s more lethargic for himself at this point. He talks about being adrift in space with no food, water, or shortly, even air. Stark then says that his final thoughts will be of her:
“When I drift off, I will dream about you. It’s always you.”
So, yeah, right away, we know that we will ALL need an entire box of tissues when we go see this film. Grown men and women will be weeping uncontrollably throughout this movie, and that’s perfectly okay, people.
One key thing to note from this is that Nebula apparently abandons Tony on Titan and he has to try to find his own way home, which is seemingly not going successfully. We do catch a glimpse of a remorseful Nebula on what looks like the Milano, Star Lord’s ship, for a brief moment, but we don’t yet know why she left Titan without Stark.
From there, we get the Marvel Studios logo (which fades away like one of the victims of The Decimation), followed by Black Widow stating that Thanos did exactly what he said he would do. We see Thanos’ armor set up like a scarecrow before seeing the mangled glove on The Mad Titan’s left hand brushing some lush vegetation on his new world of Titan 2.
We see the Avengers HQ in upstate New York, and we see Black Widow and a teary eyed, clean shaven Captain America, before seeing Bruce Banner looking at what appears to be a memorial for lost heroes. Key notes here is that, at this moment, Scott Lang is thought to be dead because of the snap, the remaining heroes unaware he is stuck stuck in the Quantum Realm (we as fans know this thanks to the post-credits scene from Ant-Man and The Wasp). The other faces shown are Shuri (who many thought to have survived the snap, but were apparently misinformed) and Spider-Man.
As Cap begins his voiceover about loss, we see Thor brooding, Nebula on the Milano, and then, finally, we see Hawkeye. Except its not Hawkeye, it’s Ronin! We get to see a rather beaten version of Clint Barton, wiping the blood of some well dressed criminal (hopefully a criminal) off of a sword, in what looks like Tokyo. He is found by Black Widow, and, based on the lines of Cap about losing family, we can only assume that Barton’s family did not survive the Decimation and has turned him into Ronin.
Cut to what looks like Widow and Cap on a Quinjet, where Widow states that this is gonna work. Then, Cap delivers a perfectly “Cap” line:
“I know it is. ‘Cause I don’t know what I’m gonna do if it doesn’t.”
Cap has never believed in a No-Win scenario, and this is further proof. At this point, they obviously have some kind of plan, but we don’t have any clue yet as to what it is or when exactly this takes place in the film.
From there, we get the reveal of the long awaited title for this film. Through countless speculation, and so many “experts” with “reliable sources” feeding us bogus titles that they swore were legit, we got the title we thought it was all along: Endgame. This title is one that carries a lot of weight in the MCU. Not only is it what Dr. Strange called his move to give up the Time Stone, after seeing only one possible outcome out of over 14 million as victorious, but it is also something Tony Stark mentioned in Age of Ultron, when discussing how an invasion from space would come and wipe us out. It also is a fitting title for what is over 15 years of planning on 10 years of films. We know that the MCU will be moving in a new direction come Phase 4, and everything that has been built to this point comes to a head in this film.
Finally, in pure Marvel fashion, there is a kind of “post credits scene” that comes after the title reveal, and it’s a good one. We see Scott Lang, somehow out of the Quantum Realm, at the front gate of Avengers HQ, asking to be let in (in typical, awkward Lang fashion, of course). Cap and Widow are shocked, obviously. This lends a lot more credence to the theories of Ant-Man’s importance as well as the use of the Quantum Realm to save everyone.
All in all, even though it is a two and a half minute trailer, Marvel does a masterful job of giving us exactly what we wanted, while giving us nothing really at all. The only true “Easter Egg” in the trailer is the confirmation that Shuri didn’t survive the snap. Other than that, the “reveals” we got, like Ronin and Lang’s survival, were already known. But, as excited as I was before for this movie, I’m 1000 times more excited now. And, I have a feeling I am not alone in that sentiment.
What did you think of the trailer for Avengers: Endgame? Let us know in the comments below!