After the seemingly never-ending palaver for a trailer from the devout aficionados, Marvel and the Russo Brothers finally lent an ear and rewarded for their patience (which was although wearing thin by now) with the first official look at Avengers 4 that also reveals its much-vaunted title – Avengers: Endgame.
As you may have come to expect, everything’s bleak after Thanos dusted half of the universe and the trailer doesn’t paint any brighter picture. While the heroes who survived the snap are seen mourning the loss of their cohorts, the return of major absentees in Infinity War, Hawkeye and Ant-Man, is also teased, sending the fans into delirium.
But if this trailer didn’t completely satiate your desire for a nice glimpse into the final installment, then that’s absolutely plausible as the 150-seconds-long clip doesn’t really reveal much. Not even Thanos for heaven sake!
However, we at Animation Xpress bring a comprehensive breakdown by dissecting through the major talking points that the teaser had spruced:
#1 Iron-Man and Nebula lost in space
It all begins with a bruised and emotionally battered Tony Stark trying to send a voice mail to sweetheart Pepper Potts through his visibly damaged headgear. “Part of the journey is the end,” mutters a food-and-water deprived Stark who is also running out of air soon. He’s on his last legs, and bracing himself for an impending death.
This whole sequence implies Tony, and also perhaps Nebula, who appears later on in the trailer, have departed from Titan, Thanos’ home planet, where the two were stranded at the end of Infinity War while the others around them disintegrated. Snaps of a spacecraft drifting through the illimitable space as Stark voices those words, show they haven’t figured out a way back to earth yet. Or maybe.
With nothing left to keep themselves sane and oxygen running out within a few more hours, it isn’t only about getting back home, but also about survival for Iron-Man and Nebula. So the big question is: how do they come through? Who comes to their rescue? Besides, this scene is also touted to be the opening one of the movie.
#2 Thanos is a man of his words
We don’t clearly see the purple giant, but we do catch a glimpse of his shadowy figure ambling through the paddy fields with the damaged gauntlet caressing the space-thistles along the way.
In his conversation with Doctor Strange in Infinity War, he did mention catching a breath after he was done and watching the sunrise “on a greatful universe”. And even though he did the latter half of that sentence already in the final scene of the movie, now it appears that he’s resting too.
Thanos has turned his armor into a scarecrow and apparently at ease after accomplishing his mission. However, we still don’t know which planet he is on right now and also, how did he procure his armor because he drops them off on the Asgardian vessel in the opening sequence of Infinity War and the vessel was seen blowing up in smoke as he and Black Order escape with the space stone, thereby destroying it in the process.
So many questions, too little answers!
#3 Surviving Avengers are back at their headquarters from Wakanda
Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Bruce Banner, Rody, and Rocket were last spotted grieving the death of Vision on Wakandan soil. And looks like in the aftermath, they’re back at the Avengers mansion. Or at least, the first four of those.
Cap (now back to clean-shave after sporting a badass Thor-esque beard last time out) and Black Widow are distraught and melancholic as they rue the loss of their loved ones. “We lost all of us – we lost friends, we lost family… we lost a part of us,” bemoans Cap in a deadpan tone, but also acknowledges that this fight isn’t like anything fought before; it’s a “fight of our lives”.
Interspersed between these words are visions of a downcast Thor (apparently stewing his own juice in the mansion – “I should’ve killed that purple bas****”) and also an aggrieving doctor Banner. There’s no sight of Rody or Rocket, which brings us to the next talking point…
#4 Where did Rody and Rocket go?
Of all the original Guardians, Rocket Raccoon is the only one to have come through Infinity War unscathed, which means he’s bound to have a significant part in the upcoming film. Rumor has it, that the jibber-jabbering mammal will team up with the other Avengers (he has no other choice, no?) to resurrect the Thanos-inflicted cataclysm but how big a role he plays remains a mystery.
However, the trailer completely turns a blind eye towards our dear Rocket. And also towards the War Machine. Rhodes is perhaps the only Avenger not from the ‘original six’ to have survived the snap, but there’s no trace of him in the trailer too.
Maybe, Marvel is once again opting to keep its cards close to its chest and let the anxious fans speculate some more. But frankly, they might appear in the second trailer due in March post Captain Marvel‘s release.
#5 No sign of Captain Marvel either
Further continuing from our earlier point, Captain Marvel is AWOL too. She is of course going to have an instrumental role in defeating Thanos, but we can’t find even a shadow of her in this trailer.
Only five days earlier, we were treated with Captain Marvel‘s second official trailer that delved deeper into her story and more importantly, her surreal powers. She may or may not kill the Mad Titan in the next film, but she’s definitely going to spearhead the next group of Avengers post-Endgame.
But we have to wait until her solo release to even see her share the screen with other Avengers as the second trailer won’t be out until then.
#6 Hawkeye’s much-anticipated return (as Ronin!)
Clint Barton was conspicuous by his absence in Infinity War even though Black Widow was seen telling Banner that he has put down his quiver and retired from superhero duties. But now, he’s back in action – bigger, better and seemingly stronger.
What’s more, Barton seems to have traded his Hawkeye identity for a more badass, assassin-like character in Ronin, his darkest form in the comics. Instead of a bow and a bunch of arrows, he now wields a giant sword that looks to have made him more powerful than ever. Just look at the shot – he stands tall under the muni-muning cloud of Japan with numerous deceased bodies of bad guys lying around him.
Last year, Jeremy Renner hinted at his character’s possible absence from both movies when he said Hawkeye is going on a journey of his own. But developments in the following months did reveal that after all, he’s coming back. But not as a samurai warrior though.
Watching him take on the Ronin avatar has not only caught us by surprise, but also made it one of the more interesting character arcs to look forward to in the movie.
#7 Ant-Man has escaped the quantum-realm
The shape-shifting hero was stranded in the expansive quantum realm in Ant-Man and the Wasp as Dr.Pym, Hope Van Dyne and Janet van Dyne too were erased at the end. However, looks like he’s found his way back. But how?
Well, the answer to that question might hold the key to one of the possible theories of the movie – time travel. Ant-Man’s biggest role in the movie is probably going to be opening up the time portal through quantum realm through which some of the heroes can go back in time and find clues to undo what Thanos did.
In the trailer, we see him knocking at Avengers mansion’s door as Cap and Black Widow finally see a ray of hope. And looking at his urgency to buzz in, seems like Scott Lang has something to share with them.
At this stage, he is inconspicuous about the events in the outside world and hence approaching the Avengers to get a clue. But this meeting between them might just spark a possible way to set things right again.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame releases on 26 April 2019.
