Read This Before You See Avengers: Endgame

While the MCU has gone all over the place with its storylines, one consistent thread has been the impending approach of Thanos. We saw elements of the Mad Titan all the way back in Avengers when we caught a shot of his grinning face in the mid-credits scene. He played a role in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise as well, and reappeared at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron when he donned an Infinity Gauntlet and prepared to "do it myself."

Infinity War brought Thanos crashing into the primary narrative, as the gauntleted Titan traipsed around the galaxy, gathering up the Infinity Stones. He already had the Power Stone when the film began after having taken it from the Xandarians, and his encounter with Thor and the surviving Asgardians in Infinity War's opening moments left him with the Tesseract. He proceeded from there to get the Reality Stone on Knowhere, the Soul Stone on Vormir after sacrificing Gamora, and the Time Stone after Doctor Strange surrendered it to him on Titan. Last but not least, he headed to Wakanda, where he plucked the last gem out of Vision's forehead, completed his gauntlet, and snapped his fingers, wiping out half of the life in the universe in what has been dubbed "the Decimation."

It seems natural that Endgame would pick up the storyline where Infinity War left off, just after Thanos' Decimation swept half of the life in the universe into the dust bin. That actually might not be the case, however. For quite a while now the timing of Endgame within the MCU's greater timeline has been mysteriously impossible to pin down, with some rumors suggesting it'll take as much as a five-year jump into the future. As we've gotten more and more tidbits of info, it seems the answer may not be either immediate or a jump but both.

The key to it all: the hair. The mid-credits scene for Captain Marvel, when Carol Danvers shows up in answer to Nick Fury's pager, presumably took place in Endgame — or at least between that and Infinity War. In the first Endgame teaser, Natasha Romanoff is seen with the blonde, short hair that she sported throughout Infinity War. In the Endgame trailer, though, she's shown repeatedly with red hair past her shoulders, with wisps of blonde on the end, indicating that she's been growing it out for some time. However it all pieces together, it's pretty certain that we're in for a time jump (or time jumps) either before or throughout the film.

While Marvel's universe has revolved around literally dozens of key characters at this point, the man who most clearly defines their cinematic success can be summed up in three letters: RDJ. Robert Downey Jr.'s embodiment of Tony Stark was one of the earliest defining components of the MCU. Since Iron Man flew into theaters, the Marvel fever has just kept on growing.

Stark has clearly not been a critical factor — or even been around — for many of Marvel's films, but his own movies, as well as his commanding presence and influence throughout the Avengers franchise, has in many ways been the glue that's held the MCU together. Stark's swagger, combined with his willingness to learn from his mistakes, not to mention the vibrant story thread of his awareness of Thanos' impending arrival, have brought incredible momentum to the entire superhero universe.

Heck, even Thanos respected the guy, which is saying something. In fact, the Mad Titan's awareness of Tony's name, along with his veiled reference of not being "the only one cursed with knowledge," has created that much more of a Stark-centric element to Endgame, begging the question of how Iron Man will fare as Phase 3 wraps up.

Of course, if we're going to cover Stark and Potts, it's important to go into Endgame with one other character in the forefront of our thoughts: Steve Rogers. Captain America has been an integral presence throughout the MCU since he first donned that shield and ran out into the battlefields of World War II. Along with Stark, the second Endgame trailer focuses heavily on Cap, showing multiple scenes of his past films and featuring his call to do "whatever it takes."

The mantra isn't surprising, coming from the man that has served as the Avengers' moral compass for years. Rogers' story arc has been dramatic, to say the least. He started out desperate to prove himself, ended up saving the world from the threat of Red Skull, and then survived an icy nap for decades. Since then, he's unofficially co-led the Avengers with Stark, with his storyline feeling like it's been building towards something big for quite a while. Cap actor Chris Evans even caused a stir in late 2018 when he tweeted what appeared to be an emotional farewell to the MCU. While the tweet was excused away, the uncomfortable feeling that Cap could be in for a rather tragic story arc in Endgame has never been shaken. It's something worth preparing for, at least.

It's impossible to talk about Infinity War without addressing the conspicuous absence of the Hulk. As the film opened, Hulk was coming off a galaxy-wide romp that saw him as a gladiator hero on Sakaar, followed by a battle on Asgard that saw him recklessly tackle Fenris and smack Surtur in the face. The guy was on a roll, but it only took Thanos a few seconds and a handful of well-placed punches to get the Green Machine to go down like a sack of potatoes. Heimdall literally gave his life to save the Emerald Giant, yet the rest of the film hardly showcased a Hulk that was thankful in the least.

In the battle with Ebony Maw in New York followed by the conflict on the war-torn fields of Wakanda, Hulk refused to come out to help, leaving the mild-mannered Banner to do his best with a Hulkbuster suit. While Hulk may have appeared scared, co-director Joe Russo explained that he's simply "tired of playing hero to Bruce Banner." Banner actor Mark Ruffalo has also gone on record claiming that the two characters are "headed for a showdown," adding in another interview that the Hulk has been going through a three-movie story of his own that will end with Endgame. However it plays out, we should expect to see some green fireworks at some point.

Thor has been an MCU staple for a long time now, and boy has the character been put through the wringer. While he started out as a jolly exile, smashing coffee cups and asking to ride around on pets, Thor has slowly been shaped, largely through grief, into a personality that truly deserves the title of the God of Thunder. He's lost his entire family, as well as his home and most of his people. And to top it all off, he also lost his mighty hammer when his sister crushed it to bits.

To sum it up, Thor has gone through a lot. He put that grief and anger to good use, spending the greater part of Infinity War off making his new weapon, Stormbreaker, and when he arrived in Wakanda he was swift to put it to use — in fact, he ended up being the only Avenger who dealt what looked to be a truly deadly blow to the Mad Titan. (Of course, he should have gone for the head instead.) That attack worked mainly because Thor had the element of surprise — when he and Thanos meet again, things could go very differently.

Another character to remember heading into Endgame is Carol Danvers. Marvel's first female lead electrified audiences when she made her box office debut in early March 2019. Up until then, Captain Marvel's only moment of note in the Avengers storyline was the end credits scene from Infinity War, with Nick Fury's special pager sparking intense fan speculation over how her eventual arrival could have anything to do with undoing the snap.

Since then, Captain Marvel has arrived, showing just how incredibly powerful this super-warrior is — at one point she literally caught a Kree nuclear warhead mid-flight and threw it back into space. Her own film's end credits scene revealed that Captain Marvel will find her way back to Earth to answer Fury's pager signal, so now the major question going into Endgame is how she'll help bring down Thanos and reverse the effects of the Decimation. She is, after all, now the strongest hero in the MCU.

One special element of Infinity War was the crossover not just of characters, but of the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers franchises. The scene when Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange bump into Star-Lord and the gang on Titan was intensely amusing, right down to Drax's "Why is Gamora?" 

The Guardians ended up playing fairly pivotal roles throughout the film, too. Rocket helped Thor get the forge at Nidavellir up and running, while teenage Groot literally lent a hand in order to give Stormbreaker a handle. Gamora tried her best to stop her adopted father but ultimately ended up leading him to the Soul Stone on Vormir. On Titan, Mantis played a critical role in keeping Thanos asleep as they tried to remove the gauntlet.

But if you're going to highlight the heroics, then you've also got to balance it out with one of the most boneheaded moves of the whole film: Star-Lord's doomed assault on Thanos just when his teammates were about to get the gauntlet. From there, things went south pretty quickly, with the Decimation leaving everyone on the team except Rocket and Nebula a pile of ashes. While Rocket will be a likely Endgame candidate to help the Earthbound heroes try to reach Thanos, Nebula's role might be even more interesting, as she was a key player in defeating Thanos in the comics.

There's no doubt that Endgame will be an epic capstone to the first three phases of the MCU — and Marvel seems to be just getting ramped up at this point. After Endgame closes out the story arc for the Infinity Stones Saga, a whole new chapter begins, and it's loaded with potential.

Captain Marvel's arrival bodes well for the Avengers, as Brie Larson is reportedly signed on for seven features and seems poised to be the face of the MCU for quite a while. In addition, the Disney/Fox merger promises to add characters like the Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer, X-Men, and Deadpool to the MCU while also opening the doors for villains like Magneto, Doctor Doom, and Kang the Conqueror.

Sequels for the Black Panther and Doctor Strange franchises are in the works as well, while Disney's rehiring of James Gunn has put the Guardians of the Galaxy series back on the front burner. Endgame is likely to feel like an ending for many characters and storylines that we've come to cherish, but the truth is, it's just one of many such endings in a universe that's getting bigger all the time.