Endgame Special Look Trailer Details You Missed
For nearly a year now, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been trying to puzzle out where the story is going in the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War. But now a new special look trailer has arrived for Avengers: Endgame, hitting the internet the same morning tickets for the highly anticipated feature went on sale. The teaser is barely a minute in length, but it provides some of the most thrilling and substantial footage we've seen yet for the Avengers' final fight against Thanos.
As exciting as the new footage is on a surface level, it also holds some clues that may establish once and for all what the structure and the story of the sprawling franchise's 22nd movie is going to be. After months of leaks, reports, and speculation, do we now know if there's a time skip? When and where does the team fight Thanos? And will the Avengers truly get one over on their nemesis by traveling through time? It looks like we have some answers, so if you want our read on where this movie is going, sit back and take a look at these small details you may have missed in the special look trailer for Avengers: Endgame.
First act rematch
Everyone knows Endgame is revving up for a rematch between the Avengers and Thanos, a fight which the new trailer seems to explicitly show. But what if that rematch happens sooner than we think?
It's been reported that the marketing for Avengers: Endgame will feature only the first 15 or 20 minutes of the movie, a notion which Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has confirmed to MTV News as being "somewhat accurate." If that's the case, then it seems the new footage of the Avengers facing off against Thanos again won't come at the climax of Endgame, but instead somewhere in the first act.
This theory tracks with multiple purported leaks from the movie that have claimed the Avengers (and Captain Marvel) will team up to fight Thanos in space somewhere in the beginning of Endgame. It's possible that the team will even defeat him in this battle, but in a way that prevents the fallen from being revived.
If the notion of a first-act rematch feels wild to you, consider that Infinity War kicked off with Hulk fighting Thanos within the first five minutes. So if you think it's unlikely that this movie will hit the ground running with its plot, think again. These are going to be three dense hours.
While it's impossible to know if these specific "leaks" are true yet, true information has leaked out about the MCU before, making this info worth considering — especially since the new special look trailer seems to support several details from them.
Chased into space
One of the biggest rumors that's been swirling around about Avengers: Endgame is that it will feature a significant jump forward in time, with some reports claiming the whole movie would be set five years after Infinity War. The trailers have finally given us enough footage to assume that a time jump will indeed occur, but in the middle of the movie, rather than before it begins.
The biggest clue about when the Avengers are at any given point during the trailers is the hairstyle of Natasha, a.k.a. Black Widow. In Infinity War, she memorably sported a blonde bob, presumably to work incognito as a member of Cap's secret Avengers. The trailers for Endgame have shown the character with that same blonde hairdo, but also a return to the longer red-haired style that she sported starting with her first appearance in Iron Man 2.
In the new trailer, Natasha can be seen with her Infinity War haircut on board the Guardians of the Galaxy's Benatar ship, presumably on the way to fight Thanos somewhere in space — an act which seems to be predicted by Bruce's "If we do this, we'd be going in short-handed" line. That phrasing seems to imply that the Avengers will take the fight to Thanos where he is, rather than be ambushed on Earth at Avengers HQ.
Skip to the endgame
At the end of Infinity War, Thanos retired to a peaceful farming life on a planet the Russo brothers have called Titan II. The special look trailer seems to show the Avengers encountering him back on the first Titan, in the still-smoldering rubble left behind from their initial encounter with him. Whatever happens in this fight, it seems like it won't result in the revival of the people Thanos snapped away.
After the Snap, Thanos' gauntlet was shown looking damaged, in a smoking and deteriorated state. It could potentially leave him vulnerable to attack in Endgame — especially if the team now has Captain Marvel on their side. The idea of the team beating Thanos with those advantages isn't too outlandish. If they actually do manage to kill Thanos, then it makes sense that the Avengers and the world would begin to move on with their lives afterward — which is what seems to be happening in the previously released Super Bowl teaser, which showed many shots of far less populated world.
But this status quo would be disrupted by the return of Scott Lang's Ant-Man, who was seen in the second trailer roaming around a world well after the Snap. If Ant-Man approaches the Avengers with his new knowledge of time travel, it could lead the team to reunite for a full victory — not just beating Thanos, but keeping him from ever claiming the trillions of lives he did in Infinity War.
Reunited (and it feels so bad)
Apart from all of the time travel/time skip/rematch shenanigans, the new footage also shows a remarkably touching moment between two characters, the relevance of which may have slipped by some viewers. The first trailer for Endgame saw Tony and Nebula adrift in space on the now-abandoned Benatar, and the special look teaser seems to show the moment the two will arrive back on Earth, with Tony being embraced by Pepper Potts and Nebula getting her bearings as she lands on Earth for the first time.
While Rocket saw Groot fall away into dust at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, he was left with no knowledge whatsoever regarding the fate of the rest of his team. For all he knows, when he sees the Benatar screaming into the Earth's atmosphere for a landing, it's the rest of his team coming back ready to pick him up and get out of there. So imagine his surprise when he instead sees Nebula, a onetime foe, looking downcast and sullen following the death of her sister and the victory of their sadistic adopted father.
This moment, of these two former enemies offering each other some comfort, is more than likely the moment Rocket realizes he's lost everyone to Thanos — and it's probably not long before these two outer space outcasts decide to suit up as Avengers instead.
Battle of New York revisited?
It's been a known thing for quite a long time that the production of Avengers: Endgame involved the recreation of set pieces from past movies in the MCU — specifically the Battle of New York against Thanos' army of Chitauri that wrapped up the end of the first Avengers movie. It's from the set photos leaked from that shoot that fans have been able to spin off so many informed theories about the potential for time travel in Endgame — but now it looks like we might have some footage of the Avengers actually working in the past.
During the special look trailer, there's a brief moment that shows Iron Man soaring through the sky in what appears to be New York City, with the clip looking like it could have come straight out of the first Avengers. (It's certainly a sunnier look at the city than the Endgame marketing has shown so far.) So is this a shot of future Tony soaring through past New York, working on some plan to get the Mind Stone out of Loki's scepter before Thanos gets his hands on it? It seems possible, and even likely, that this shot is one of our first looks at the Endgame's tour through movies past.
Heroes in time
Tony Stark and Steve Rogers' relationship was seriously damaged during the events of Captain America: Civil War. That movie, which kicked off Phase Three of the MCU, saw Iron Man and Captain America's leadership styles and ideals come to a violent clash that's been left unresolved.
While Steve left behind a cellphone Tony could call if he ever needed help in the future, Tony has so far been unable to bring himself to do it, even during the events of Infinity War. Now, in the final movie of Phase Three, the relationship between these two super-bros is coming full circle, with Tony asking for — and receiving — Steve's trust again on the field of battle. It's much more than just a handshake; it's a momentous moment, and an emotional reunion.
One question that remains is just which Tony and Steve this is. If this encounter takes place while the Avengers are traveling through time, then it's possible that this meetup is of present Tony and a past version of Steve, or vice versa. It's hard to tell — but it is interesting to note that Steve is wearing what looks like his outfit from Infinity War, with no white star on his chest, but also no beard, potentially implying that this is indeed a Cap post-Infinity War. If that's the case, then this clip really does show our heroes making good after all these years, back on each others' side to face Thanos' ultimate threat.