What Avengers: Endgame Would Look Like As A Horror Movie
Fans have more than proven themselves fickle friends in recent years, with a seemingly endless rash of impassioned backlash and petitions demanding this show or that movie be remade in their own vision. But hey, occasionally fans still find a way to bring a great big smile to our collective faces. A new grin comes courtesy of a fan-made Avengers: Endgame trailer that cleverly re-imagines the super-sized, superhero bonanza as a straight-up horror flick in style of It: Chapter Two — with Thanos (Josh Brolin) posing as the would-be madman mass murderer at the stories center.
Just as a quick refresher — or in case you happened to be one of the few human beings who have yet to experience the Marvel's two-billion-dollar-earning blockbuster to end them all — Endgame picks up in the wake of Thanos' population-halving Infinity War snap and follows the Avengers as they desperately try to hatch a plan to reverse the damage and bring the universe's missing friends and families back from oblivion.
Since the Avengers lost the battle in Infinity War (and half the universe's population as a result), the overall tone at the beginning of Endgame is more than a little ominous. It also opens with a particularly brutal act of violence against the mad snapper himself. Though directors Joe and Anthony Russo found ways to temper the brooding throughout the film, Endgame is often a patently bleak affair that, if one were inclined to apply even the slightest of tonal shifts, really wouldn't seem too far removed from the realm of a run-of-the-mill alien invasion horror flick — like War of the Worlds or Attack the Block.
It seems the folks at the aptly named Groot Studios were inclined to give Avengers: Endgame a slight nudge into horror movie darkness. And after splicing together a few cleverly chosen scenes, tossing in some choice bits of dialogue, and adding in a dose of classic horror movie music, their pitch-black take on Endgame really doesn't seem all that far-fetched.
In fact, judging by this re-imagined trailer, one can realize that the Russos probably even used some tricks from the horror movie playbook in setting up scenes throughout Avengers: Endgame. In particular, the Russo Brothers' use of expressionistic lighting throughout the film takes on a different tone with the addition of those horror-styled musical flourishes seen in Groot Studios' trailer. That ominous shot of Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) staring into the shadows as an oncoming horde of rabid, dog-like alien creatures approaches feels as pure horror as anything you'd see in a legit genre flick with just a couple of simple tweaks as well.
More obviously, it's also pretty easy to posit the remaining Avengers themselves as the plucky group of survivors (à la the grown-up Losers' Club from It: Chapter Two) tasked with bringing down an evil, alien overlord and saving Earth from impending doom. As far as seeing Thanos as a psychotic, bloodthirsty madman out to vanish Cap and crew's "stubborn, annoying little planet," well, that's exactly what he was planning for Earth in Endgame's mammoth final showdown. So even if pure, murderous evil wasn't really what was motivating the purple one to snap the universe away, it's not really much of a stretch to see him that way, is it?
If nothing else, this creepy re-imagining of Avengers: Endgame should wet the whistle of any superhero fan hoping Marvel will go full-on horror for one of its future MCU additions. Luckily, it appears we won't have to wait too long to see what Kevin Feige and co. can do with that "superhero horror" concept. Via their recent blockbuster-sized Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, we now know that Doctor Strange helmer Scott Derrickson is planning to take the good doctor to dark and scary places for the film's awesomely titled sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And, of course, we can likely expect a few jump scares and a bit of blood splatter when Mahershala Ali's hotly anticipated, vampire-infused Blade reboot makes its MCU debut in a couple of years.
Until then, we'll just have to keep re-watching this alternate version of the Avengers: Endgame tale, and imagining what might've been for the brave heroes of the flick — not to mention thanking the folks at Groot Studios for reminding us that, even in today's climate, sometimes fandom really is the best of things.