By Mat Elfring on Feb 04, 2019 08:32 am
The NFL's biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl, was a back and forth, defensive battle on the evening of February 3. However, plenty of folks watching the big game were glued to their televisions for the trailers for upcoming movies. The one that got the most people talking was none other than the spot for Avengers: Endgame. And there was a good amount to learn from the 30-second spot when you break the teaser trailer down, it got us thinking about the future of the MCU and what's going to happen in the upcoming movie. Back in December, the very first trailer for the April movie got us thinking a bit about theories regarding the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some of them were probable and others were near nonsense-level of madness. We're back at it again, using the Super Bowl spot to figure out what's going on in Endgame, which hits theaters on April 26.
Endgame Takes Place A Few Years After Infinity War
At the eight second mark, we see a poster that says, "Where do we go, now that they're gone?" This is obviously referring to the Thanos Snap, which resulted in half the life in the universe being wiped from existence. We're living in a world where support groups exist now, and that means people are on the road to healing. This takes time, and I'm thinking that at least a couple years have passed since Infinity War.
New York City Is A Dead Zone
There is a really quick shot of Ellis Island, just outside of NYC, with what looks like hundreds of boats docked outside. Just before that, we saw a shot of Manhattan, and there wasn't a single light on the island, which is crazy because it's the "city that never sleeps." Because of the events of Infinity War--as well as what happened during the first Avengers movie--people have fled the city, since it tends to attract world-ending events. "What about Spider-Man: Far From Home? We see NYC in the trailer, and it looks fine!" Don't worry, all of this will be undone by the end of Endgame and everything will go back to normal.
Captain America Is Time Travelling Back To WWII
In the last Avengers: Endgame theory piece, I mentioned that Captain America could travel back in time to fight Red Skull in WWII. This teaser solidifies the theory even more. There is a brief shot of Captain America strapping up his shield to his arm. Everything about this quick shot screams, "This is 1944."
Nebula Is A Double-Agent
We briefly see Tony Stark and Nebula working together on a ship. Lest we forget that Nebula is still the daughter of Thanos, and while it's been made apparent--time and time again--that she hates her father for everything he's done to her, what if she's actually a double agent, spared from death in order to ensure Thanos' plan doesn't get undone? Thanos held her captive during Infinity War, and he obviously did so in order to get Gamora to take him to the Soul Stone. However, what if there is more to that? What if Nebula had another purpose? What if she was then supposed to implant herself amongst the heroes in order to sabotage them? While the clip of her and Stark is brief and doesn't help this theory on its surface, it seems too obvious that a character from such an evil lineage--just like her half-sister Gamora--would also betray her father.
All Phase 4 Characters Revealed In The Opening
During the opening, there are a few quick flashes of characters, all in black, white, and red: Wasp, Nick Fury, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Winter Soldier, and Vision. The majority of these folks were dusted off at the end of Infinity War. So why show these characters before the Marvel Studios logo? Because this is the future of the MCU. Aside from Nick Fury, no one here is a Phase 1 character. The characters we know and love from the MCU are probably going to die if they weren't in that quick opening montage. Why would Marvel choose those characters to show? Why is it happening so quickly? It's because these characters are the future, which actually really bums me out because Scott Lang wasn't there.
The Avengers Recruit Their Own Thanos
There are a few shots in the trailer where it looks like someone should be standing, but it's an empty space. Many people across the internet are saying, "They edited out Captain Marvel." But that doesn't make sense. Why remove a character we know is going to be in the movie? Myself and Tamoor Hussain think the reason there's a giant, empty space there is because the Avengers have recruited Thanos to help defeat Thanos. Where in the timeline this version of the Mad Titan is from is the real question. However, I believe this is a Thanos from the future, who finally comes to the realization that his life without Gamora is too much to bear on his soul, so he goes back in time to help the Avengers defeat a younger version of himself.
By Meg Downey on Feb 04, 2019 07:12 am
Captain Marvel is just around the corner, so it's pretty understandable that the amount of new footage being shown is starting to taper off. After all, it's not like they can show the entire movie as a tease before release, right? Still, that doesn't mean that the new 30-second Super Bowl LIII spot--watch it here--didn't have some nice new moments for us to pick out. Despite the considerable amount of promotional footage to work from, much of the plot is still shrouded in mystery. After all, we only just learned who Jude Law was actually playing--and we still can't be sure about Annette Bening's character. But these questions only mean more room to theorize and pass the time before the movie's March 8 release date. After all, it is the last MCU release before the highly anticipated Avengers: Endgame, so every tiny detail counts.
Carol and Monica
Carol Danvers is a character with no shortage of origin stories, and her MCU incarnation is only adding to that legacy. In this version of events, she apparently is an amnesiac with no memory of her time on Earth before the Kree abducted and experimented on her. However, we know from footage like this scene here, that she most definitely did have a pretty successful life as a human being before that particular incident. We see her with her friend and Air Force comrade, Monica Rambeau, about to fly an exercise. It's brief, but enough to tell that Monica and Carol were friends prior to Carol's Kree heel-turn.
Aerial Acrobatics
The next montage appears to be intercut moments of Carol's military life on Earth with her Kree training, flipping back and forth between her flying a regular old human jet and either flying--or escaping--a space age, laser-shooting craft. We also see a couple repeat scenes from previous spots and trailers of Carol during boot camp. Not a ton of new info in this moment, but enough to establish a bit more of Carol's life before her memory wiping set in. There's a good chance that returning to Earth will mean at least a few people will definitely know and recognize her, even if she doesn't recognize or know them.
Carol and Yon-Rogg
It's taken us a while to get official confirmation of just who, exactly, Jude Law is playing. But now that we know he's Yon-Rogg, and the moments between he and Carol take on an interesting subtext. In the comics, Yon is a Kree extremist who deeply hates and resents humans and considers the original Captain Mar-Vell, Carol's mentor, to be a traitor to the Kree race. In the MCU version of events, it looks like Yon will be straddling some sort of line between the two, acting both as a malevolent force against the humans and a sort of mentor to Carol. Based on how intensely they're sparring (or, y'know, just straight up fighting) in this scene, we can imagine that that particular dichotomy causes some real tension between the two of them.
Binary
The exact extent of Carol's powers in the MCU is still pretty mysterious, but it certainly looks like she'll be getting the full extent of her "Binary" abilities--a period in her comics history where she was able to draw her power from a cosmic phenomena called a "white hole." Like most cosmic superpowers, Carol's abilities as Binary were pretty vaguely defined, but they meant she was able to do things even normal Kree weren't able to do, like creating all sorts of fantastically trippy space-age lasers and power blasts, absorbing radiation, and generating the "power of a star." Does that mean she can time travel? We really don't know, but hey, it looks rad and is pretty intimidating nonetheless.
Carol and Fury
While this particular spot didn't have as much Carol/Nick Fury interactions as past clips have shown, we did get a new one, showcasing an extremely cute fist bump in the cockpit of a plane--probably taking place right after that moment in the second trailer when Fury asked her if she could fly the jet and she responded, "We'll see." The question is, of course, what are they celebrating and why are they flying in the first place?
By Meg Downey on Feb 04, 2019 06:14 am
As April marches closer and closer, the Avengers: Endgame hype train is only picking up speed and now, with a brand new TV spot shown during Super Bowl LIII, we've got a brand new batch of footage to work with--the first since the first trailer dropped back in December. Endgame is slated for an earlier-than-anticipated release on April 26, hot on the heels of Marvel Studios' first major release of the year, Captain Marvel, on March 8. We've already confirmed at least one brutal loss between the infamous Thanos snap and the start of Endgame, but we've come up with plenty of theories to help fill the gaps and make the wait a little less agonizing--and we've got more on the way now that there's more footage to work from. So, with that in mind, let's break down each new moment from the spot, piece by piece.
A Decimated World
While we still don't have a concrete idea of just how much time has passed between the snap and Endgame, it looks like the safe bet is "a while." We see the apocalyptic skyline of New York, an abandoned Citi Field, and most importantly, a support group for those left behind either led or attended by Captain America himself, Steve Rogers. Obviously, enough time had to pass for people to organize, print flyers, and form groups like this, which means that we're probably in for some real good ol' fashioned heartbreak and angst for those opening moments of the movie. Whatever's been going on in the gap between the two films, however long it actually ends up being, probably wasn't all that happy-go-lucky.
Tony and Nebula, Teaming Up
The first trailer gave us a pretty bleak look into Tony's situation aboard what we assume is the Benatar, where he narrated what sounded ominously like his last will and testament to Pepper Potts. This time around, Tony doesn't look quite as resigned to his fate. We see him actively teaming up with Nebula, the only other survivor from Titan, making some sort of mechanical repairs to the ship. Of course, we have no real way to tell if these repairs were taking place before or after they left the planet, so it's probably best not to get your hopes for Tony's survival up too high just yet, but--hey, we'll take what we can get, right?
Look, Up In The Sky(?)
The next shot features a familiar lineup of Steve, Natasha, Rhodey, and Bruce all exiting the Avengers compound in the middle of the night, apparently heading towards something (or someone?) up in the sky. This shot is particularly mysterious because of just how many variables are in play. Perhaps it's the first arrival of Captain Marvel from space? A Quantum Realm anomaly care of Ant-Man? Something to do with one of the Stones and Doctor Strange? It's really impossible to say just yet--but it's certainly something to begin speculating on.
Rocket on the Beach
Rocket Raccoon is notably absent from the moment outside of the Avengers compound, leaving us to wonder just what, exactly, he's been up to since the snap as the last Guardian of the Galaxy on Earth. We get a pretty pointed shot of him entering a house on the beach (note the lobster traps behind him) but very little context to work from. Rocket doesn't have much history on Earth, but his love of weapons and engineering might mean he went searching for Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne who, if you remember from the end of Ant-Man & The Wasp, moved their conveniently portable home to the beach after Jan was recovered from the Quantum Realm. Of course, both of them were turned to dust in the snap, so hopefully Rocket won't be too disappointed if that's actually where he's at and who he's looking for. Then again, this might be a completely different beach house--though it seems a little unlikely that any of our main protagonists secretly purchases some beachfront property in between all their world-saving antics. Though, we suppose, Hawkeye did have a secret farm for so many years, so stranger things have happened.
Natasha, Shooting to Kill
Though she's always been far from the cuddliest Avenger, Natasha Romanoff has taken on a decidedly more lethal look here in her trailer moment as we see her firing off rapid-fire rounds right into the dead center of a series of bullseyes. It looks like she's in the Avengers compound shooting range, so there isn't much to ascertain from this specific scene other than Nat has definitely got her eye on the prize. And that prize is making sure something gets extremely dead. Who could blame her?
War Machine and Ant-Man Suiting Up
Though we still have no real idea just how Scott Lang managed to get out of the Quantum Realm, we do know thanks to the first Endgame trailer that he did, somehow, and managed to find his way back to the Avengers compound, much to Steve's confusion. So the fact that Scott's around isn't necessarily news--the fact that he and Rhodey are apparently in need of their superhero'ing gear kind of is, though. What is it that has them preparing for battle? Who are they going to fight? What is the plan?
Thor in Wakanda?
Thor's situation post-Infinity War has been especially confusing, thanks to his ambiguous position in the first Endgame trailer--and this spot doesn't really clarify much. We see him still in his full Asgardian regalia, as opposed to his worn down civilian clothes from the first trailer, in what looks like Wakanda. It's probably a safe bet that this moment might be a flashback to the moments immediately after the snap, before everyone had a chance to go their separate ways (and before Thor had a chance to change.) Alternatively, if this scene isn't set in Wakanda, it could indeed be on some alien planet (maybe even the planet Thanos has made his new home). It's certainly possible that Thor was able to leave Earth, considering his new ax, Stormbreaker, has the ability to summon the Bifrost--though how he would know where to go is still a major question, if that's the case.
Hawkeye Returns
We've known for some time that Hawkeye was going to be making a comeback with his new codename, Ronin, but the finer points of the hows and the whys are still a mystery. Unfortunately, the split second look at him in this spot doesn't really clarify much--it's just an ominously lit close up of Jeremy Renner in some sort of rubble. The red glow could be from one of the stones, but it also could just be from something totally mundane. Sorry, Hawkeye fans, looks like you'll have to hold off on any major speculation for a while--at least until we have a bit more to work with.
Get This Man A Shield
In one of the most emotionally poignant moments of the spot, we see a close shot of Steve Rogers' hands, tightening the straps on his iconic shield--something he gave up entirely at the end of Captain America: Civil War. He spent the entirety of Infinity War without it after that particularly bad break up, so it's pretty understandable that his hands would be visibly shaking as he goes to commit again. The real question is, of course, what made him decide to go back to it? It probably wasn't that hard, post-snap, to break it out of whatever government storage facility it was being housed in, but why would Captain America feel the need to make such a symbolic return when the Avengers aren't exactly around to be assembled around him? Whatever the answer turns out to be, we're pretty sure it's going to make us cry a bunch.
Seven Soldiers
The final shot in the spot is a lineup of heroes silhouetted by the setting sun, walking through the compound's hanger to places unknown. They're obviously led by Steve, who is followed by Hawkeye/Ronin (or, maybe Thor?), Natasha, Rocket, Scott, Rhodey, and finally Bruce (we think). Where are they going? We don't know. What are they planning? We don't know that either. But whatever or wherever it is, Cap's got his shield so you know it's serious.
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