And… It’s here. The moment everyone’s been waiting for. The trailer and title reveal for Avengers: Endgame (2019, Anthony & Joe Russo).
Have a look!
Truthfully, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Avengers: Infinity War (2018, Anthony & Joe Russo). It did so many things right, but, for me personally, it also really failed on a couple of others. I’ve seen it multiple times now and while every viewing has felt a bit different, there’s some things that I just can’t shake. But I won’t talk about those right now.
I have always said, however, that the real spectacle to watch would be Avengers 4. No matter how you look at it, Infinity War is very much the set-up for Endgame. It’s an elongated first act of a story that takes multiple movies to tell. And this week, we’ve all had our first look of what’s shaping up to be the resolution of 11 years of filmmaking. I believe I’ve watched it enough times for me to be able to voice my thoughts on it. As always, feel free to express yours in the comments below!
2 Minutes & 25 Seconds of Film
First, let’s talk about the trailer itself. I’ve got to admire the restraint Marvel’s taken here. In contrast to previous Marvel trailers, including Infinity War and the wreck of a trailer that was the one for Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017, Jon Watts) which spoiled the plot for anyone with a even a basic understanding of the narrative structure of Hollywood movies, Endgame‘s trailer actually shows us… nothing. There’s no action, and it’s really hard to guess the film’s story based off what we see. (Sure, the trailer tells us one thing, pertaining to the mid-credits scene for Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018, Peyton Reed), but that’s all, actually). Hell, they didn’t even show Captain Marvel! I love it when trailers do this (take a look at the trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens or Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which also showed nothing in advance), as it makes the movie experience more meaningful, worthwhile and fun.
Instead of showing us a lot of cosmic action and thereby spoiling the story, this trailer focuses on character. Most of what we see is characters hopelessly thinking about what’s happened. In fact, this is all we see of such ‘survivor’ characters like Thor, Bruce, Nebula and — finally — Hawkeye. The only speaking characters in the trailer are Tony, Cap, Natasha and Ant-Man. Tony is recording his goodbye message for Pepper (dropping a ‘Rescue’ easter egg along the way), while Cap and Nat are trying to come up with a plan to (presumably) bring everyone back. Ant-Man, on the other hand, is the only source of comic relief in the entire trailer (oddly enough for a Disney/Marvel movie). He appears to have escaped the quantum realm, and is now “calling the Avengers” to bring back Hope, Janet & Hank.
The trailer’s main theme is emotion. The Avengers are broken — their failure to protect the universe has led to the death of 50% of its inhabitants. In Infinity War, Thor asked Rocket: “What more can I lose?” Right now, he knows the answer to that question. The focus on the emotional aftermath of the Snap (or the Decimation, as it’s been officially called) is fitting. All too often, emotional evolution in Marvel movies has been undercut by humoristic nonsense, which has been described by Just Write as a modern form of Alexander Pope called bathos, or a surprising, humoristic twist in an otherwise dramatic / tragic narrative event. Now, however, it seems as if Marvel’s taken the time to explore the gravity of the Decimation and how everyone’s been affected by it. And that’s great!
We’re In The Endgame Now
Over the past few months, a number of possible titles for Avengers 4 circulated online. Endgame actually was the first one to go around, followed by others like Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet or Avengers: Annihilation. Personally, my most favorite titles that I saw making their way through the internet were Avengers: Assemble and Avenge Us, both of which were practically impossible: the former was actually the title of the first Avengers film back in 2012 in the UK, and the latter probably would’ve caused too much confusion with The Avengers when said out loud.
Nevertheless, Endgame is a great title. It adequately conveys the ‘ending’ that we’ll have to deal with after the movie hits theaters next year, since Avengers 4 will be the last film in the MCU as we currently know it. The upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019, Jon Watts) will spark a new era of Marvel movies (most likely introducing such characters like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, possibly leading up to a Secret Wars event). How the current MCU will ‘end’ still remains to be seen, of course.
The word endgame also isn’t particularly new. It’s been used by both Iron Man and Doctor Strange in previous movies. Iron Man used it in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015, Joss Whedon), in the Avengers Tower scene right after their victory party is crashed by Ultron bots. “We can bust arms dealers all the live-long day,” he says, “but that up there, that’s the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?” “Together”, Cap replies. So even then, in 2015, Tony already referenced the events of a movie which wasn’t even in development then. Also, right after he gives Thanos the Time Stone in Infinity War, Doctor Strange tells Tony “We’re in the endgame now.” Strange of course knows everything that’s happening around him (and knows how they’ll eventually beat Thanos), and is able to predict what will come to pass. In this sense, the choosing of the word Endgame is very fitting, to say the least.
The Future
YouTuber TheJovenshire released a video two days ago about how he felt about the trailer. In the video, he explains how he thinks there shouldn’t be a second trailer anymore — let’s just watch the movie for ourselves, he says. I agree with him. The MCU is the biggest media franchise in media history. They could pull this one off without another trailer, if they wanted to.
Obviously, ‘the nature of the (Hollywood) beast’ requires a second trailer and many more TV promos, and Avengers: Endgame will have to conform to that tradition. But, like I said last year, I really hope they don’t overdo it. There’s no need to overdo it. Marvel’s already done what no other franchise has ever accomplished. They don’t need to spoil their movies in advance for people to go and watch them. (This begs the question whether there should have been a trailer in the first place…) What’s great about the upcoming Aquaman (2018, James Wan) is that my Facebook page isn’t smothered with promos, released photos or concept art. Let us guess a little. We don’t want to know everything in advance. We want to explore the story in the movie theatre, where it should be explored.
All in all, Marvel’s done a great job again to get me fully hyped for the next Avengers movie. I’m just so curious to see how they’ll bring about the ending to 11 years of film. Let the theorizing begin, I say. We’ve still got some months to go… See you then.
WRITTEN BY ALEXANDER VANDEWALLE.
GIVE US A LIKE ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM!
For the featured image, click here. Click here for the Milano picture, the title card picture and the Thanos armor picture.
Screenanigans 