Entertainment

About That Avengers 4 Title Leak

Few hours ago, a possible leak of the Avengers 4 title sent the internet into a wild frenzy. Apparently, cinematographer Trent Opaloch, who worked with directors Anthony and Joe Russo on Avengers: Infinity War accidentally revealed the title of Avengers 4 when he listed the upcoming Avengers movie as one of the projects on his resume. The title in question? Avengers: End Game.

The news has been picked up by multiple outlets, with many having sealed it as the movie’s official title. After all, Opaloch is not a junior artist or an alleged source but the movie’s cinematographer so it goes without saying he would know the movie’s title. Right? Well, not necessarily so. We have reason to believe this is not the movie’s official title and we still don’t know what Avengers 4 will end up being called. Here’s why.

The suggestion that Avengers 4 is titled Avengers: Endgame is nothing new. In fact, rumors began circulating as early back as May soon after the movie’s premiere that the next Avengers movie is subtitled Endgame. These rumors were largely speculative, with their arguments centering around a line spoken in Infinity War by Doctor Strange, in which he tells Tony Stark, “We’re in the endgame now”. At the time too, everyone rode the wave of speculation and things went so far that media outlets posed the question to the Russo Brothers themselves.

Slashfilm in particular, brought this up with the directors indirectly, by asking them if the title of Avengers 4 was spoken in Infinity War. The directors replied with a stern No, while also emphasizing that there weren’t any comics that could be looked at as inspiration for the movie’s title. Here’s the exact exchange:

Is the title of the fourth Avengers ever spoken in Infinity War?

Joe Russo: No.

Okay, because people have been looking for clues in the dialogue.

Anthony Russo: It’s certainly grounded in the narrative that we have been following throughout the MCU – very well grounded…

Joe Russo: I don’t think there are any comics that correlate to it. I think we’re in pretty fresh territory with Avengers 4. If anything, I think it’s interesting after to go back and look at some of the Marvel films and view them through a different lens. But I can’t think of any comics in particular that would have value.

Not only did the directors flat out deny Avengers: Endgame as being a potential title, they even quashed hopes for Avengers 4 being called Infinity Gauntlet. And here’s where it gets interesting: that title was recently revealed as being the movie’s internal title while it was in production. This was until Zoe Saldana accidentally revealed it at the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 premiere forcing Marvel on the defensive and resulting in Feige and co opting not to use that title.

What this means is that just like Infinity GauntletEndgame could have been one of the placeholder titles Avengers 4 came to be referred by. But considering the intents of the filmmakers in keeping the title fresh, they’d want to rule out both these titles in favor of something that surprises the audience. And at this point, these two are the last titles that will catch the audience unawares.

So is there something that lends credence to the rumor? Well, aside from Doctor Strange’s line, the fact that Opaloch has modified his resume to now list Avengers 4 instead of Avengers: Endgame means Marvel Studios caught wind of the coverage and had him change it. This at least means Endgame was one of the titles in consideration, if nothing else.

Finally, you wanna know what else is possible?

That’s right. It’s relatively easy for someone to play around with the source code, taken a snapshot, and circulate the news that Avengers 4 is titled Endgame. It doesn’t take much effort. And voila, everyone takes notice.

Bottom line? I’m not ruling out the possibility of End Game or even Infinity Gauntlet as being the movie’s title. If what we know about the movie’s plot is true, both of these fit extremely well. And for all we know, the Russo Brothers might pull out a one up on us and reveal one of these as the official title. But take this with grains of salt for now, and don’t count on it just yet. In any case, San Diego Comic Con is merely three weeks away and we should get the title of the movie at the event by all accounts.

Avengers 4 releases in theaters on May 3, 2019. Check out our Road To Infinity War series and start preparing for it right now, beginning from 2008’s Iron Man.