Directors Anthony and Joe Russo dropped a bombshell today by releasing the second trailer of this year’s most anticipated Avengers: Endgame. Arriving quite literally out of nowhere, not a single scooper had wind of it before it was coming. The trailer evokes heavy nostalgia from the past movies as we see footage from Iron Man, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger.
The trailer is also keen on keeping secrets, which is part of the reason why it uses footage from previous movies to fill up its run time. But for all its effort at secrecy, the trailer is also quite big on reveals, hinting at some important plot points while confirming some old leaks. Here’s an exhaustive, extensive breakdown of that recently released Avengers: Endgame Trailer 2 where I try to cover as much ground as possble without making it sound corny or cheesy.
The Original Avengers, The Ultimate Sacrifice, The Epic Finale
The trailer opens with several key moments from the earlier Marvel Cinematic Universe films. The focus is largely on Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, the central characters who in all likelihood will bid farewell to the MCU after the events of Endgame. This trailer alludes heavily to that notion, giving us plenty of footage from Iron Man, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger to revisit some of those nostalgic moments.
It’s also a good strategy employed by the marketing team to keep footage from Endgame a secret. By using old footage from the above movies, as well as others like Avengers: Infinity War and Captain America: Civil War, the trailer covers about 1 minute’s worth of original footage, leaving the trailer editors only another minute and a half of new stuff to reveal. Considering how literally every frame of Endgame is subject to intense scrutiny (precisely what we’re doing), it’s only wise for Disney-Marvel to reuse as much of stuff as possible.
Red Is Reality
The emphasis on desaturating older footage in black and white, highlighting only red began with last month’s Super Bowl Spot. That has carried into this trailer and is a sure-shot sign of the filmmakers wanting to signify the importance of the color red. In MCU parlance, Red is the color of the Reality Infinity Stone, which in this context also signifies or hints that the dusted Avengers are now in a different, alternate reality altogether.
Viewed in another sense from a filmmaking perspective, this technique of highlighting the red with everything else turned to black and white is used to accentuate the involvement of blood; either blood that’s been spilled or atrocities committed as was the case with Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. In this case, it allegorically refers to the blood spilled when a lot of our fellow Avengers were done and dusted. What’s interesting though is that we see footage of our original Avengers similarly desaturated. Tony Stark, Thor and Steve Rogers all have their reds highlighted, possibly hinting that the trio will either end up in an alternate reality, or spill their blood to bring back their lost comrades.
Tony Stark’s One Last Surprise
Not the one to stay out of the limelight, Tony Stark gets some heartfelt lines in the trailer as he recaps his escape from the cave that kicked off his journey as Iron Man. Fans have been wanting to see this trip down memory lane play out in trailers and in the movie and with the recent trailer, the Russos have listened. Stark however, talks about springing one last surprise if at all that were possible.
Lo and behold, possible that is indeed. By the time the trailer ends, we see Stark walking with the other Avengers donning some special white suits (more on that in a bit). I’m highly perplexed as to why the Russos would end up revealing this moment, especially given nothing else in the trailer even remotely suggests that Stark is back. This is one bit that looks like a deliberate misdirection to me. It’s possible Stark just isn’t there in that scene and has been added in to play the audience. Not that he isn’t getting back from space; he definitely is (although the question of just how is on everyone’s minds). Just that somthing’s really off here.
Hawkeye’s Daughter, Transformation Into Ronin
The second Avengers: Endgame trailer finally gives a lot of weight to the usually ignored Hawkeye. We see him with his daughter, training her to follow in his footsteps in expert marksmanship and archery. The very next shot has him as Ronin in Hong Kong subdued by a very emotional Black Widow, a clear hint of how he lost his family to the snap causing him to snap and turn into the masked assassin.
Black Widow’s Hair
Black Widow’s hair has been the subject of much debate with her variety of hairstyles. Through three trailers now, she’s donned the short hair from Infinity War, the long red hair from the comics and the somewhat blonde hairstyle. It indicates a mix of both passage of time as well as a hint of some messing around with time involved. Some of it could also be misdirection as different hairstyles should be relatively easy to CGI.
Missing People: Tony P Henderson
This one’s a doozy yet. Who are the missing people Scott Lang is looking at, that have a $5,000 reward on them? The name spells Tony P Henderson and isn’t someone you immediately think of as being from the comics, or even someone involved with Marvel in any capacity. There is a web designer by that name who could’ve designed Marvel’s website but that’s a really odd guy to pay such a big tribute to.
Quinjet? Seoul? New York? Time Travel?
We see a Quinjet flying towards what looks like New York, although a well-lit one. This New York looks like it was either never hit by the snap or one that’s moved on completely from the events of Infinity War, suggesting a large chunk of Endgame takes place several months or years after Thanos’s snap. This could also be a hint of time travel, as I elaborate in the subsequent moments.
Hawkeye & Black Widow Share A Quiet Moment
Hawkeye and Black Widow share a tender moment. The two have really come a long way since the events of 2012’s The Avengers and they already had lots of shared history back then with their missions in Budapest, among others. It’s cool to see them lean on each other after what the world has become.
Yakuza Mission Or Quantum Tunnel?
Where exactly is Hawkeye here? The color scheme suggests he’s in the same underground mission in Hong Kong where Black Widow finds him. Looking at the tunnel’s shape though, it could be one of them Quantum Realm tunnels where something just went wrong. I want to believe this is just the Yakuza mission in Hong Kong given the similar color grading but the strange device strapped on Jeremy Renner’s left wrist looks rather similar to those Quantum Realm wrist bands that were spotted being worn on sets by everyone suggesting, this could indeed be an explosion within the Quantum Realm.
Unlikely Team-Ups
One of the great joys about seeing the Marvel movies is the possibility of unlikely team-ups. Characters you never thought would share screen space end up sharing scenes together. We saw War Machine and Ant-Man suit up in the Super Bowl Spot and here, we get a closer look at War Machine and Rocket Raccoon teaming up to fight whatever it is they’re about to fight. A tiny, but super-cool fan moment.
Ant-Man Shining Light
This is a small occurrence but a ray of light momentarily shines across Ant-Man. Could this be Ghost from Ant-Man and the Wasp coming to the help of Scott Lang, or are there other powers at play here? Is Scott looking at the Quantum Realm appearing before his eyes?
Avengers: Infinity War Recreated Shots
This is where the biggest reveals came to me. Clearly, some of these shots look like outright recreations of shots from Avengers: Infinity War, suggesting strongly that the Avengers could travel back in time and play out previous events multiple times, before they arrive at the 1 in 14,600,005 outcome that makes them win the battle against Thanos. And that one future is where Tony Stark will be highly important.
Cap’s Final Battle On Titan?
Cap’s face is all covered in dirt as he straps his shield nervously for what looks like a final stand. It’s hard to make out the background but could this be Titan in one of the time-travelling futures where Cap is there to fight Thanos with Iron Man? One of the prime reasons why the Avengers lost the battle with Thanos is beceause they were divided. Could this realization lead them to fighting Thanos together in Infinity War where they actually win and stop the snap from even happening?
Ant-Man With Pencil
Unlike many moments, this was one I couldn’t 100% make sense of. Ant-Man is fighting someone or something in his miniature size with certain objects like a pencil and overflowing water appropriately sized-up. This could be a small skirmish that takes place at the house he enters when some light shines on him. Or, this could be a clue to the battle with Cap not really taking place on Titan but somewhere much closer on earth say, The Avengers Facility.
Quantum Realm Suits
The huge reveal. This shot single-handedly gives us the most info from the trailer. For one, it confirms those Quantum Realm suits are 100% real, lending credence to those who leaked this stuff last year multiple times. Second, it shows Stark and Nebula wearing the suits and walking with everyone else, led by Cap. Like I said, this could be a misdirect but if not, it confirms Tony Stark and Nebula make it out of space safely.
So far, we have Cap leading the pack, followed by Black Widow and Tony Stark, followed in turn by Scott Lang and Nebula, followed finally by War Machine and Hawkeye / Ronin. War Machine’s gear looks like he’s put on the Quantum Realm suit over his ordinary suit. Captain Marvel, Thor, Okoye and Banner are nowhere to be found and I’m assuming Captain Marvel could simply not need the suit, a fact they’re withholding right now. Thor should be there somewhere not visible, as is Rocket concealed due to his height. As for Okoye, Danai Gurira’s exclusion from the marketing including the poster has been a bit perplexing. And finally, Banner should be walking as Professor Hulk which they could’ve easily CGIed out. Speaking of which.
Thanos and Hulk and Pepper
Both Thanos and Hulk are nowhere to be seen in the trailer. We’ve seen so less of Thanos it’s becoming hard to realize who the movie’s major antagonists are. By all accounts, it looks like Thanos has retired to his lands in Titan to become a farmer, until the Avengers come knocking on their doors. Meanwhile, Hulk and Banner are surely going to come to an agreement leading to the emergence of Professor Hulk, a personality that has the strength of the Hulk and the brains and memory of Banner. I doubt we’re getting any footage of the Hulk at all until the movie’s release considering how important a role he may have to play if that rumored plot leak turns out to be true.
As for Pepper, could she have fallen victim to the snap as well? That would certainly explain Stark’s reasoning and motivation behind teaming up with Rogers and co even further; to get back the one person he loved the most. Unfortunately, it looks like that may not be the case, since Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Favreau and Benedict Wong are listed on the official movie poster. It’ll be a misdirect at another level though if Paltrow is just included through flashbacks and actually did end up getting snapped.
Thor & Captain Marvel
We end the trailer with a scene between Captain Marvel and Thor that’s part of a larger scene that was screened at Disney’s recent shareholder meet. The scene plays out exactly as described, which in turn confirms the authenticity of that footage description. Thor’s pairing with Carol Danvers is already being talked about; whether or not they’ll turn into love interests is a wait and watch game since we also have Valkyrie who apparently is quite alive.
So what do you think? Did you love the trailer? Do you think there’s anything we missed? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Avengers: Endgame hits theaters worldwide on April 26, 2019. Read all our coverage right here on Appocalypse. Also make sure to check out our new Road To Avengers Endgame series leading up to the release of that movie.
