Every Avengers: Endgame plotline and clue we can find so far
Here's a spoiler-filled look at what those trailers and toys might be revealing about the Marvel blockbuster.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
The trailers for Avengers: Endgame haven't revealed much, but the white suits are definitely interesting.
Warning: Possible spoilers for Avengers: Endgame ahead.
There are a ton of Avengers: Endgame trailers, television ads, and other sneak peeks out there (check them out here), but they're a bit like Taco Bell menu items: They just remix the same few ingredients, over and over.
Almost every ad features Thor calling for Stormbreaker (not Mjolnir) and nearly giving an unfazed Captain Marvel a close shave. There's Captain America letting a tear drip down. There's a shot of a variety of Avengers striding forth in white suits a la Star Wars Stormtroopers. But what's really going on here? If you want to go into the three-hour blockbuster unspoiled, stop reading now, because it's time to pick apart the clues Marvel's delivered.
Be warned, though: In the past, Marvel has thrown footage into trailers that didn't appear in the movies, and directors Joe and Anthony Russo have teased about including fake scenes.
Those white suits
Multiple trailers show certain Avengers wearing those plasticky looking white suits. (Let's hope none of them bonk their heads.) Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has a pretty dull name for these outfits.
"We call them the team suits," Feige told io9. "And we early on decided (revealing them) was a big differentiating factor between [Endgame] and the other films." He notes that the Avengers haven't had matching outfits in the past (cough -- Fantastic Four -- cough), and the look "made this film feel new."
The suits could be used for space travel, but the Guardians of the Galaxy and other Avengers have done a lot of that in the past and not worn similar outfits. And in a scene where Rocket Raccoon is piloting a ship while Avengers sit behind him, the suits don't appear. So it seems more likely that these suits are needed for something like time travel or into the Quantum Realm. Ant-Man is back, after all.
Tony trapped in space
Probably no one really thought Iron Man would die in the early minutes of Avengers: Endgame -- Marvel has to wring all they can out of what could be Robert Downey's Jr.'s last appearance in the role. But in the first trailer, released way back in December, Iron Man is seen adrift in space, recording a final message for fiancée Pepper Potts, telling her that his oxygen will run out the next morning.
But trailers and TV spots released since then feature multiple scenes showing him alive and well and interacting with Captain America, so he gets out of that tight spot just like he has hundreds of other ones. (Hey, Downey was even one of the few actors trusted with the whole script.)
After this movie though? No one knows. Downey's Marvel contract reportedly is up after Endgame, and he may want to hang up the suit.
Hawkeye as Ronin
Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye is seen in numerous trailers standing in what appears to be a large Japanese city dressed in a black and gold outfit complete with mask. In Japanese, "ronin" is a masterless samurai, and Hawkeye certainly fills the bill, as he's off on his own these days.
As our sister site ComicBook.com explains, Ronin was an alternate identity Clint Barton took on in the comics . Hawkeye wasn't in Avengers: Infinity War, but looks more than ready to make up for it here.
Speaking of Hawkeye, there's a trailer scene showing him teaching a young girl how to shoot arrows. Could that be Kate Bishop, a comics character Clint trains who eventually takes on the Hawkeye role?
Outriders ride again
The Outriders are those many-limbed creatures that fought against our heroes in Wakanda during Avengers: Infinity War. Don't expect to have seen the last of them: CNET sister site Gamespot reveals that the Outriders are featured prominently in Avengers: Endgame Lego sets, and toy tie-ins can often deliver plot clues.
The Igor suit
Tony Stark has a whole wardrobe of Iron Man suits, but one, the Igor, might be featured in Avengers: Endgame. Another Lego set shows the Igor suit (also known as Mark (MK) 38), which Gamespot describes as "kind of like the Hulkbuster armor." The Lego set also shows the suits displayed in Tony's Hall of Armor, but Gamespot notes it was destroyed in Iron Man 3. Will time travel be involved here? Or is Lego just offering up a blast from the past?
Shuri, nooooooo!
Black Panther's sister, tech genius Shuri, wasn't seen being Snapped away by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. But her face shows up on a roll call of the Snapped that we see in the first trailer. We're all assuming that means she bit the dust (or turned to dust). But note that Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, is also in the roll call of the dead, and he shows up hollering at the front door for Cap to let him in. So maybe whoever threw that slideshow of the dearly departed together wasn't that careful.
But in Shuri's case, we think she did get Snapped. Marvel issued a series of posters recently and surviving characters are shown in color, the Snap victims in black-and-white. Shuri is in black-and-white. But some good news: Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) was shown in color -- we were unsure of her fate.
Shuri and Ant-Man are shown in a roll call of the dead, though Ant-Man later appears alive.
Stone cold
Thanos uses the Infinity Stones again, Black Widow reveals in an Avengers: Endgame ad. So Captain Marvel proposes the stones could be used to bring back the lost. Let's hope.
We'll add more clues as we dig them out. Avengers: Endgame opens April 24 in Australia, April 25 in the UK and April 26 in the US.
