Debunking Theories about Avengers: Endgame

With Avengers: Endgame only a month away, I wanted to dig into some popular theories that we can safely debunk by attacking their source. They all derive from one place: a 4chan post by a guy purported to have made good predictions about Infinity War. The 4channer was given credence by people on Reddit, which was picked up by tabloids like The Express, and then broadcast by Jeremy Conrad (especially here); this legitimized the leak which has since been covered by Charlie Schneider, Midnight's Edge, etc (his impact on MCU news continues today, as you can see here). However, recently the claims about the accuracy of his Infinity War post has been thoroughly demolished, and I want to complete their destruction here. Along with that, I want to assess the aforementioned Conrad as a source. We'll do the 4chan poster first, as it's one thing for me to say he's a fake, but another to prove it. We'll start his Infinity War predictions (posted at the end of November, 2017), since there's no ambiguity about the results.

I'm going to address his claims point by point; he makes a lot of claims, so to make the wall of text stand out visually I've colour-coded it (false claims in red, those known beforehand are in green). It's important to remember that the 4chan post is after the first Infinity War trailer leaked online (Charlie had a video about it on the 26th); it's also after audio had leaked and we'd seen leaked footage from SDCC in the summer:

• Cap has adopted the identity of Nomad (false - his identity doesn't change, he's simply not authorized to act officially & therefore in the exact same place he was in Civil War)
• Cap is leading Falcon and Black Widow (true) - revealed in the leaked trailer
• Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Ant Man are on their own (false - the later two don't appear and the former is never alone)
• Of those three only Ant-Man is not involved in a significant way (false on two fronts - Hawkeye and Ant-Man do not appear, making it impossible for Scott to be involved insignificantly)
• Cap etc rescue Scarlet Witch and Vision (true) - via the trailer leak
• They send them to Wakanda (false in two ways - this happens after they go to New York, talk to Rhodey, and realize they can't fix Vision on their own; they are also never separated from them, so they aren't 'sent' anywhere)
• Black Panther and Shuri extract the Mind Stone (false)
• Corvus Glaive kills Vision (false)
• Cap kills Corvus Glaive (false)
• Loki trades the Space Stone for his life (false)
• Loki becomes Thanos' adviser (false)
• Thor is found by the Guardians (true) - via SDCC
• Starlord, Gamora, and Drax go to Knowhere to talk to the Collector, but find him being tortured by Thanos (true) - via the audio leak
• Thor, Rocket, and Groot go to Etri for weapons (true to a point - just one weapon, however)
• Thor finds Jarnbjorn but it is unfinished (false)
• Groot makes the handle for Jarnbjorn (true - I believe this was known via a toy leak)
• Thor wears an eyepatch the entire movie (false)
• Iron Man and Doctor Strange go into space to meet with Thor and the Guardians to stop Thanos (false)
• Spider-Man gets injured in battle (false)
• Black Panther unites the tribes (false)
• Black Panther brings Winter Soldier out of cryosleep (false) - apparently the poster didn't watch the end-credit scene from Black Panther
• Hawkeye joins the battle (false)
• Bruce Banner returns to earth via an escape pod (false)
• Banner bursts out of the Hulkbuster to defeat Cull Obsidian (false on two fronts, because Banner kills Cull)
• Ebony Maw breaks into the Sanctum Sanctorum (false)
• Ebony Maw has psychic powers (false)
• Ebony Maw steals the Time Stone (false)
• Doctor Strange becomes good friends with Tony, Peter, and Starlord (false)
• Spider-Man and Groot have comedic scenes (false)
• Valkyrie has a minor appearance (false)
• Ebony Maw's attack is before Wong, Strange, and Banner meet Tony (false)
• Red Skull is stranded in space (false - if the poster knew what his role was he would have mentioned it, instead he talks about a separate Soul Stone 'guardian')
• Thanos does not love Gamora (false - the test to gain the Soul Stone proves this)
• Gamora's death compels Nebula to join the others (false - she doesn't know she's dead until after she joins the others)

The wall of red (false claims) makes it clear: there's nothing about the post that suggests insider knowledge. I believe even the Jarnbjorn elements had been revealed by toy leaks by then (although at this stage I didn't feel the need to dig further). If the 'leak' is this bad, why is it given so much credence? We have to point the finger at Conrad. Hot off his Eternals scoop in early April, Jeremy gave it credibility after Infinity War dropped and that helped boost the signal.

With the 4channer's credibility busted, let's look at the claims he's unleashed on Endgame. I covered his post in my original speculation article (the link to the full thing is there), but I want to go through its most pernicious points one-by-one.

The Stark Gauntlet

Iron Man reassembles the Avengers and decides to build his own Infinity Gauntlet

This is already debunked because we know from the trailers Cap reassembles the team (Tony is in no position to assemble anything), but we'll carry through the theory to completely debunk it.

He (Hulk) is the one that ultimately wields the Stark Gauntlet against Thanos, losing his arm in the process

A brief list of those buying into this: CBR, HN Network, Warstu, & Cosmic Wonder

We've established that the 4channer doesn't have inside sources, so where did this theory come from? It's one of the most obvious ways to defeat Thanos--the Gauntlet's would either cancel each other out or the more clever person would win. It's also something from the comics, given some extra zip from the MCU by accidentally showing two gauntlets (via the easter egg for it in Thor; there's also the mould Etri has). There's plenty of comicbook precedent for another gauntlet, but why a Stark gauntlet? Well, Brian Michael Bendis (in 2011) has Tony wield the Gauntlet in the comics, but MCU lore makes this problematic, because they've established normal people cannot use something like the Power Stone without being destroyed. If Tony can't use the Gauntlet, he is the most likely MCU character to create the housing. As for the Hulk, he's also used it in the comics (2011 in the Ultimate universe, in a story by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Carmine Di Giandomenico), and with Peter Quill gone he is the kind of character who might be able to use it. Why does the Hulk lose a limb? This seems to be a nod to an MCU trend--Aldrich Killian (Iron Man 3), Malekith (Thor: The Dark World), Bucky (Winter Soldier and Civil War), Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy and Infinity War), Nebula (Guardians of the Galaxy), Klaue (Age of Ultron and Black Panther), Yellowjacket (Ant-Man), and Cull Obsidian (Infinity War) all lose limbs.

There is no other source for this rumour--all the theories about the Stark Gauntlet trace back to this post--there's nothing in real leaks to support it. I pointed out the thematic problem with this approach in my first Endgame speculation article: if the Gauntlet can be used for good, then why not use it to solve other problems? It also means that Thanos wasn't wrong to use it, but simply using it wrong. This violates a tenant of most fiction (and a concept generally accepted in real life), that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely--there are no 'right' hands to use it (it's the exact same reason the One Ring has to be destroyed in The Lord of the Rings). Thematically the Avengers have to solve this problem in a way that refutes Thanos' approach as much as his actions.

The Return of Mjolnir and Cap Wielding It

Timeline alterations have restored Mjolnir and Cap wields it against Thanos to allow others to escape, and is killed holding Thanos off

Brief list of those buying into this: Inverse, E-Man, & Everything Always

These are actually two separate elements (Mjolnir's return and Cap's death) that all trace back here. This idea is one that began after the SDCC footage leaked, but this post gave it life. Where does the idea come from? We had Cap nearly pick it up in Ultron and this is an easter egg from the comics where Cap has, indeed, used it (four times as of 2017). Thanos killing Cap is also from the comics (the original Infinity War) and this happening is something that's been rumoured ever since Infinity War was announced years ago. Basically everyone has written Cap off as a casualty of the film (I'll get into death more below).

The tangible evidence of Mjolnir is twofold: 1) returning to the Battle of New York means Thor has his hammer in the past; 2) there is a fan picture of Joe Russo holding it while filming in Scotland. This is the most evidence-based prediction, but let's keep in mind that flashbacks/time travel easily explain it and that Joe could simply be trolling (as, indeed, he has done in other cases).

Nebula Fights Herself

Nebula's subplot centers on her efforts to redeem herself. At one point, she fights her murderous past self

This is such a slight element that not many people make videos about it, but here's an example of someone discussing it via Cosmic Book.

One of the problems with this idea is that Nebula already redeemed herself in Guardians 2--that was the point of her arc in that film and why she's looking for Gamora in Infinity War. We do have a leak that suggests past-Nebula appears (there's a video of Zoe Saldana and Karen Gillan in their original Guardians garb while filming Endgame), but beyond that we have no evidence for what happens. The latter part of this idea would be plausible if the first part wasn't completely wrong.

Hawkeye is Instrumental in Defeating Thanos

At one point, Hawkeye must protect the Stark Gauntlet from Thanos' minions. He plays an "instrumental" role in Thanos' defeat.

Much like Nebula above, this is such a slight element that not many people are making anything specifically about it (although you can find an example here).

This idea references a meme of sorts (where Hawkeye defeats Thanos by calling the cops on him), but really, it's just to give the character something important to do given that he missed Infinity War (while carrying on with the Stark Gauntlet plot mentioned above). Keep in mind the same poster thought Hawkeye would be part of the battle in Infinity War, so this is just a wild guess.

Thor Assembles an Army

Thor's subplot centers on him assembling an army to challenge Thanos

As with the above two entries, this isn't substantial enough to warrant much separate discussion, but there are examples (and, as always, Charlie).

This is one of the more repeated ideas and it's one borrowed by the poster from leaks that had various Thor scenes being shot in Scotland. This included what's assumed to be a return to his visions from Ultron, with many speculating that this might be a visit to Valhalla or Hel (the Norse realms of the dead--I go over this in my updated speculation article). In addition to this was a casting call for 'vikings.' It's a slim basis for the theory and a drab plotline (since armies won't truly effect the battle). Another Redditor spiced this up by saying Thor was following the Aragorn storyline from Return of the King and that new idea has helped carry the theory forward.

It's important to note that neither the Russo brothers nor Kevin Feige have ever referenced Return of the King as an influence on the movie. All the comments about it go back to the Reddit post which runs in parallel to the 4chan post. We have nothing official that indicates armies are being assembled by anyone--indeed, you could argue that if the intent is for the OG Avengers to defeat Thanos, then assembling an army goes against that idea thematically.

Doctor Strange Fighting a CGI Creature

Doctor Strange and a fully CGI creature...which takes up a sizable portion of the budget

Same restrictions as above, but Newsweek has been suckered into this (and Charlie).

This is one of those ideas that I've always found rather bizarre since this already happened in Infinity War. The battle between Strange and Thanos was incredibly CGI dependent and expensive. This theory is the source of all the videos we see about there being an antagonist greater than Thanos in the film--a preposterous idea on a story level (if the Russo's want the OG Avengers to solve the problem, the problem is Thanos--introducing a new villain undercuts that idea).

Most of the Avengers Die

Only two of the original Avengers [are] meant to survive the movie. Cap dies.

Esquire gets this from a separate Reddit theory born from it, but you can also see it reflected in Comicbook.com, HN Entertainment, Super Bro Movies, etc (and in Charlie).

The Cap death rumours have been heavy since before Infinity War. There's literally nothing more expected when it comes to deaths and that expectation is based on three things: 1) it's happened in the comics, 2) other characters who have picked up the mantel of Captain America are available (Falcon and Bucky), 3) Chris Evans' periodic moaning about leaving the role (something other MCU stars have done as well). There is, however, no tangible evidence for this. People have tried very hard to read into a Tweet by Evans along with a comment he made in an interview months earlier (link above), but it's all very ephemeral and the Russo's happily debunked it in November (you could argue they'd lie about it, but they could have just as easily ignored it). The point here is less that Cap dies and more that the 4channer is attaching himself to the most common theory out there--nothing is being added. The larger idea that only two OG Avengers will survive has been heavily parroted and for this there is no basis at all. A ten year celebration of the MCU doesn't work well if you're murdering most of the original crew that brought you here--as I've been saying since my original post about the film, it just doesn't make sense on a story level (especially after teasing their deaths in Ultron--that was done to prevent it, not cause it).

Jeremy Conrad as a Source

Let's acknowledge Jeremy's scoop for The Eternals--it is a legit scoop that he had before anyone else (Umberto Gonzales embarrassed himself by denying it initially). Since then, however, he's been the source of near endless failure as his various scoops and theories have crashed and burned. Let's go through his predictions one by one since he launched his website (those in red were completely wrong, those known to be stolen from elsewhere are in blue).

2018
April - predicted Black Widow in 2020, something I beat him to a month earlier (this was a very easy thing to theorize about, so he didn't get this from me)
May - predicts that the reason Nick Fury paged Captain Marvel was because he feared a Skrull invasion (debunked by Captain Marvel)
June - his claims about Dark Phoenix are debunked
July - predicts Kronos will have a cameo in Endgame (yet to be determined)
August - predicts Hydro-Man will appear in Far From Home without revealing that got the information from an Instagram post
September - claimed Black Widow will involve Y2K (yet to be determined)
October
His most famous boondoggle, where he claimed the title for the fourth Avengers film was Annihilation (going on to embarrass himself saying there was a whole transition of different titles--Kevin Feige killed that lie by saying the title was decided years ago)
Conrad double downed on Endgame beginning with a five-year jump theory (debunked by the various Endgame trailers)
Bought into Frank Grillo's trolling that there will be a new Cap (after making the statement Grillo admitted he was just making things up--something very obvious from the interview)
Claimed (same link) a Nick Fury series was in development, which got slapped down by Slash Film immediately
November
Suggested a Hawkeye Disney+ show was being discussed, but was too hesitant about it to say it was in development (yet to be determined)
Claimed Katherine Langford's character was playing the adult daughter of Tony Stark, an idea so preposterous even Charlie balked at it (theoretically still possible)
Predicted that 'Karen' and 'Piper' from The Eternals will be teased in Endgame (yet to be determined)
December - his plethora of vague rumours got him banned from Reddit; he also got scooped by John Campea (of all people) for the date of the Endgame teaser release
2019
January
Steals the idea of a Black Knight appearing in the MCU from a 4chan post (again, no attribution)
Thought the rumour of an R-rated Black Widow was credible
February - Claimed 'Karen' is archaeologist Margo Damien (yet to be determined)

That's where we sit among his many claims. Let's keep in mind all the significant developments he missed (despite supposed 'inside sources'):

• Debunking the fake Black Widow synopsis
• Scoops about the Black Widow cast
• Scoops about The Eternals cast
• Shang-Chi coming to the MCU
• Spoilers for Captain Marvel
• Details about who Emma Fuhrmann is playing

All the above examples come from That Hashtag Show, incidentally. THS' speculation remains hilariously inaccurate, but their scoops are usually good.

Back to Conrad, if you exclude his Eternals scoop, he's had nothing since then--just infrequent correct speculation. The point of this isn't to embarrass Conrad, but to point out that he does not have reliable inside sources--if he did, we wouldn't see him consistently put his foot in his mouth. Given his track record, you have to wonder if whatever source he had no longer exists (or is no longer giving him info). Keep in mind, being wrong repeatedly is not necessarily the end of a career--Umberto has been wrong innumerable times and still runs The Wrap.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)