Avengers: Endgame News

With so much official Avengers: Endgame news to cover I thought it was time for a post devoted to it. What's below includes spoilers for Captain Marvel, so be aware of that if you haven't seen the film yet (my review of it is here).

The Russo's have Tweeted that Endgame is picture locked, meaning the editing is complete. This means that we won't be getting any easter eggs for the Fox IP (something I thought was unlikely anyway), even if Disney completes the purchase later this month. The events of Endgame will likely open the door for the Fox material (I suspect something will occur that will later explain mutants), but explicit references won't be seen.

The hot Reddit post I dismissed previously has suffered catastrophic damage via Captain Marvel: 1) It implies that Fury considers Skrulls enemies, 2) It bought into Samuel Jackson's fake rumour that Carol Danvers can time travel, 3) It stated that Captain Marvel appears in the third act of Endgame, when it's clear from the first post-credit scene that she appears very early (see below). I bring this up because I'm still seeing the theory referenced as possibly authentic (eg).

The Captain Marvel post-credit scene reminds me a lot of the one in Ant-Man leading into Civil War. It clearly occurs early in the film (Black Widow's hair and Cap's beard are our clues--let us recall for future reference just how wrong Jeremy Conrad, his buddy Daniel, Charlie, and others were by insisting Endgame would begin with a multi-year jump from the ending of Infinity War). Four of the Avengers (Cap, Nat, Bruce, and Rhodes) are working on Fury's pager (this scene appears to be connected to the initial Endgame teaser when Bruce is looking at the 'missing' display of Ant-Man, Shuri, and Spider-Man). This means someone has retrieved the pager, but not Ant-Man because Cap no longer has his beard when he shows up (and in terms of story, there's only so much useful equipment you want him to bring--the Quantum Machine is enough). Let me briefly insert a theory: what if Cap's reaction we see in the teaser isn't to Ant-Man's arrival but to Iron Man sending a message? I think it's unlikely, but food for thought. Back to the scene: Captain Marvel appears as the group is trying to get the pager to re-send its signal and what's interesting about her appearance is that it busts the idea that Carol picks up Tony Stark (and Nebula) on her way to Earth--I increasingly suspect that Tony will save himself. It also suggests Carol has likely been digitally scrubbed from some of the scenes we've seen at Avengers HQ in both teasers.

Along with the post-credit scene we have our first authentic Endgame leak as a small amount of footage was shown to Disney shareholders. Scott Ladewig has posted a written description of what was shown (presumably there was no NDA--I haven't seen anyone question its authenticity, so I'm taking it as authentic). What he talks about includes elements that haven't been speculated anywhere (suggesting that other script or trailer leaks we've heard about are either fake or based on early drafts). I've made his comments on Twitter more coherent (Ladewig inexplicably didn't reveal all initially and added subsequent details that add some dialogue):

The Avengers: Endgame scene they showed was at Avengers HQ: Captain Marvel said let's go kill Thanos; Nebula says she knows where he is {the added dialogue is attached to this}; Rocket says [the] biggest energy surge ever seen on Earth [was] when [Thanos] used the glove, but [the energy surge] was seen again on another planet shortly [thereafter]. So that's where Thanos is retiring to [I'm not sure if this is Ladewig's conclusion or Rocket's]. [There is a] quick exchange between Captain America, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, Rhodes, and Captain Marvel. Bruce asks what guarantee they have [that] this [fight] ends differently. Captain Marvel says they have her this time. Rhodes asks where she was because they could have used her before. Carol says a lot of other planets out there need help and they don't have [the] Avengers [to help them] like Earth has. Thor gets up from sitting quietly in [the] back, walks up to Captain Marvel, summons his axe--which whizzes right past Captain Marvel (she doesn't flinch)--into his hand and he says, "I like this one." Cut to [the] Milano [Ladewig means the Benatar], [everyone is] buckled in, Captain Marvel in [the] copilot seat. Rocket asks who hasn't been to space [before and] Cap, Rhodes, and Natasha raise [their] hands--Rocket warns them not to puke in his ship and off they go. [There's a] cool reflection of stars and space stuff on Cap's eye as we zoom in on him and they warp out of there.

There's no reason not to think that this happens in the first act of the film (the conversation likely occurs right after Captain Marvel appears, as seen in the above post-credit scene). It gives us the initial plot point of undoing the Snap with a Snap of their own (the idea surely being to kill Thanos, take the glove, and undo what was done). I very much doubt this is the actual solution of the plot, even if it is part of the solution from the source material--the Russo's have never felt compelled to simply follow the comics (eg Civil War). I think the bravado from Carol Danvers is likely to be thrown back in her face--that an initial attack on Thanos will fail--otherwise, what's the point of the time travel we know is happening? It's possible that the three missing characters in this description (Iron Man, Ant-Man, and Hawkeye) go back in time via the Quantum Realm while the others go into space, either as a backup plan or to assist the assault (perhaps stealing Stones in the past to weaken Thanos), but my guess is that this very simple idea of a frontal assault cannot work without other elements beyond the addition of one character. There's even the small possibility that the group attacks Thanos and some are killed, requiring Tony to use the Quantum Realm to undo the events of Infinity War (either would fit my theory about the film--a revised version of which is forthcoming).

I'd guess the reason this specific scene was shown to shareholders was to explain where Carol has been all these years and what the Avengers are doing initially. It's also possible that the shareholders were shown two scenes artificially stitched together that are separate events--the discussion to attack Thanos and then the group going into space--but I doubt it.

A final note is that we see Nebula and the Benatar, but not Tony Stark. It's possible Tony is there and the scene was cut to leave his fate ambiguous after the teaser, but there remains the very faint possibility he does die in space (extremely unlikely, but it can't be completely discounted). There's also the chance (mentioned above) that he's off on a different mission.

I came across an odd theory that Cap will be left back in time during Endgame; the logic (such as it is) proclaims that because Cap has died and been brought back repeatedly in the comics, the MCU would rather send him back in time so that they can make prequels, allowing Falcon or Bucky to become the modern Cap. I'm struggling to find any logic to this--I suppose giving Cap a happily-ever-after with Peggy Carter would be a nice send off, but doing so would get us into alternate timelines in the MCU and there's no suggestion that Marvel wants to go there. The other issue is how to jive a new Cap when both candidates are about to hit Disney+ as a duo--it just doesn't make much sense (particularly as the motivation for it is comic-based as opposed to MCU-based).

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)