Marvel News

We had a new short trailer that dropped along with tickets for Endgame. As with all the other trailers it added only a small amount of information (there's even dialogue clipped in from Age of Ultron, similar to the Winter Soldier dialogue heard in the previous trailer). That said, I think it answered/confirmed some story elements:

• An early attack on Thanos (link below), since we only have War Machine, Cap, Nat, Rocket, Carol, Nebula, and Thor shown on the Benatar (we know this is early because Nat has short blond hair)--this is almost certainly connected to the footage shown at the Disney shareholder meeting
• Tony and Nebula either rescue themselves or do so via Pepper (given the shot of the two in the field outside Avengers HQ); the odds are that Tony does it to mimic his journey in the first Iron Man (cf the Russo's talking about revisiting the earlier films)
• The reaction shot on the HQ lawn from the Superbowl teaser is related to Tony and Nebula's arrival back home (and that the missing person in the reaction shot is Pepper); it's also clear Cap's "Is this an old message?" is related to Tony's return, not Ant-Man's arrival
• Scott Lang's arrival is after the failed attack on Thanos and the return of Tony (given the shareholder scene and the group shown on the Benatar connected to it)
• Further confirmation of an attack on Avengers HQ by Thanos (as seen in toy sets and in the previous trailer)--this is clearly after the team goes after him in the Benatar earlier in the film
• Charlie has a theory that the 'cabin' we saw Thor in during the Superbowl trailer is the one Thanos has on Titan II and this seems plausible--Screen Crush believes they find his farm abandoned, with no idea where he is

I suspect that the reason Banner isn't part of that initial attack from the Benatar (assuming he isn't) is because the Hulk still won't come out. What I'm not clear on is why Tony isn't there--perhaps he's fulfilling his promise to Pepper about hanging up the suit in Infinity War.

Incidentally, debunked theories are still floating about in popular media, as Looper is parroting Conrad's five-year time jump theory, among others.

The Updated Plot

The trailers have collectively given us the spine of the first act and possibly the second. I've put it in point form:

• Captain Marvel arrives near the beginning of the film (we know because Steve still has his beard)--I mentioned long ago that narratively this had to be the case, otherwise there was no point in Fury paging her so dramatically at the end of Infinity War
• Tony and Nebula arrive with the Benatar (the beard is shaved, but Nat's hair is still short & blond); this makes a lot of sense since the film is meant to focus on Tony and Steve's relationship
• The group, minus Tony and Banner (and Ant-Man and Hawkeye, see below), try to take the fight to Thanos--they find Titan II abandoned (see below)
• Ant-Man arrives with the Quantum Machine (we know he comes next because he's involved in the HQ attack)
• Thanos attacks Avengers HQ and destroys it, presumably the Benatar, and possibly the Quantum Machine as well (the latter two are a guess)--Screen Crush believes Thor dies in the attack as Thanos wants to prevent them from using the Bifrost, but this runs against the idea that the original Avengers are the ones to solve the problem of Thanos
• Time passes--a year or so (this is where Nat gets the longer hair; note that there are no shots of her having an intermediate length, it's just short and blond and then longer and red)--in which the group tries and fails to deal with their situation
• Hawkeye is collected by Nat (this is later given her hair); presumably the impetus is that Tony has found a way to either rebuild the Quantum Machine or to use it

I'm least sure about when Hawkeye arrives in the sequence--it could be before the HQ attack, but if it is I'm unsure why he's found earlier unless there's a plan being attempted. Beyond that point we have nothing coherent. There are no scenes of Carol Danvers or Thor beyond this point, and minimal footage of anything (I believe the theory that the scene of Steve and Tony shaking hands is actually during the time travel back to 2012 New York, with the former's Winter Soldier outfit CGI'd onto the era uniform he's actually wearing--but believing that doesn't really inform the plot).

Marvel has done a great job at not spoiling the film. Despite the various set and toy leaks, it's still not clear how the film will end--what exactly they are doing in the past and how that will help.

Casting continues for Black Widow. Variety is reporting Rachel Weisz is in talks to join the cast, while THR says Hellboy's David Harbour has signed on. Variety responsibly reminds us:

It’s unclear whether Black Widow will be an origin tale or set after Avengers: Endgame.

I bring this up because we've been dealing with fan sites endlessly claiming the film will be a prequel since its announcement (from the unreliable Jeremy Conrad to THS). Assuming the THS cast list is correct, I'd guess both actors are in line for villain roles given their relative ages (49 and 44), although Marvel could have changed their initial ideas for the age of the characters (particularly given that the Ned Benson re-write occurred after the cast list leaked). Speaking of which, the Florence Pugh role might be the new character Benson added in his re-write.

Chris Evans gave a lengthy review to THR (from early February, but only published recently), where he says that when he was hired Feige outlined the entire arc for Cap through his trilogy of films. This is a good indication about how the MCU plans their arcs early (unlike the very hodgepodge approach the DCEU has fallen into).

[W]e've always been huge fans of Wolverine. We certainly haven't been thinking about if and when and how we would ever go there, but just off the top of my head, that's a character we've always been passionate about.

That's what Anthony Russo told Fandango while doing press for Endgame. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if the directors who've made in excess of 3.915 billion over three movies (and are about to add a couple more billion with Endgame) want something, they can punch their ticket. Whether it's a solo Wolverine film (I'd love to see a proper Weapon X program and Alpha Flight), or a straight-up X-Men project, there's no way to know, but I'd love to see the Russo's tackle the character.

It's been rumoured since November that Hercules will be one of the leads in The Eternals. Inexplicably, with no new information, Conrad is running this rumour now. I think the reason he's floating it is to try and cash in on the excitement about the news of Angelina Jolie's casting, but it's pretty embarrassing to float a four-month old rumour as 'news.'

Speaking of rumours, one of the strangest comes from Deadline, who, in the midst of an article looking at potential R-rated MCU characters headed to the big screen, included Deathlok (who has been on ABC's Agents of SHIELD for quite some time). All Geoff Boucher (the writer) says is "there's been rumours that Marvel Studios may use the character soon." Nothing is cited, but this story has been picked up by most of the usual sources. I would be very surprised to see the character in the MCU--while I think Marvel's hesitation in duplicating characters from TV is less now than it was (eg the Inhumans discussion we learned of in December), this is still a D-grade character with little to no name recognition. His only chance to appear would be at the behest of a particular writer or director rather than from Feige himself.

It's been clear since Aquaman that the DCEU is in the midst of a reboot of sorts and I have to applaud the open reboot of Suicide Squad we're getting from James Gunn. It's the kind of thing I think studios should be less afraid of. When a film fails it's on the studio and they need to swallow their pride, recognize that the IP isn't the problem, and fix their approach.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)