I was just sitting down ready to enjoy a warm and delicious meal with my family when WHAM! No, that wasn’t the sound of a train derailing and crashing into my house killing all inside – it was in fact the sound of a new Endgame trailer arriving on YouTube. So, naturally, I abandoned my family and fled to a dark corner, cradling a glowing phone in my hand and assessing the glimpses of awesomeness Marvel Studios had provided us with.

Some people would watch the trailer and wait for the movie to come out in cinemas, occasionally discussing it but only when it came up in conversation.

But not us. Not me.

Let’s talk about this trailer, and what it could mean for the movie, because despite the limited footage revealed (a lot of this trailer is just parts of other Marvel movies compiled to pad out the runtime and make the whole thing a hundred-times more emotional), there’s a lot to be analysed. Potential Spoilers I guess, although I have no idea how the movie will unfold, so a lot of this will just be manic theorising. Let’s get straight into it.

AH, MEMORIES

So the trailer opens for the first third or so with flashback footage to other MCU movies interspersed with tantalising snippets of new footage. The very first hearkens back to the first Iron Man movie, specifically to the cave escape, which draws parallels with Tony’s presumed situation at the start of Endgame, that being he’s stranded in space (another scenario he must escape from against the odds). We also see a glimpse of his arc reactor, titled with ‘Proof Tony Stark has a heart’, which could allude to his character arc across both that first movie and the MCU in general (gaining more of a heart, conscience and responsibility), but also I feel could foreshadow how he might retire his mantle of Iron Man in the movie now that he’s found his actual ‘heart’, something I feel is reinforced in the next shot of Pepper Potts holding his helmet against her head (taken from Iron Man 3). It’s pretty out there, but it would be a smart little creative touch.

Then we get to the Cap flashback, and we see him prior to Super-Soldier Serum as a scrawny kid with a noble heart just looking to make a difference (much like me). This is juxtaposed by the next shot, from Endgame itself, of Cap frowning, a man who has now lost that hope and sense of righteousness. Someone is speaking over his footage, and for some reason it doesn’t sound to me like Peggy Carter (maybe it’s a new character?), so it remains to be seen who that could be.

Then we get to Hawkeye, and I kid you not, I will shoot myself in the foot if Hawkeye’s family isn’t dead in this movie. There’s a flashback of Hawkeye showing his daughter how to fire arrows (perhaps she could inherit the mantle later down the line), and then we get to the shot from the first trailer of Hawkeye in the rain, expanded upon to show him taking Black Widow’s hand. Now if that doesn’t telegraph dead wife and kids, I don’t know what does.

We cut to Cap holding Peggy’s coffin, and I love how they highlight the red in some of those black and white shots. It makes the footage we’ve seen before punchier, drawing focus to images whilst maintaining a grim feel. That this image queues on ‘start again’ sort of vaguely alludes to the theory of Cap being reunited with Peggy through time travel when you consider the thematic relevance of the image, although that’s probably just me reading into things a bit too much like with the arc reactor.

Cut to Asgard, and Thor with those delightful bleached eyebrows (taken from the first Thor movie), leading into some harrowing images of Avengers turning to dust in Infinity War. We then get the much-memed, “Some people move on…. but not us” line from Cap, and subsequently a confused Scott Lang looking at ‘missing’ posters on a telephone pole, almost as though he’s just returned from the Quantum Realm and is just coming to terms with what’s happened…

NEW FOOTAGE

So we see the Quinjet jetting into a city, although it’s unclear which one. The aesthetic of the shot reminds me of that earlier one of Hawkeye in the rain, so I imagine that’s Black Widow coming to pick up Hawkeye. It cuts to them sharing another emotional moment, which I like, especially considering how little their relationship and dynamic has really been looked into since it was established in The Avengers (the first one). Then the momentum picks up, as we see Hawkeye suddenly running down a distinctly red corridor. The lighting reminds me of later shots of Cap and Ant-Man bouncing off a pencil eraser, so I imagine this could be part of the same action set-piece – maybe the finale of the movie(?). There’s an explosion behind him – it’s unclear what from – but the next shot is probably a misdirect for the root of the explosion, as we see Rocket on Rhodey’s shoulder, smoke behind him (which is awesome).

We get some Avengers staring into the middle distance, and then a shot of Thor, Hammer lit up, perhaps on his way back to the Avengers Headquarters as we see later in the trailer, especially plausible when you consider he doesn’t appear to be in any great rush. Nebula and Hawkeye head into battle, and Nebula in particular seems particularly into it, as though she’s screaming at somebody she hates (possibly her father?). On Hawkeye’s wrist, something glows – perhaps one of the wrist articles which have been teased in set-leaks?

Then we’re greeted by Cap, strapping his shield on with a determined look on his face and wearing his Winter Soldier suit, although he’s been dirtied up considerably. I feel this is midway through a fight scene because of this, and this is the most furious we’ve seen him look in a long time. Perhaps this could be from prior to a scene from Infinity Gauntlet, where Cap delivers a speech and stands up to Thanos alone before the Mad Titan destroys his shield. This is something I desperately want to see happen in Endgame. Interestingly, it appears that the background in this shot has been deliberately blurred out – Marvel are keeping this location a secret. The general lighting and colours are comparable to several locations in Infinity War, such as Knowhere and the Asgardian spaceship, although it’s much more likely that it’s on Thanos’ ship seeing as it has arguably more relevance at this stage in the story.

We get one of my favourite shots in the trailer, Ant-Man bouncing off a pencil eraser, seemingly in the same location, and then a quick glimpse of Tony, before we get to the money shot(s).

NEW SUITS!

I love the new suits, although I’ve seen some backlash to them from a minority of fans online. Most notably however, we see Tony Stark and Nebula back on Earth, meaning that they obviously get out of their isolation in space in one way or another. In the shots of the new costumes, we see Cap leading the way, along with Tony, Nebula, Black Widow, Ant-Man, Rhodey and Hawkeye. We see no sign of Hulk, and no sign of Captain Marvel or Thor, despite all three being revealed as being at the Headquarters on Earth in the trailer. This could just be misdirection. However, my theory is that whilst those in the white suits go to try and reverse the snap, Thor, Danvers and Banner will be heading to Thanos’ farm, trying to kill him before he can prevent their fellow Avengers from cancelling out his action in the previous movie.

THOR MEETS CAPTAIN MARVEL

The final bit of footage is probably the weakest aspect of the trailer, as there feels like there should be a stronger joke. Ultimately, it’s really just Captain Marvel and Thor staring it out. She does the little smirk she’s accustomed to doing, Thor tries to show his power off by calling Stormbreaker – it’s a nice little reference to online debate over who the most powerful Avenger is. That they’re meeting, and there’s already conflict there makes them a perfect pairing for a potential subplot to go and try and kill Thanos, if my theory is correct.

So there you have it folks. Let me know your thoughts on the new trailer in the comments, feel free to read my Captain Marvel Review here, thank you for reading, and until next time, I bid you adieu! 🙂