An awesome pairing in “Avengers: Endgame.”
After this weekend’s monumental success of “Captain Marvel” at the box office, Marvel Studios released a new trailer for “Avengers: Endgame.” The highly anticipated film ties together over a decade of storytelling – more than 20 movies – in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Coming out six weeks before “Endgame” hits theaters, the powerful teaser shows Earth’s mightiest heroes working to undo the damage from Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) devastating Snap from last summer’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” While the Mad Titan himself doesn’t appear in the trailer, there’s a lot we have to talk about – including a new member of the Avengers. Let’s dive right in!
(Warning: Spoilers for “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and Captain Marvel.”)
The trailer starts with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) flashing back to 2008’s “Iron Man,” the film that launched the MCU. Tony is making a recording for his fiancee, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), as he and Nebula (Karen Gillan) desperately try to steer the Guardians of the Galaxy’s ship back to Earth after fleeing Titan. In a voiceover narration, Tony says, “I know I said no more surprises, but I was really hoping to pull off one last one.” The “surprise” could be the Avengers coming together to reverse the Decimation and bring back half the population killed, including their own comrades.
Meanwhile, more OG Avengers are having flashbacks, largely defined by those they’ve lost. Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) thinks about why he joined the Army during World War II (“Captain America: The First Avenger”) and the funeral of his true love, Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), as seen in “Captain America: Civil War.” Cliff Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is haunted by memories of his family on his farm. Their deaths likely fuel his transition into the avenging Ronin. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) thinks about his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and his home world, Asgard, both of whom he lost in “Thor: Ragnarok.”
Throughout the flashbacks, we hear Agent Carter’s narration from “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”: “The world has changed. None of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best we can do is to start over.”
The stakes are high as the trailer remembers the fallen Avengers from the Snap: Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie); T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), as shown through Okoye’s (Danai Gurira) survival; Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), and Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan).
Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), likely just having returned from the Quantum Realm in “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” is distressed as seeing “missing” posters posted on telephone polls not for pets, but for people. It’s unclear yet whether Scott knows the Snap has hit particularly close to home. The Wasp herself, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), and her parents, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfiefer), were dusted in the Decimation.
But in response to Agent Carter: Can you start over by going back? While others may have moved on in the Decimation’s aftermath, the remaining Avengers have not and vow to save their friends. “Even if there’s a small chance, we owe this to everyone who’s not in this room to try,” says Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), who has her characteristic red hair back.
“We will – whatever it takes,” Cap says, and several of the Avengers repeat the new mantra, “whatever it takes.” (We do not hear the Imagine Dragons song, though). We do see Ronin run down an exploding passageway and Black Widow practice shooting a gun. Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) – the last surviving Guardian of the Galaxy – is locked and loaded, teaming up with James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine.
And Captain America is wearing his battle uniform in what looks like the heat of battle, with Ant-Man jumping through pencils (?) in the fiery aftermath. What happened here?!
What we do know is that the remaining Avengers reunite in some spiffy new suits. The trailer shows Cap leading the way, with War Machine, Black Widow, Ronin, Ant-Man – and Tony and Nebula, confirming they make it back to Earth! – in new, white suits with the Avengers’ “A” branded on them.
The suits look very similar to Ant-Man’s. As my intuitive friend Amanda Pernitza wondered on social media, “Are those quantum realm suits?” Is the group going subatomic as part of their rescue and recovery effort? It’s very possible both of the “Ant-Man” movies have been setting us up for just this opportunity. We can only wait and see.
But the team isn’t alone. In the teaser’s post-trailer credits scene (hey, Marvel does this with their movies, too!), a new Avenger joins the fold. She was hinted at in the post-credits scene in “Infinity War,” and her just-released movie has already established her as one of the most powerful superheroes in the MCU. Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, welcome to the team!
Hello, Captain Marvel!
Brie Larson makes her “Endgame” trailer debut, meeting another super-powered figure. Thor seems to be testing Captain Marvel when he calls his hammer to his side. Carol doesn’t even flinch as the powerful tool flies past her.
“I like this one,” Thor says smiling.
So do moviegoers. “Captain Marvel” smashed weekend box office records with $153 million domestically and $455 million worldwide, the highest-ever opening for a female-led film.
Are you even more excited for “Avengers: Endgame” after the new trailer’s release? The 22nd movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe blasts into theaters April 26.
Rebecca Kivak and Joe Baress write about movies for Take 2 blog. Together, they review current flicks and offer their insights into the latest movie news. Rebecca is a copy editor and page designer at The Times-Tribune. She started her career with Times-Shamrock Newspapers in 2005 and has won several professional journalism awards for page design and headline writing. She also covers NASCAR races from Pocono Raceway. Contact: rkivak@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5126; @TTRebeccaKivak
