Unless you've been inhabiting a distant planet, you can't fail to have noticed the new Avengers: Endgame trailer.
The penultimate movie in phase four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Endgame is poised to change everything. Introductions will be made, sacrifices will be undertaken and, no doubt, more than a few emotional surprises will be sprung.
Here are some questions the latest trailer has left us with...
1. What's with Black Widow's hair?
While we await Scarlett Johansson's solo Marvel movie (it's long overdue), her hair arrangement in the Endgame trailer confuses us. At one point when talking to Captain America (Chris Evans), she sports dyed red locks, yet later on at a sharp-shooting range, it appears blonde.
Do Black Widow's follicles perhaps indicate that the long-mooted time travel theory will play a role in the Endgame storyline? Are we in fact looking at her during two different stages – maybe one from immediately after Thanos' (Josh Brolin) destruction, and another in some kind of altered timeline? Either that or she just fancied a change-up.
2. Whose funeral is Captain America attending?
The grayscale flashbacks in the Endgame trailer, which are splashed with flecks of vibrant red, are no doubt visually arresting. They also reinforce the 11 years of history that are weighing upon Endgame – as the culmination of phase three of the MCU, this is the most important movie in the franchise so far.
Yet the individual scenes, comprising Steve Rogers/Captain America, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) also leave us with questions. Namely, whose funeral is Captain America seen attending? The obvious answer would be former love interest Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), if only via the presence of the Union Jack. But with Endgame potentially about to spring plenty of tricksy time-jumping surprises on us, it could be an existing and much-loved member of the Avengers team...
3. How long has Ant-Man been in the Quantum Realm?
The biggest and most pleasant surprise in the first Endgame trailer was the reveal of Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd). He'd somehow managed to extricate himself from the Quantum Realm, in which he'd become trapped at the end of Ant-Man and The Wasp. How he got out is bound to be one of Endgame's most dramatic reveals, but how long has he been in there?
Given that the concept of time in the Quantum Realm is different to what we know, it could be quite lengthy. Judging from all the foliage surrounding Lang in the below shot, we'd imagine quite a few years have gone by to allow things to go to seed.
4. Do the flashbacks indicate a reversal of the timeline?
The trailer's incorporation of scenes from the Iron Man, Captain America and Thor movies are primarily meant to carry a nostalgic charge. After all, we don't know how many, if any, of these beloved characters are set to survive Endgame.
But is there a more implicit meaning here? Is the suggestion that all of these events, which have helped to establish the MCU as we know it, are set to be undone? Will the Time Stone be deployed to defeat the evil Thanos (Josh Brolin), in effect re-setting the clock on the entire series?
5. How do Tony and Nebula arrive back on Earth?
Following the events of Avengers: Infinity War, Tony and Nebula (Karen Gillan) found themselves stranded on Thanos' home planet of Titan. Tony was bereft – he'd just seen his protege Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) become one of Thanos' victims, whereas Nebula was resigned to the evil ways of her adoptive father.
Some questions now arise: how does Tony end up drifting on a spaceship, recording a message for Earth-dwelling love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow)? Is Nebula with him? Is Pepper one of the 50% who survived Thanos' finger-snap? And, most critically, how do Tony and Nebula arrive back on Earth, suited up alongside the remaining Avengers in the climactic shots of the trailer?
We suspect the galaxy-dwelling Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), whose solo movie has just debuted to enormous success, may have a hand in this...
6. Where does Rocket Raccoon get his new suit?
Having watched his loyal friend Groot crumble into dust at the end of Infinity War, there's no doubt that Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) is ready to begin the fight back. And you'd be right: the new Endgame trailer gives us our first proper look at his classic 2008 comic book suit designed by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. He's fighting alongside James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle) and may emerge as the movie's resident bad-ass.
7. What's the significance of the new colour-coded Avengers suits?
It can't have escaped your attention that the suited and booted Avengers are clad in a mixture of grey and red. This matches the eye-catching visual aesthetic of the earlier flashback sequences in the trailer – just a style choice, or a hint at a deeper meaning we're not yet privy to? Perhaps these are suits designed for Quantum Realm travel?
After all, this has long been suggested as one of the possible ways Thanos can be defeated, inverting all notion of time and essentially un-writing his reign of terror. Earlier in the trailer there's a very brief shot of Captain America in what looks like his classic World War II suit from The First Avenger, which may be the strongest indication so far that we're about to go back in time.
Back to the present. With the grey carrying a sombre tone and the red alluding to vibrancy, action and violence, there's no denying the colour scheme sums up the complexities inherent in the Endgame story, and indeed the complexities of the entire MCU saga so far.
8. How do Thor and Ant-Man interact?
Until now, we've been denied a meet and greet between the god of thunder and the shrinking superhero. But the combination of the latter's miniaturisation and the former's mighty hammer is a combo we're desperately keen to see on the big screen. The context remains unclear, but the collision of mighty Thor and the irreverent, quip-happy Scott Lang no doubt promises some welcome comic relief amid an atmosphere of doom and gloom.
9. How does Black Widow track down Hawkeye?
As one of the more grounded members of the Avengers, Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) has much to lose in the wake of Thanos' destruction. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we got a glimpse into his warm family life on a farm, a welcome change of pace from the destructive outings shared by the Avengers.
It's unclear if Barton's dreams of settling down have now been obliterated by Thanos – after all, we don't know if his family is still alive. We get a brief shot of him teaching archery to somebody, seemingly his daughter – or maybe this is Cassie, the grown-up daughter of Scott Lang portrayed by actress Emma Fuhrmann. Is she being schooled as a potential new Avengers superhero?
Of course, maybe it's the destruction of Barton's family that has compelled him to go rogue and adopt his Ronin persona. How former lover Black Widow tracks him down remains to be seen, but his battle in Endgame is surely a personal one.
10. What role does Captain Marvel play?
With hype over Captain Marvel currently at fever pitch, the title character's appearance in the Endgame railer has got everyone talking. Having been summoned by Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) adapted pager at the end of Infinity War, only to be used in the event of a "real emergency", she now takes her place alongside the afflicted Avengers.
Where she's been, and the battles she's fought in the intervening years between Captain Marvel (set in 1995) and Endgame, is unclear at this stage. Given her colossal binary powers, we're also curious as to how she will mesh with her superhero brethren – after all, she singlehandedly saw off an entire Kree armada at the end of her solo movie.
On a somewhat more humorous note, her stoicism when confronted with the mighty Thor and his hammer strikes a welcome note of fun. It also confirms one thing absolute: Captain Marvel is the one to take the MCU in bold and exciting new directions.
Avengers: Endgame hits us on 25th April. What did we miss in the trailer? Let us know @Cineworld.
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