Marvel has finally released the first trailer for Avengers 4, now officially titled Avengers: Endgame. The film is the fourth and final chapter of the Avengers film franchise and the capstone of the inaugural era of superhero movies set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The trailer shows the aftermath of the Avengers: Infinity War, as we see the heroes that Thanos didn’t vaporize — Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, and Thor, among others — begin to come to terms with what happened when half of all life disappeared from the planet.
The trailer also shows some familiar faces who weren’t part of Infinity War, like Hawkeye.
Notably absent are giant fight scenes or Captain Marvel, the photon-wielding space commander who is expected to make her Avengers debut in Avengers: Endgame and help save the day (Captain Marvel is getting her own movie, but that will be set in the 90s before the events of Endgame and Infinity War). But rest assured, there’s a plan, as Black Widow and Cap tell each other, and the fate of Earth is riding on it.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do if it doesn’t [work],” Cap tells Widow.
Directed by the Russo brothers Avengers: Endgame will see Earth’s Mightiest Heroes come back together (and back from the dust) to fight Thanos once again and, as the movie’s title implies, finish the story that began in Infinity War and the fate of the Avengers. The film will mark the culmination of 11 years of Marvel moviemaking, and portends to be the end for some of Marvel’s flagship actors, including Chris Evans.
The fourth Avengers movie has been a bit of a saga for Marvel
Marvel initially introduced Avengers: Infinity War as a two-part story, with part one coming out in 2018 and part two coming out in 2019. But in 2016, the studio scrapped that plan, dropping part two and condensing Infinity War into just one film. The fourth Avengers movie then remained on its release schedule, but without a title.
When Infinity War came out, it ended with Thanos snapping his fingers and vaporizing half the life in the universe. Then, the post-credits scenes for Infinity War as well as Ant-Man and the Wasp tied in with the snap, teasing the possibility of new heroes like Captain Marvel entering the fray and revealing how Ant-Man survived the snap in the Quantum Realm.
With such an open-ended and bleak ending in addition to some surviving heroes, a comeback for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was never in doubt. Add to that the real-life news that vaporized heroes like Spider-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy have sequels coming up, and there’s no way that the Avengers Thanos vaporized will stay in their dusty states.
And now with the title of Endgame, it’s clear that Avengers 4 was always going to be a continuation of Infinity War.
Avengers: Endgame is scheduled to open in theaters on April 26, 2019.