{"id":4602,"date":"2019-04-24T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T16:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/?p=4602"},"modified":"2019-04-25T11:49:43","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T15:49:43","slug":"all-of-our-theories-for-avengers-endgame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/?p=4602","title":{"rendered":"All of Our Theories for ‘Avengers: Endgame’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back before <\/span>Avengers: Infinity War <\/span><\/i>hit theaters, we <\/span>wrote down all of our theories<\/span><\/a> about what might happen in the movie. Our predictions were based on the previous films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, our knowledge of the comics, our understanding of storytelling conventions, and, let\u2019s face it, a dash of wishful thinking. Ultimately, while we definitely weren\u2019t right in all of our predictions, we still did pretty well, with many of our theories proving to be<\/span> at least partially correct<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

So of course, we\u2019re doing it again for <\/span>Avengers: Endgame<\/span><\/i>, the twenty-second film in the MCU and the culmination of eleven years of cinematic storytelling. <\/span><\/p>\n

As with our <\/span>Infinity War <\/span><\/i>predictions, our theories are based on official trailers and promotional material, official interviews with the cast and production team, social media posts by members of the cast and the directors, our familiarity with the comics, and the boundless limits of our own imaginations.<\/span><\/p>\n

They are <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> based on spoiler sites, spoiler photos, rumors, unofficial film footage, set leaks, or anything else that has not been officially released by the film\u2019s cast, directors, producers, or marketing team. We are all about combing every inch of the promotional campaign for details, but try to actively avoid digging up details that the people who made the film don\u2019t want us to have.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the record, these are just our best guesses, and may be completely wrong \u2013 but they could also contain massive spoilers, so proceed at your own risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where we are in the story<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

Following <\/span>Infinity War<\/span><\/i>, Lauren <\/span>wrote a post<\/span><\/a> on how the MCU as a whole (and the individual films within it) seems to be following a <\/span>Shakespearean<\/span> five-act storytelling structure<\/span><\/a>, with <\/span>Infinity War <\/span><\/i>functioning as the \u2018Dark Night of the Soul\u2019 for the franchise. As she explained it then, this is a storytelling \u2018beat,\u2019 or narrative landmark, in which \u201cthe protagonists have lost everything, the antagonist appears to have won, and all hope feels lost.\u201d It comes at the end of the fourth act, setting up the fifth act, or Resolution, \u201cin which ultimate lessons are learned, seemingly insurmountable obstacles are overcome, and the characters, galvanized by their trials, emerge permanently changed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Broadly speaking, that\u2019s what we expect from <\/span>Avengers: Endgame<\/span><\/i>. While the film should obviously have its own internal narrative arc, the movie as a whole will likely serve as the Resolution for the first three phases of the MCU, completing the character journeys of the six original Avengers and wrapping up the story for that particular team in a satisfying and definitive way (while still, of course, leaving the door open for a new team to take their place). <\/span><\/p>\n

Scott Lang\/Ant-Man<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Paul Rudd as Scott Lang. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

It may seem a little weird to kick off our theories post with a character who wasn\u2019t even in <\/span>Infinity War<\/span><\/i>, but we believe that despite his absence from the first movie, Scott is going to be pretty crucial to the events of the second one. As you know if you watched <\/span>Ant-Man and the Wasp<\/span><\/i> (which you really should, if you haven\u2019t), it\u2019s revealed during the end credits that the whole film takes place during the events of <\/span>Infinity War<\/span><\/i>. At the end of the film, Scott goes into the Quantum Realm to harvest quantum energy while Hope, Hank, and Janet monitor him from the outside, preparing to bring him back out — but before they can, the Snap occurs, and all three of them are turned to dust, leaving Scott stranded inside the Quantum Realm. <\/span><\/p>\n

How is this relevant to <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>? Well, before Scott enters the Quantum Realm, Janet warns him not to \u201cget sucked into a time vortex.\u201d While she never gets a chance to elaborate on what exactly a \u201ctime vortex\u201d is, we suspect that\u2019ll become a huge plot point in <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>, once Scott gets out of the Quantum Realm, and will likely be the piece of information that spurs the Avengers out of grief and back into action. <\/span><\/p>\n

As for how he gets out of the Quantum Realm\u2026 well, we\u2019re not entirely sure, but we\u2019ve come up with at least one theory we like. The trailers indicate a significant time jump, and a teenage version of Scott\u2019s daughter, Cassie, is included in the cast list, so we think it would be great if Cassie was the one to pull him out. No matter how Scott manages to escape, though, we\u2019re pretty certain he\u2019s stuck in there for a good long while — think years, not months. The first trailer seems to imply that he shows up at Avengers headquarters shortly after the Snap, but we\u2019re pretty sure these trailers are intentionally cut to throw us off the scent, so we\u2019re taking nothing at face value. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Doctor Strange<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cUh, didn\u2019t Doctor Strange <\/span>die<\/span><\/i>? What on earth is he doing in this theories post?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Great question, gentle reader! While we realize that Doctor Strange is now as dusty as a <\/span>Buffy the Vampire Slayer <\/span><\/i>vampire, we think he may still have a big role to play in <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>. You see, before Tony & co. initiated their ill-fated final plan in <\/span>Infinity War<\/span><\/i>, Strange used the Time Stone to browse through 14,000,605 possible timelines, and came away having found only one in which the good guys win. <\/span><\/p>\n

Later, after he\u2019s offered up the Time Stone to Thanos and a horrified Tony Stark asks, \u201cWhy would you do that?\u201d Strange replies, \u201cWe\u2019re in the endgame now.\u201d Then, after the Avengers lose their battle on Earth, Strange\u2019s last words are, \u201cThere was no other way.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The thing to keep in mind throughout <\/span>all <\/span><\/i>of this is that everything that Strange does after peering into the future is orchestrated specifically to navigate to that solitary scenario where they win. That includes attempting to pry the Infinity Gauntlet off of Thanos\u2019 hand, projecting a hundred different versions of himself in an effort to bind Thanos with magic, and, yes, giving up the Time Stone. <\/span><\/p>\n

Strange knows he\u2019s going to die. And he knows that after he\u2019s dead, everything still has to happen <\/span>just so <\/span><\/i>in order for the Avengers to win. So if you\u2019re a wizard who\u2019s about to give up his Time Stone, knows he\u2019s going to die, knows he has to somehow nudge the events following his death onto a very specific, very narrow path, and knows how to astral project\u2026 what do you do? <\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, what do you do during the two minutes you\u2019re not on screen before giving up the Time Stone, when no one is paying any attention to you? <\/span><\/p>\n

You leave some instructions behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our theory is that while Thanos was busy skewering Tony like a chrome-plated kabob, Strange used the Time Stone one last time in order to stretch out those two minutes and leave some important pieces of information with the one person who wouldn\u2019t question Strange\u2019s astral-projected form showing up unannounced to infodump about the future: Wong. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wong has been curiously absent from the <\/span>Endgame <\/span><\/i>trailers, and we suspect it\u2019s because his scenes are super spoilery. If we\u2019re right, Wong is in possession of some vital pieces of the puzzle, but can only parcel them out at very specific times in order for the timeline to remain on its one-in-fourteen-million path. We know from <\/span>Doctor Strange <\/span><\/i>that Sorcerers can stretch out a single moment in order to have a whole rambling conversation, but given Strange\u2019s exacting personality, we expect he gave Wong only what he absolutely needed to keep the Avengers on track, and didn\u2019t muddy the waters with pesky things like nuance. So although Wong likely has some game-changing pieces of knowledge, he may not actually know what they <\/span>mean <\/span><\/i>until later on in the story. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever nuggets of knowledge Strange left behind is anyone\u2019s guess — perhaps he told Wong about Scott stuck in the Quantum Realm (sidebar: we suspect one of the reasons Strange played along with so many failed attempts to get the Gauntlet in the first place was precisely because he wanted to allow Scott enough time to enter the Quantum Realm, although we\u2019re not convinced we\u2019ll ever get explicit confirmation of that), or about the importance of Carol Danvers, or about how to get everyone out of the Soul Stone — but remember that just because the Avengers are \u201cin the endgame now\u201d doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t seem to lose before they ultimately win. <\/span><\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s the plan?<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Karen Gillan, and Paul Rudd in Avengers: Endgame<\/em>. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

From the trailers, it looks like the first thing the surviving Earth-bound Avengers are going to try is to use the <\/span>Guardians\u2019 ship<\/span><\/a> (which means that Tony and Nebula manage to make it all the way back to Earth, somehow) to seek out Thanos and try to <\/span>force <\/span><\/i>him to undo the Snap, bringing back their friends from the dead. If this plan sounds desperate and doomed, that\u2019s because we\u2019re pretty sure it is. Not just because their numbers have been reduced by half, or because they have absolutely zero leverage over Thanos, but because there\u2019s no way, in a three-hour movie, that the first plan actually <\/span>works.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

That shot in the trailer of Tony, Steve, and Thor walking side by side to confront Thanos? We\u2019re almost positive it ends in defeat and disappointment, and takes place pretty early into the movie. They\u2019ve tried punching Thanos into submission, and it failed abysmally. Trying it again isn\u2019t going to improve matters. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever the \u201cendgame\u201d is that Strange foresaw, we doubt it\u2019s going to involve overpowering Thanos with brute strength. The Avengers may be physically imposing, but we expect <\/span>Endgame <\/span><\/i>to be much more of a chess match than a brawl, and for the ultimate victory to be one of intelligence, sacrifice, and love rather than might. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Time travel?<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Scarlett Johansson, Karen Gillan, and Robert Downey Jr. in Avengers: Endgame<\/em>. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

While we do think that time travel is going to factor into the events of <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>, we do <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> subscribe to the theory that the Avengers will actually be able to use time travel to completely undo the events of <\/span>Infinity War. <\/span><\/i>No, we don\u2019t think the characters who died in the Snap are staying dead, but we also don\u2019t think it makes sense to set a precedent of one movie being able to completely negate the development of a previous movie. That would significantly lower the stakes for every MCU movie going forward, and we don\u2019t see Marvel falling into that trap. So no matter what happens in <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Infinity War <\/span><\/i>still needs to have lasting consequences. <\/span><\/p>\n

That said, we won\u2019t rule out that the Avengers may <\/span>try <\/span><\/i>to use time travel to make it so the Snap never happened. We just don\u2019t think they\u2019ll succeed. If they do attempt to mulligan the Battle of Wakanda, we doubt that\u2019ll be their only time travel destination, as we also expect that at least the original six Avengers will head back to the Battle of New York. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As for how the time travel will happen, there\u2019s a shot in the trailer of most of the surviving characters walking through a hangar in matching white suits. Given the state of the world after <\/span>Infinity War<\/span><\/i>, why spend valuable time and resources constructing shiny new suits for the entire team, unless they serve some sort of important purpose like, say\u2026 entering the Quantum Realm? It doesn\u2019t make sense that they\u2019d be for space travel; characters have traveled into space plenty in the MCU without needing actual space suits. Plus that doesn\u2019t account for a character like Nebula, who is a cyborg, needing to wear a suit. But if they\u2019re entering the Quantum Realm, they\u2019d all need special suits, which we\u2019re guessing Tony reverse-engineered (obviously, with a few Starkian improvements) from the Pymtech in Scott\u2019s suit. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Avengers<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo in The Avengers. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

While <\/span>Endgame <\/span><\/i>needs to work as a send-off for several original Avengers whose contracts are up, most notably Robert Downey Jr.\u2019s Tony Stark and Chris Evans\u2019 Steve Rogers, it also needs to function as a farewell to the original team who first assembled in 2012\u2019s <\/span>The Avengers<\/span><\/i>. Obviously, the individual characters will get their own arcs wrapped up, but the team has been a character in its own right, with its own arc. <\/span><\/p>\n

In her book <\/span>Creating Character Arcs, <\/span><\/i>K.M. Weiland talks about \u201c<\/span>The Lie the Character Believes<\/span><\/a>.\u201d This is a misconception the character holds about themselves that keep them from being able to achieve their goal. Victory can only be achieved when the character is able to overcome this Lie and embrace a deeper truth. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each of the Avengers has been dealing with their own Lie since their first introduction into the MCU, all of which will need to be addressed and resolved before their final exit, but it makes sense that the Avengers as a whole would also have a Lie that must be dealt with before they can win. We believe that The Lie the Team Believes is simple: They believe that their extraordinary abilities are what makes them heroes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Back in 2012, Nick Fury <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that the Avengers were formed \u201cto bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles we never could.” Both the audience and the characters themselves have always assumed that what makes them \u201cremarkable\u201d are their abilities, but note that Fury never actually mentioned powers. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Avengers have been working together on and off for nearly a decade now, and their relationships have definitely evolved and deepened during that time, but each of them still believes that the most important thing they bring to the table is a particular skill set. We predict that in <\/span>Endgame, <\/span><\/i>the core group of Avengers will need to realize that they are remarkable not because of what they can do, but because of who they are. Their strength is not necessarily found in powers and skills, but in each other. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tony Stark\/Iron Man<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

It all started with Tony, so it\u2019s only fitting that he\u2019ll play a major role in how it all ends. While there has been rampant speculation that the events of <\/span>Endgame <\/span><\/i>will culminate in Tony\u2019s death, we are pretty sure that after completing this final mission, he\u2019s going to choose to walk away from the Avengers to start a family with Pepper (who we\u2019re <\/span>preeeetty <\/span><\/i>sure will be pregnant by the end of the movie, if she isn\u2019t already). <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, right now Tony is adrift in space, and if the first trailer is to be believed, running on fumes while still millions of miles away from Earth. However, the trailers also seem to indicate that, against all odds, he somehow makes it back alive. This one honestly has us stumped; we haven\u2019t been able to come up with a solid theory for how he and Nebula make it back before Tony\u2019s life support runs out. We\u2019ve discussed Carol giving them a tow, Valkyrie scooping them up, and a team from Earth going to pick them up, but none of those theories fully gel with what we already know — they either seem too coincidental or too logistically prohibitive to feel plausible. So on this front, Marvel is going to have to surprise us. <\/span><\/p>\n

Once he\u2019s reunited with the rest of the Avengers, though, we expect Tony to be the one who reverse engineers the Quantum Realm suits from Scott\u2019s Ant-Man suit (preferably with a built-in \u201creturn\u201d button, so that getting stuck in the Quantum Realm for years is no longer a possibility). He\u2019s also sure to be one of the masterminds of the ultimate plan, which will almost definitely involve him and Steve not only working together, but trusting one another again, mending the rift between them that started in <\/span>Captain America: Civil War<\/span><\/i>. We don\u2019t know how the Avengers are going to manage to beat Thanos, but we\u2019re positive it has to be as one united team, not a bunch of splintered groups. <\/span><\/p>\n

After the dust has settled, we think we\u2019ll see Tony and Pepper finally getting married, and then Tony walking away from both the Avengers and Stark Industries to live a quiet life off the grid with his family. Tony has always been living under the shadow of Howard Stark\u2019s legacy, so we can think of no more fitting ending for him than to decide to trust someone else with saving the world, and for him to focus on being the best husband and father he can be. <\/span><\/p>\n

Steve Rogers\/Captain America<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Chris Evans as Steve Rogers. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

Of all the original six, Steve\u2019s arc is the one that has been the most visible throughout the <\/span>Avengers<\/span><\/i> movies. Back in 2012, <\/span>Avengers<\/span><\/i> picked up practically where <\/span>Captain America: The First Avenger<\/span><\/i> left off, with Steve catapulted decades into the future and unsure of his place in this new century. Ever the soldier, he eventually found a new version of home with his team, stepping up to lead the Avengers at the end of <\/span>Age of Ultron<\/span><\/i>, but he\u2019s always remained slightly out of time. <\/span><\/p>\n

Steve\u2019s arc began with self-sacrifice; he flew his plane (and the Tesseract) into the sea to save humanity, but even before he got his powers, his selflessness was one of his defining characteristics. Remember the time a scrawny pre-serum Steve threw himself on what he thought was a live grenade in order to save a bunch of guys he didn\u2019t even <\/span>like<\/span><\/i>? Steve Rogers had a heroic spirit long before his body caught up, and we believe that inclination to throw himself into harm\u2019s way for the good of others will be on full display in <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Infinity War<\/span><\/i> reintroduced Red Skull as the guardian of the Soul Stone. We firmly believe that this was a deliberate choice, meant to call back to the self-sacrificial themes of <\/span>Captain America: The First Avenger<\/span><\/i> (especially since bringing back Red Skull is a <\/span>weird <\/span><\/i>choice when you can\u2019t even get Hugo Weaving to return). <\/span><\/p>\n

In the comics, the souls of those who were snapped away by Thanos were contained in essentially a \u201cSoul Stone dimension,\u201d which meant they could still ultimately be saved. We\u2019re pretty sure that the Avengers will somehow uncover this piece of information, and will find themselves facing the same sacrificial requirement that caused Thanos to murder Gamora. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, we are all three firm believers that Thanos\u2019s sacrifice of Gamora in <\/span>Infinity War<\/span><\/i> was a twisted bare-minimum fulfillment of what the Soul Stone required (none of us believe that Thanos truly understands love or even Gamora; it\u2019s telling that he only ever pictures her as the child that trusted him, and not as the adult woman who fought him), and that it is highly likely that his forced claim upon the Soul Stone only gave him a fraction of the power that a true, loving sacrifice would unlock. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is where Steve\u2019s self-sacrificial nature comes in. This is the character who tried every trick in the book to get into the army so he could fight against an oppressive tyrant, who ventured alone into enemy territory to save soldiers that everyone else had already given up for dead, and who decided to go down with a crashing helicarrier to prevent a deadly assassin from carrying out a terrorist act. Throughout <\/span>Infinity War,<\/span><\/i> there are numerous conversations about whether the sacrifice of a single person is an acceptable price to pay for the safety of many. We are convinced that this all leads to Steve making the ultimate decision to sacrifice himself to get everyone out of the Soul Stone, and that his sacrifice, given freely and lovingly, will unlock the Soul Stone\u2019s full potential, revealing far more power than Thanos was ever able to wield.<\/span><\/p>\n

We also believe that, once he has entered the Soul Stone, he will somehow reunite with Peggy Carter, and finally get his happily ever after. No matter how long Steve has been out of the ice, he\u2019s always loved Peggy, even after she died. It\u2019s evident in the way that he carries her photo as a talisman, in the way he sat by her bedside as her health deteriorated, and in the way that he never really seemed interested in moving on from her, no matter how many valiant attempts Natasha made to set him up on dates. We can\u2019t picture a more satisfying ending for him than finally meeting her for that date they planned all those years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thor<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

Thor\u2019s entire story arc throughout the course of the MCU has revolved around his becoming the man he needs to be, in order to be an effective leader for Asgard — only to have it all stripped away. We have watched him become worthy to wield Mjolnir, and then worthy to take up his father\u2019s mantle, and we have even watched him shrug away the need to for outside validation of his strength or his abilities altogether, seeing him unlock his Thunder God powers and craft his own bifrost-summoning axe. But we have also watched him get stripped of everything worth fighting for, piece by piece, forced to stand by helplessly as Thanos destroyed his people, his best friend, and his brother. <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re pretty convinced that by the end of <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>, Thor will be king of a new version of Asgard, finally embracing the destiny he\u2019s been chasing for so long. While we aren\u2019t sure just how much of Thanos\u2019s destruction will be undone, we believe Asgard will be either restored, relocated, or salvaged in some meaningful way, and that those Asgardians who survived the Snap (or are restored by whatever the Avengers manage to pull off) will have a place to go. We also believe that this time, Thor will fully commit to ruling Asgard, and will retire from the Avengers in order to focus on building a safe and vibrant home for his people.<\/span><\/p>\n

And while it\u2019s pretty unlikely, given that we haven\u2019t seen much of Jaimie Alexander in the MCU for a long time, Teija at least is still holding out an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny glimmer of hope that when all is said and done, Lady Sif might make one last appearance to rule beside him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Natasha Romanoff\/Black Widow<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

Natasha has been all over the trailers, and it\u2019s honestly her hair that\u2019s provided us with the most clues as to how much time is going to pass during the course of <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>. We first see her wearing the sporty platinum bob she was rocking in <\/span>Avengers: Infinity War, <\/span><\/i>but as more trailers have dropped we\u2019ve seen her hair grow longer and eventually return to its natural shade of red, albeit with blonde ends. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, as anyone who has suffered the pain of growing out a bob knows all too well, growing your hair out is not an easy process. In fact, it can take years to get to the point where it\u2019s long enough to French braid, which means that the movie is likely to span a good five or six years, with some jumps in time moving us back and forth.<\/span><\/p>\n

As to what Nat\u2019s actually up to in the movie? We don\u2019t have a lot of theories on that beyond the obvious, that she\u2019s the one who tracks down Clint and brings him back to help take down Thanos once and for all. That\u2019s not to say that Natasha\u2019s not important, but just that her role in this movie is not as clear as the others.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clint Barton\/Hawkeye<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

Clint\u2019s taking up the Ronin mantle in <\/span>Endgame <\/span><\/i>seems to indicate that he\u2019ll be the Avenger who has lost the most. In the comics, Clint first took on the guise of Ronin during the aftermath of <\/span>Civil War<\/span><\/i>; however, in <\/span>Endgame,<\/span><\/i> we think it will be witnessing his family get Snapped away that pushes the archer to his breaking point.<\/span><\/p>\n

We all think that Clint has started giving archery lessons as a way to keep busy in his post-Avengers retirement, but the scene from the trailer where we see him standing next to a young girl holding a bow has us divided. We all think that the figures in the background are his wife and kids, but Teija and Sarah firmly believe that the young girl we see him training is the daughter we first met in <\/span>Age of Ultron<\/span><\/i>, while Lauren suspects that she\u2019s simply a student (and is not ruling out the possibility that she\u2019s a young Kate Bishop), since her age doesn\u2019t seem to match up with the pint-sized actress we saw in <\/span>Ultron<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, we are all in agreement that this scene probably ends with Clint being forced to watch his entire family fade into dust while he stands by, utterly helpless. Which, coincidentally, is the moment we think he\u2019ll start down his path of revenge that eventually leads him to take on the Ronin persona. <\/span><\/p>\n

What we\u2019d really love to see here is Clint picking up a few strays along the way, possibly even taking care of Cassie Lang after her mom and step-dad are dusted, and potentially finding a new protegee in the form of Kate Bishop. And with the <\/span>news of a new Hawkeye show launching on Disney+<\/span><\/a>, there\u2019s an even better chance that we\u2019ll see Kate at least make a cameo appearance in <\/span>Endgame <\/span><\/i>to set the stage for the show.<\/span><\/p>\n

Carol Danvers\/Captain Marvel (and Nick Fury)<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Brie Larson as Carol Danvers. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

After seeing Carol give Nick Fury the souped-up Kree pager in <\/span>Captain Marvel, <\/span><\/i>there\u2019s been one question on everyone\u2019s minds: Why on earth did he wait <\/span>twenty-five years <\/span><\/i>to call for help? We think that this is where time travel will have a significant impact on the events of the movie. We\u2019ve established that we don\u2019t think it\u2019s wise for our heroes to be able to completely undo the events of <\/span>Infinity War<\/span><\/i>, which means that the time travel rules they\u2019ll be working with in <\/span>Endgame <\/span><\/i>will most likely state that what\u2019s already happened has to happen. Which means that no matter what, Carol can\u2019t show up until after the Snap.<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing that Nick Fury had quite the ace up his sleeve with Carol Danvers, it\u2019s surprising that he didn\u2019t call her in when Loki first appeared on Earth and the Chitauri poured out of a portal over Manhattan. We think that the reason Fury didn\u2019t call her in, is because he was given explicit instructions <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> to use the pager at any point during the events of <\/span>Avengers<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Captain America: The Winter Soldier<\/span><\/i>, or <\/span>Avengers: Age of Ultron<\/span><\/i> — by one of the time-traveling Avengers. They may not be able to change the past, but they <\/span>can<\/span><\/i> ensure that all the pieces are placed according to Strange\u2019s instructions by telling Fury precisely when and where he needs to activate the pager in order to finally call Carol back.<\/span><\/p>\n

This would explain why, after 25 years of not using it even in the most dire of circumstances, Fury doesn\u2019t hesitate to go for the pager as soon as he sees people begin to disappear. It would also explain why, as he begins to turn to dust, his reaction doesn\u2019t seem to be one of fear or even confusion, but annoyance. He\u2019s known all along that this was coming; he just was holding out a shred of hope that maybe the Avengers were wrong and he actually <\/span>did <\/span><\/i>survive the Snap. Sorry, Fury. <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, this begs the question, what\u2019s the big deal about Carol? Sure, she can blast photons from her hands and fly and punch really hard, but she\u2019s hardly the only one on the team with that particular skill set. So what does she bring to the table that might actually make a difference?<\/span><\/p>\n

We believe it boils down to how she got her powers in the first place — from the Tesseract, a.k.a. the Space Stone. The MCU has had several characters who were powered by or could wield Infinity Stones — Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, Vision, Doctor Strange, Peter Quill — but they\u2019re all dead now. The only one left is Captain Marvel, and we believe that detail is going to be crucial. Maybe she\u2019s the only one who can destroy the Stones, maybe she\u2019s got some sort of internal link to the Stones, or maybe it\u2019s some other Stone-related possibility we haven\u2019t considered, but no matter what role Carol Danvers plays in <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>, we\u2019re pretty sure it will come back to the Stones. <\/span><\/p>\n

Just, don\u2019t ask us what Carol\u2019s been up to since the mid-\u201890s. We honestly have no idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Young Avengers<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Abby Ryder Fortson and Paul Rudd as Cassie and Scott Lang. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

Avengers: Endgame<\/span><\/i> not only has to provide a successful conclusion to the first ten years of the MCU, but also lay the groundwork for what the next ten years will look like. Given that a teenage Cassie Lang and a teenage Harley from <\/span>Iron Man 3<\/span><\/i> are both listed in the credits, in addition to Kat Langford in an unspecified role that we suspect may end up being Kate Bishop, we\u2019re willing to bet that they are setting the stage for the Young Avengers to eventually make their debut in the MCU.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, we don\u2019t think that these characters will have major roles to play, with the possible exception of Cassie assisting her dad in escaping the Quantum Realm.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reality Reset<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

Since we\u2019re sure that the team won\u2019t be able to completely undo the events of <\/span>Infinity War <\/span><\/i>in <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>, we believe there\u2019s a good chance that there will be a reality shift by the end of this movie. Between the unexpected ramifications of time travel and the possibilities opened up by the Infinity Stones, we suspect that the reality of Phase Four and beyond won\u2019t be the exact same one that the first three Phrases existed in. <\/span><\/p>\n

In our <\/span>predictions post for<\/span> Infinity War, <\/span><\/i><\/a>we talked about how Scarlet Witch is actually the Avengers\u2019 heaviest hitter. However, while we were off on our predictions for her role in that movie (given that we vastly underestimated just how dark Marvel Studios was willing to go), we\u2019re still holding on to the idea that once Wanda is restored, she will play a large part in this reality reset. There\u2019s plenty of precedent in the comics to show that Wanda is more than capable of manipulating and changing reality, so it won\u2019t be a surprise to see her make use of that ability in the MCU.<\/span><\/p>\n

A reality shift would allow for some changes to continuity as well as the opportunity to reset anything that doesn\u2019t work for the story going into Phase Four. Not to mention it gives the franchise a solid way to write out all of the Phase 1 actors whose contracts are up after <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i> without turning it into the massive bloodbath so many are predicting it will be. As a storytelling device, it\u2019s a solid one that would provide a distinct break between <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i> and what comes next.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Infinity Stones<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Chris Evans as Steve Rogers. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

What happens to the Stones after the Avengers ultimately save the day? We\u2019re a bit on the fence here. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the one hand, <\/span>Infinity War<\/span><\/i> established that Wanda was the only one strong enough to destroy an Infinity Stone, possibly because her powers come from one. Following this same logic, we\u2019re pretty sure that Captain Marvel joins Wanda in the \u201ccan break the Stones\u201d club. But even knowing that they may have the ability to destroy them, we\u2019re not entirely sure they\u2019ll do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re divided on whether Doctor Strange would allow the Time Stone to be destroyed, but more importantly, if our theory holds true and the movie ends with Steve Rogers\u2019 soul inside the Soul Stone, we can\u2019t see the Avengers destroying it. Further, Vision uses the Mind Stone essentially as a battery. While Shuri mapped his connections and it\u2019s possible that he can live without it (in the comics, he has a solar crystal there, not an Infinity Stone, so it doesn\u2019t have to be one), it\u2019s likely that they leave the Stone in his forehead, returning him to the way he was pre-Snap.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, if the Avengers don\u2019t see a use for the remaining Stones, or collectively decide that they\u2019re too powerful to be allowed to exist, we could see them destroying some or all of them, and removing the possibility of anyone ever amassing the immense power of all the stones combined, ever again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alternately, it\u2019s possible that they\u2019ll split the Stones among several different realities, making it near impossible for anyone to ever obtain them all at once, but still keeping them intact. <\/span><\/p>\n

And then here\u2019s a wild (if improbable) thought: what if they can give Steve the Stones before he goes into the Soul Stone? Can we put an Infinity Stone inside another Infinity Stone? Now there\u2019s an idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

What We (Probably) Won\u2019t See<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

Quicksilver<\/span><\/h3>\n

Despite the wishes of a rather vocal part of the fandom, it\u2019s highly unlikely that any reset or alternate reality that comes out of the events of <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i> will bring Quicksilver back from the dead. While Aaron Taylor-Johnson has said he\u2019d be <\/span>willing to reprise his role<\/span><\/a> (despite some reports that he only agreed to <\/span>Ultron <\/span><\/i>in the first place because he knew it would be a one-and-done deal), it feels like the ship has sailed on Quicksilver. We expect a lot of characters to come back from the dead in <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>, but he\u2019s not one of them. <\/span><\/p>\n

The X-Men or the Fantastic Four<\/span><\/h3>\n

Just because the Disney-Fox merger was finalized before <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i> hit theaters, don\u2019t hold your breath on seeing any of your favorite Fox-owned characters pop up in the movie. Filming for <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i> wrapped long before the ink on the merger was dry, so there was no opportunity for the Russos to add any of the members of the X-Men or the Fantastic Four. Odds are that we won\u2019t see any of these named characters until at least Phase 4 of the MCU, which Feige has confirmed will start in 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, there\u2019s always a chance that we will get an oblique reference to either the X-Men or the Fantastic Four — one that doesn\u2019t require any casting, and could\u2019ve been filmed on the cheap — as a stinger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Loki\u2019s Resurrection<\/span><\/h3>\n

We know, we know. Loki has cheated death more times than anyone else in the MCU so it stands to reason that a large percentage of the fandom is holding out hope that he\u2019ll find a way out of it once again. Unfortunately, this just doesn\u2019t seem likely. While we are positive that the dusted heroes will make their return, any of the deaths that happened pre-dusting and without a direct link to an Infinity Stone are most likely permanent.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, that doesn\u2019t rule out that we\u2019ll see Loki in some <\/span>other <\/span><\/i>form in <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>. With all the potential for time travel and reality resets, we wouldn\u2019t be surprised if the film figures out a sneaky way to make Loki\u2019s sacrifice count while still working him in somehow. After all, <\/span>Loki is getting a show on Disney+<\/span><\/a> and his shadow is in the <\/span>\u2018Whatever It Takes\u2019 poster<\/span><\/a>, so it seems likely that he\u2019ll have some sort of presence in <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>, even if the version of him that died in <\/span>Infinity War <\/span><\/i>stays dead. <\/span><\/p>\n

What We Don\u2019t Know<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Danai Gurira as Okoye. Photo credit: Marvel Studios<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite spending the better part of the last year discussing, theorizing, and speculating on what will happen in <\/span>Avengers: Endgame,<\/span><\/i> there are still plenty of things we are unclear on. Honestly, that\u2019s fine by us, since we\u2019re excited to see the movie and watch the story unfold without knowing exactly how it happens. But that doesn\u2019t mean we aren\u2019t a tad bit annoyed that some things are apparently beyond our ability to theorize.<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, what is Okoye\u2019s role? She\u2019s clearly a major player, showing up prominently in marketing material, on the press tour, and featured heavily on all of the posters. Yet, we\u2019ve only seen a glimpse of her in the trailers, and nothing that so much as hinted what she\u2019s up to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Will we see inside the Soul Stone? We have no doubts that the heroes who were dusted are alive in some fashion and trapped in the Soul World, but will we get to see this for ourselves? And if we don\u2019t see this in <\/span>Endgame<\/span><\/i>, is it possible we\u2019ll see flashbacks to the Soul World in future movies?<\/span><\/p>\n

And most importantly, will Alan Silvestri <\/span>finally <\/span><\/i>give us an Avengers score that effectively utilizes all of the MCU\u2019s individual character themes? <\/span><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know, but we can\u2019t wait to find out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Want more of our thoughts leading up to\u00a0Avengers: Endgame?\u00a0<\/em>Check out our post on\u00a0If ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Let Us Write the Post-Credits Scenes<\/a>!<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back before Avengers: Infinity War hit theaters, we wrote down all of our theories about what might happen in the movie. Our predictions were based on the previous films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, our knowledge of the comics, our understanding of storytelling conventions, and, let\u2019s face it, a dash of wishful thinking. Ultimately, while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.avengingforce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Avengers-Endgame-World-Premiere-Red-Carpet-Video.jpg?fit=798%2C420","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Vfwz-1ce","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4602"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4643,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4602\/revisions\/4643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.avengingforce.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}