Are there fake scenes in the Avengers: Endgame trailer, or are the Russo brothers just trying to keep us from overanalyzing the trailers? Either way, we don’t know who to trust in the Marvel fandom anymore.
The Avengers: Endgame countdown is narrowing, and the fourth Avengers film is an evergreen topic on our mind since we somewhat coped with the tragedies in Avengers: Infinity War. After all, we’re still not completely over all 14 of the major deaths in Infinity War. However, directors Joe and Anthony Russo are exploiting our commitment to our favorite heroes. As the Russos toy with our trust issues, which have already been exploited by various Marvel Comics events, the directors have suggested some of the scenes in the Avengers: Endgame trailers might not actually be in the film.
The Russos just made our nightly fan-theorying routine even harder, seeing as the directors implemented a spoiler-free policy in the Endgame promo. ComingSoon.net notes, during an interview with Empire, Joe Russo said that the element of surprise is a vital component to Avengers: Endgame moving-going experience:
"The thing that’s most important to us is that we preserve the surprise of the narrative. When I was a kid and saw The Empire Strikes Back at 11am on the day it opened…It so profoundly moved me because I didn’t know a damn thing about the story I was going to watch. We’re trying to replicate that experience."
Inspired by The Empire Strikes Back, the Russos claim they added some scenes that aren’t in the final film in the trailers. Our favorite Star Wars nerd, Carol Danvers, would be proud of their marketing decision, which makes it easier to forgive the fact that we now have to worry about misdirection theories on top of our fan theories about the actual movie.
In regards to the scenes that ultimately might not make it in the movie, the Russo brothers add that they “can manipulate through CG to tell a story that want to tell specifically for the purpose of the trailer and not for the film.” Meaning, some of the misdirection in the trailers could actually be scenes in the movie, but the heavy edits make the tension surrounding the scenes seem indiscernible from the final product.
Are you thinking about that dramatic scene where the surviving heroes are wearing what appears to be Quantum Realm suits? We are too, and we have a feeling that if that scene makes it to theaters, the suits might actually have been edited on in the trailer to hide some spoilers. The Russos might have added the suits to that specific trailer moment to give us a false perception of time. Otherwise, certain characters who aren’t in that scene may have actually been added exclusively to the trailer’s version of the clip. Granted, we could be wrong on all accounts because nobody’s fan theories are safe now.
Based on the Infinity War trailers, we already know the Russos are well-versed in using fake scenes to distract our trailer-decoding skills. Tricky doesn’t even begin to describe how difficult it is to prevent spoilers in comic book movies. You know, the movies that often are based over very specific predecessor stories or various anagrams of dozens of comic issues. It makes sense why the Russos add in filler scenes to keep us nerds from guessing the main plot points and the inevitable permanent deaths.
There’s still a chance that those deceptive clips from the Infinity War trailers that never actually made it into the third Avengers film could appear in Endgame. Taking a page from Groundhog Day, any tinkering with the Quantum Realm or related time travel could reset the film to the final battle at Wakanda. That way, those lost scenes from the Infinity War trailers could weave into the big fight 2.0. Resurrecting the decimated heroes and redoing the final battle against Thanos won’t necessarily save every character we lost in the third Avengers movie. Instead, it might force the heroes to trade lives.
Decoding the trailers isn’t simple, especially since we can assume anything that the Russo brothers and the cast of the film say in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame press tour could also be convenient ways to mislead our fan theories. As Avengers: Endgame is tracking to break box office records, we’ll have to conjure up some unconventional fan theory techniques if we want to prepare for the inevitable heartbreak next month.
Avengers: Endgame‘s true premiere date is April 26.