Everyone’s preoccupied with who’s going to die in Avengers: Endgame, but we’re sleuthing some suspicious spaceships that might be a part of the Nova Corps.
After Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo mentioned that all the film’s marketing and trailers could be a lie, we’re looking at every clip and teaser with a skeptical eye. That won’t deter us from our fan-theorying though, because it is our favorite pastime in the fandom.
In Marvel’s latest clip for Endgame, fans may have focused heavily on details such as Tony and Steve’s conversation to their handshake. To us though, our misdirection radar was on high alert, specifically when Thanos’ spaceship appears.
Any sight of Thanos may have us fearing the worst for our heroes, but Endgame may not entirely be about loss or avenging the snapped. The movie could feature some new heroes in the form of the Nova Corps.
After your fourth or fifth re-watch (or beyond), pause the Endgame trailer at the 0:40 mark. Thanos’ ship is the noteworthy scene-stealer alone, but there’s a lot going on in the same plane of sight, the foreground, and the back of the brief frame.
The planet in the background appears vaguely reminiscent of Earth, even though the blurry land formations aren’t in the same placements or shapes as Earth’s continents. Plus, the sun behind the planet looks like it’s being eclipsed. Does that sound familiar?
This is likely the planet Xandar, as it resembles the planet’s comic appearance and brief MCU cameos. That eclipsed sun (which is probably one of three suns in this particular solar system) gives its identity away.
While Thanos destroyed Xandar in Infinity War to obtain the Power Stone, there are several reasons as to why the formerly demolished planet could be featured in the upcoming snappening sequel (biggest of all: time travel is likely to be a huge component of defeating the the Mad Titan).
Granted, we’re more concerned with two slowly moving objects in the trailer.
The ships look circular, which is unlike the Benatar that’s spotted in other Endgame promo clips. They don’t look like the Sakaarian ships that the Revengers used to save the Asgardians either.
The Russos might have created these decoy ships to hide the real Sakaarian ships (the main one from the end of Ragnarok and an unseen escape ship). However, we’re well aware of what happened to the Sakaarian space vessel carrying all of Asgard, so there’s really no need to portray these maybe Sakaarian-Asgardian ships as other spaceships entirely.
However, there are a few scenarios that might explain why these ships are still fake:
- The scene itself includes details that suggest this isn’t a context-filler-induced flashback back when Thanos was foraging through the universe for the Infinity Stones. (Basically, they’re covering up a spoiler there that wasn’t implied or included in IW.)
- There are two ships there, just not the ones shown in the trailer, and they aren’t Sakaarian ships either. Given Xandar in the background and the fact that Thanos had to retrieve the Power Stone from Xandar, these fake ships could actually be two Nova Starblasters from the Nova Corp.
- This entire scene just doesn’t exist in the film, and the Russos have tricked us again.
For the sake of our confidence in our theories, fit with a bit of nerdy logic, the presence of Nova Starblasters is the most likely.
Though Thanos destroyed Xandar, this scene or any real scene similar to it is probably a flashback to show Thanos fighting off the Nova Corp to get the stone. Seeing as Starblasters are star-like in appearance, they’d be a spoiler-filled giveaway in the trailer.
Watching Thanos kill all of the Nova Corp would amplify the tragic overtones and build even more tension for Avengers: Endgame. However, we only know that Thanos destroyed Xandar, likely including the Nova Corp base on the planet, to get the stone. We don’t know if any odd Novas survived the mayhem.
Given the rumors that Richard Rider might debut in his own Nova movie, Richard could be the remaining Nova who’s subtly shown escaping. This would help embed him into future phases of the MCU, whenever the franchise is ready to curate the Nova film.
Honestly, we don’t blame the Russos for going through elaborate lengths to cover up a Nova cameo (no matter how minor or crucial that cameo might be).
It’s still possible those circular ships are a couple of inconsistently-shaped vehicles for the Children of Thanos. However, there are too many clues in this Avengers: Endgame trailer for us to analyze it on a surface level.
Maybe we’re hopeful for Nova’s future in the MCU or that the scene will reveal shocking cameo, which will help the remaining heroes defeat Thanos.
Regardless, we don’t trust this clip or those spaceships.