New Avengers: Endgame Trailer Brings Captain Marvel Into The Mix

Better late than never, eh?

The mightiest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Captain Marvel, has finally arrived in a brand-new trailer for Avengers: Endgame — which Marvel Studios dropped as a complete surprise on Thursday, March 14, just a week after the Brie Larson-led superhero standalone launched in theaters. 

Opening very much like the first Endgame trailer did, with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) talking aloud to his love Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) as he drifts through space with fast-dwindling resources and a near-complete lack of oxygen — "God, seems like a 1,000 years ago. I fought my way out of that cave, became Iron Man. Realized I love you. I know I said no more surprises, but I was hoping to pull off one last one," he tells her – the fresh footage explores the pain and trauma that Thanos (Josh Brolin) left behind when he snapped his Infinity Gauntlet-adorned fingers and murdered half of all living beings in the universe in the final act of Avengers: Infinity War. 

We see flashes of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in his years before he became the hardly-aging hero Captain America, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) smiling and laughing with family before the camera cuts to show him abandoning his Hawkeye moniker to become his darker alter-ego Ronin, and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) during the time before his home planet of Asgard was destroyed in the planet-obliterating event known as Ragnarok. 

And no one expected to make it out of this new Endgame trailer without Marvel Studios tugging on their heartstrings and reminding them of the tragedies that occurred at the end of Infinity War. Between the black-and-white footage that flip-flops from the past, when things seemed simpler in comparison to the chaos of the present, and the fallout of the current post-Decimation world are shots of Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Okoye (Danai Gurira), and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) crumbling away to space dust. (Thanks, Marvel. Now we're crying before 9 AM on a Thursday. That's usually reserved for Mondays!) 

Voiceover clips sprinkled throughout the trailer prove that the Avengers and co. won't go down without a fight — no matter how badly they're hurting or how much they miss their families, friends, and fallen fellow heroes. As Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), who is now red-headed again rather than bright blonde, says in the clip, "Even if there's a small chance, we owe this to everyone who's not in this room to try." Captain America answers, "We will. Whatever it takes." Black Widow echoes this new rally cry, as does Tony, both repeating, "Whatever it takes."

That "whatever it takes" clearly includes adding one Carol Danvers to Operation Kill Thanos, Reverse His Decimation, and Restore Balance to the Universe." Just after the Endgame trailer displays its title card, which pops up after the gang walk through Avengers HQ with — gasp! — Quantum suits on, Larson's Captain Marvel appears. She's seen wearing civilian clothes, a black tank top and black pants, and facing away from the camera. When she hears Thor approaching, Carol turns around to face the god of thunder — who decides to gauge her power and personality by summoning his hammer (which is his new battle-ax Stormbreaker, despite looking a heck of a lot like his old hammer Mjolnir that was shattered to pieces in Thor: Ragnarok) and having the weapon whizz right past her face. She doesn't flinch, and that pleases Thor. Speaking for most all Marvel fans, Thor says, "I like this one." 

So, let's dive into a few little details and analyze the many nuances of this surprise Avengers: Endgame trailer — and the new poster for the movie Marvel rolled out alongside the footage. 

First, there's some literal hairy orders of business we need to address: in both the trailer and the poster, Black Widow has red hair again and Captain America no longer sports the lush beard that sent fans into paroxysms of joy upon seeing it in high definition on an IMAX screen. This implies that Endgame will prove true one of two things: the duo are simply trying to tap into their roots (and we mean that without metaphor in Black Widow's case) and embrace who they were before Thanos went on murderous rampage, or there's a time travel plot involved in the film, which would explain why we see a ginger Black Widow and a beardless Cap in the new clip. 

In a similar vein, Hawkeye's hairdo is also a point of discussion, as it helps to clarify what's going on with Black Widow and Captain America's aesthetics. Hawkeye rocks a sweet-as-all-heck mohawk when he's done up in his Ronin gear, standing soaking wet in the pouring rain. The kicker here isn't just that the arrow-flinging vigilante who was M.I.A. during the battles of Infinity War isn't the Hawkeye we know and love anymore — it's also that Black Widow is still a blonde when Hawkeye is living as Ronin. The Endgame trailer shows Black Widow walking up to Hawkeye/Ronin and taking his hand, and it's clear that there's nary a red hair on her head. Jumping off that, when the surviving heroes strut through the Avengers headquarters wearing those slick white suits, Hawkeye looks more like Hawkeye than Ronin. Though it's still a little mohawk-y, the hero's hair appears more like his signature hairstyle, with no tufts of hair sweeping over his eyes, in the Quantum suit sequence — which shows a red-haired Black Widow and Captain America sans beard. It's the same when Hawkeye talks face-to-face with ginger Black Widow elsewhere in the trailer. 

The changing hairdos and the inclusion of Quantum suits point give credence to the same theory: the Avengers will travel back in time to either face off against Thanos again in the same fights they did in Infinity War, or stop him from ever obtaining the Infinity Stones and powering the Infinity Gauntlet in the first place. That Black Widow mentions starting over in the new Endgame footage bolsters his idea as well, as she might be referencing a do-over rather than advising the Avengers to move on with their lives and begin anew without their heroic companions alive. 

We could sit here for hours picking apart the Avengers: Endgame trailer, but we'll stop ourselves here. Rest assured that a full breakdown of all the details you missed will be up on Looper before you know it. Until then, read up on all the Endgame rumors and spoilers leaked so far — if that's your kind of thing, of course.

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, the same dudes who broke everyone's hearts, dropped millions of jaws, and killed half of our favorite Marvel heroes in Avengers: Infinity War last year, Avengers: Endgame will launch in theaters on April 26.