Before the first Avengers 4 trailer revealed the film’s proper title to be Avengers: Endgame, you may recall that the most popular prediction for the movie’s name was “Avengers: Annihilation,” and as fans scrambled for clues to back up this rumor, online theorists would jump a little too eagerly on any use of the word ‘Annihilation’ in prior MCU outings. Now we’re seeing a similar search unfold for mentions of ‘Endgame,’ but with the subtitle officially confirmed, these alleged connection to the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War sequel no longer seem quite so tenuous.
In fact, there might even be something to this new find from 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, seeing how Tony Stark’s mention of ‘endgame’ is in direct reference to the extraterrestrial forces that would ultimately bring the downfall of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The moment comes amidst an argument over Stark’s choice to create the film’s titular A.I., as Iron Man argues that that his extreme measures were justified in light of the threat from outer space he saw coming in 2012’s The Avengers.
“A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space,” Tony said. “We’re standing three hundred feet below it. We’re the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day but that, up there, that’s the endgame.”
Yes, it could just be coincidence, but if it is then it’s a pretty big one, seeing how that ‘hostile alien army’ went on to be the cause of all the gang’s problems in Avengers: Infinity War.
Either way, the new Avengers: Endgame trailer has given the internet a whole lot of material to chew over without providing many concrete answers. At the moment, much of the fanbase is still wrapping their heads around the fact that the teaser is finally here after all these weeks of build-ups and letdowns, but once we’ve truly had time to process the footage, you can imagine there’ll be plenty more discussion and speculation to be had before the film hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.