"avengers: endgame" trailer review

Thanos made us a promise last year. He claimed, “you will know what it’s like to lose,” and he was right. We lost. The Avengers, the world, the entire universe - we all understand, now, what it is to lose. And that truth has never hit harder than while watching the trailer for the next Avengers film - “Avengers: Endgame.”

There are a number of things that make this trailer so unique when compared to any other Marvel trailer that came before it. The most obvious difference would be that, before the tagline at the end of the trailer spelled it out for us, no one knew what the title of this movie was. There was speculation of course - Infinity Gauntlet, Forever, Disassembled, Annihilation, and, yes, even Endgame - but no one knew for sure until the pieces formed together under the oh-so familiar Avengers title to form the word “Endgame.” But, as special as that revelation is, it’s what’s not revealed during this trailer that makes it so extraordinarily special.

What I appreciate so much about this trailer is that, for as much as it shows you, it does not tell you much of anything. Often trailers for superhero movies - or, really, trailers in general - tend to overshare elements of the plot, which can sometimes lead audiences to having the plot completely summarized for them before even seeing the movie. “Endgame” doesn’t have that problem as, in it’s two and a half minute runtime, it manages to say very little, while still having the same impact - if not a greater one - than last years “Avengers: Infinity War” trailer - and that’s saying something.

What made the “Infinity War” trailer so incredible was that it lobbed cool shit at you faster than your brain could register it all. In the first few seconds alone we got the familiar sound of Nick Fury’s voice, followed by a shot of Tony in distress, which was then followed by Bruce Banner crashing into Doctor Strange’s home, which was followed by a shot of Vision not only appearing human, but also in a loving embrace with Scarlett Witch, which was then followed by a shot of Thor in the Guardian of the Galaxy’s spacecraft - and all of that only took up the first 25 seconds of the trailer. However, in the “Endgame” trailer, the first 57 seconds is just Tony leaving a message for Miss Potts on his decimated Iron Man helmet and, somehow, that works damn near just as well.

The rest of the “Endgame” trailer shows us many of our other favorite characters - with the main focus being on Steve and Natasha as they discuss their plan to save the universe; a plan that, I might add, is not disclosed in any way, shape, or form. While we do get a few shots of other characters, such as Bruce, Nebula, Thor, Ant Man, Ronin (which was arguably the biggest reveal of the trailer) and yes, even a passing shot of Thanos’s gauntlet (which is still both destroyed and on his hand), it is still not an indication of what is going to happen - only what has happened. While the “Infinity War” trailer was a demonstration of  what we were going up against, the “Endgame” trailer feels very much like a commemoration of what we have lost.. and what we may very well have left to lose.

“Endgame” is very much the end of an era; an era for the heroes we’ve spent the last 10 years watching and rooting for. It’s funny that, since his introduction in the first “Avengers” we’ve all been waiting for this moment - the final confrontation between Thanos and the Avengers - and now that it’s here, the most frequent comment I’ve seen in relation to this movie is that people are “not ready.” Well, you better get ready, folks. April is right around the corner, and as Doctor Strange so aptly put it, “we’re in the Endgame now,” and as we all know, “part of the journey is the end.”