The first trailer for Avengers 4 has dropped, and it reveals not only the movie’s official title (which is dumb) but also what has happened to the remaining Avengers after the events of Avengers Infinity War. Let’s see what’s in the latest Marvel Studios‘ Avengers Endgame trailer, shall we?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA6hldpSTF8&w=560&h=315]

The Avengers Endgame trailer begins with Tony Stark AKA Iron Man seemingly adrift in space on the Guardians of the Galaxy’s spare ship, Benatar. We don’t know how long he’s been in what seems to be self-imposed exile but it might have been a long time since he separated from the rest of the heroes.

He records a supposedly final message to Pepper Potts ahead of his impending death due to the eventual lack of oxygen. It’s a touching moment when he ends the message by saying that the last thing on his mind will be her and always her. It’s a somber start to the trailer.

Let’s speculate: Pepper Potts could either be alive or dead, but I think that Tony just doesn’t know because he hasn’t reached Earth since the Decimation (the official name for the Thanos snap event that resulted in half of everything dying). Marvel wouldn’t let him actually die in space, so the question is who will be saving him.

The scene fades to a scene showing Thanos’ armor on an effigy or scarecrow of sorts. This is actually a reference to the comics, specifically one of the last panels in Jim Starlin’s Infinity Gauntlet comic book crossover. However, the circumstances are different.

Compare that…

…with this.

In the comics, he retired and wanted to be left alone because his efforts to impress Death by killing half of the universe ultimately failed. In the MCU, it’s the opposite of that, as Thanos celebrates his victory in restoring balance to the universe by killing half of every living thing.

Captain America is crying, folks. That’s heartbreaking to see. Black Widow reaffirms what we already know, and we see Bruce Banner looking in despair at what seems to be the list of ‘missing’ heroes, including Scott Lang AKA Ant-Man and Shuri, Black Panther’s sister. However, he doesn’t know yet (but we do) that Ant-Man is actually still alive and left drifting in the Quantum Realm with no way of returning to Earth.

Next, we see Thor and Nebula brooding, before shifting to a scene presumably somewhere in Asia, where the Black Widow encounters Hawkeye who is now donning the mantle of Ronin.

In the comics, Clint Barton was not the first to don the Ronin name and garb, but he received the blessing of Maya Lopez (the first Ronin) to adopt the mantle. The reason he even became Ronin was due to the fact that he was recently (at the time) resurrected back to life after the reality-altering events of House of M and he didn’t want to rejoin the main Avengers team when learned of what happened when he was dead (the events of Civil War and Captain America’s assassination). He then joined the New Avengers team as Ronin for a while.

We still don’t know what caused the MCU’s Hawkeye to become Ronin, but I think it’s because his wife and children died during the Decimation. The trauma and guilt of him being alive led to him adopting the Ronin mantle, to become a wandering lone warrior without a home (or family).

Captain America re-dons his iconic 2014 Captain America: The Winter Soldier costume once again, and the stares at an old black and white picture of the deceased Peggy Carter with a forlorn look. You know what that means? Yeah, it probably means that Captain America will die in Avengers Endgame, and not just any death, but a heroic and definitive one. I predict that this will be the first real death of a major superhero in the MCU, and it will hit even harder than Avengers Infinity War’s Decimation event.

The next interaction lends further credibility to this idea. Black Widow says that the plan will work, but Captain America has doubts. When a man loses hope (especially someone like Captain freaking America), you definitely know what that means; a heroic sacrifice that leads to his death. I’m not looking forward to that but that is what I think will happen.

The trailer then ends with the surprising revelation that Scott Lang is still alive (not for us viewers, obviously). The question is how he escaped from the Quantum Realm. He must have had help, but who could have helped him? Who is even still alive that stills know about interdimensional physics and the Quantum Realm? My prediction is that it’s Dr. Erik Selvig, the guy from the Thor movies. He was one of the first scientists to discover other realms and he could still be alive.

My final thoughts: I hate the title. Avengers Endgame was one of the first theorized names for the Infinity War sequel, and I didn’t like it then (and I especially don’t like it now). They could have called it Avengers Annihilation or Avengers Infinity’s End or perhaps taking a cue from the comics and calling it Infinity Crusade or Avengers Forever. Anything would be better than just lazily slapping ‘Endgame’ there.

What do you think of the first Avengers Endgame game? Let me know in the comments below. Avengers Endgame is slated to arrive in cinemas in April 2019.