Every piece of promotional material for next year’s Avengers: Endgame is going to be the subject of heavy scrutiny from the fans, and Marvel Studios was presumably well aware of this when they shared the film’s long-awaited first trailer this morning. With that in mind, it’s possible that the teaser has a few intentional secrets buried in its two-and-a-half minutes, but more specifically, when Tony Stark makes his claim that there’s “zero promise of rescue,” you can bet that the studio knows exactly what they’re doing.
If you’ve been keeping track of the various leaks from the set of the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War sequel, then there’s a good chance you’ve seen the image of Gwyneth Paltrow in an Iron Man-style outfit. This photo was widely interpreted by fans as proof that Pepper Potts will be suiting up in her own superhero persona from the comics, Rescue. And sure enough, in the newly shared monologue delivered by Stark as he drifts hopelessly through space, Pepper’s fiancé delivers what sounds to be a tease of what’s to come:
“Hey Miss Potts. If you find this recording don’t feel bad about this. Part of the journey is the end. Just for the record, being adrift in space with zero promise of rescue is more fun than it sounds. Food and water ran out four days ago, oxygen will run out tomorrow morning… that’d be it. When I drift off, I will dream about you. It’s always you.”
If these lines were all we had to back up the notion that Paltrow’s character will be adopting the Rescue persona, it would probably seem like a stretch. But seeing how this development’s been pretty much confirmed, it certainly feels like Stark’s casual mention of the name in a message to Pepper is more than just coincidence, suggesting that she may well be the character to get Tony out of his difficult situation.
Of course, this is still just speculation for the time being, but either way, we’ll find out how Pepper fares in the field of battle when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.
