Opinions may differ on the quality of Marvel Studios’ films, but their ability to keep a secret is second to none. Audiences around the world were shocked and saddened by the climactic end of Avengers: Infinity War, in which Thanos executed his plan to kill half the galaxy. It’s a development that was kept completely secret right up until release, giving fans on opening night quite the surprise. So I’ll be taking with a grain of salt this report on Reddit from someone who claims to be working on Avengers: Endgame.
User Blujayd says that he’s seen a post on the Chinese site Weibo from someone working on the end-production crew for Endgame. He’s been taking questions from users online and, while he conveniently hasn’t divulged any actual information, he has hinted that what happens may well shock us. According to him, the trailers have been very carefully edited to misdirect audiences, with the first act of the movie set to “subvert everyone’s expectations.”
Well, first off, there’s no great scoop here and this ‘leak’ is about as vague as you can get. Expectations are totally subjective, so you can guarantee at least a portion of the audience will get something they’re not anticipating. Plus, it’s the kind of leak that you can retroactively substantiate with pretty much anything in the movie.
All that said, I will grant that the Russos do indeed like to subvert the audience’s expectations, even going so far as to intentionally mislead us about what the movie will be like. We saw this in the trailers for Infinity War, which showed shots that never appeared in the end product (most famously Hulk participating in the Battle of Wakanda). So, while the trailers we’ve seen for Avengers: Endgame might strongly suggest plot elements like Tony Stark returning from space, or the team venturing into the Quantum Realm, we can’t know for sure until we get our butt into that multiplex seat on April 26th.
