Analyzing the promotional footage of Avengers: Endgame for subtle clues of the adventure to come is always going to be a dubious game, since not only has Marvel Studios presumably been very careful to minimize the spoilers in the excerpts they release, but they can also be willfully deceitful in their preview clips. We saw this with the fake Hulk scene from the Avengers: Infinity War trailer, and with the new Endgame TV spot, it seems that the marketing team could be up to their old tricks again.
Among the many brief shots we got in last night’s preview is an image of Black Widow, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner and James Rhodes standing outside of Avengers HQ and staring at something that’s got them a little stunned. What exactly the team is looking at is a point of speculation in itself, but another interesting detail that’s got people talking is the unusually large gap between Bruce and James. With War Machine occupying his own relatively isolated place on the right side of the frame, there’s been some speculation that Marvel Studios has edited out a fifth character in the picture.
Though this remains a theory for the time being, it would certainly make sense on a purely visual level to have someone else stood between Bruce and James, allowing for more consistency in the spacing between actors. As for who this might be, we can perhaps rule out characters that are already confirmed to be sharing the screen with the rest of the gang, like Ant-Man or Rocket, but beyond that, it could be anyone from Iron Man to Captain Marvel to a whole new character.
Then again, maybe this is little more than an unevenly spaced shot and we’re making a fuss over nothing. Either way, all will be revealed when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.
