We’re now just six weeks away from release of Avengers: Endgame. And that means we’re also about six weeks away from the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it because, after Endgame, the core Avengers team will be retired. The contracts for Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, and Chris Evans are all up, and it’s been made clear that they won’t be renewed. We’re going to be saying goodbye to Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America very soon–and maybe for good.
It’s hard to grasp the full significance of this.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a constant presence for the past eleven years, and at least one of the Holy Trinity’s been onscreen for ten of those eleven years.1 That’s really remarkable. We’ve barely gone a few months since the George W. Bush administration without Iron Man, Thor, or Captain America saving the day. That’s a veritable lifetime in pop culture terms.
And so it’s appropriate that this second (and presumably final) full-length trailer for Endgame looks backward as much as it looks forward. It starts with Tony Stark in the desert more than a decade ago and ends with a symbolic passing of the baton to Carol Danvers, who we’ve only just met.
It’s bittersweet, but it sure looks like Marvel has a hell of a goodbye planned for us.
Avengers: Endgame arrives April 26, 2019.
