Avengers Endgame: 7 theories that Marvel fans have been sharing

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War and possible spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.

Away from the despair of Brexit and the never-ending nightmare that is Donald Trump's presidency, there have been seldom things to cherish and enjoy in 2018.

Usually, after that sort of intro, we'd talk about a good film that everyone enjoyed and put a smile on our face, such as The Avengers.

Except that didn't happen this year as evidenced by the events of Infinity War, where almost everybody died as Thanos succeeded in his genocidal dream of wiping out half of all living creatures.

Those that perished in Infinity War included Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch, Star-Lord, Groot, Mantis, Drax, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Wasp, Janet van Dyne and Hank Pym (and Cap's beard).

That's just the characters that died after 'the snap', so let's not forget Loki, Heimdall, Gamora and Vision, who were all murdered by Thanos before he collected all the Infinity Stones.

This devastating conclusion left everyone shook, but it also left us with a lot of questions about the upcoming movie, which is due to be released in April 2019.

Marvel fans had been trying to guess the title of the movie for months before it was eventually confirmed as Endgame and - judging by the first trailer - this film is going to be bleak.

Now that the brief two-minute preview is out there, speculation and theories about how the Avengers are going to defeat Thanos and bring their friends back from the dead have been rife.

So, rather than delve into the dark recesses of Reddit and Twitter (why would you want to do that?) we've compiled some of the best in one handy article.

Once again these could be spoilers but it could also just be rumours so don't complain to us if they do or do not come true.

1. There will be time-travel involved

This is a popular theory and one that has albeit been confirmed by now, but in order to reverse the events of Infinity War the Avengers, or at least one of them will have to go back in time.

Joe Russo, who directed Endgame along with his brother Anthony, practically announced that there would be some element of time travel or manipulation involved in the film.

In the illustrated companion book Marvel's Avengers Infinity The Art of the Movie, Joe Russo said possibly the time stone, which Doctor Strange relinquished to Thanos, may have already been used to set things in motion before the 'Sorcerer Supreme' sacrificed it.

The problem is, as you can imagine, as you gain control over these things, your story just goes haywire because why are there any stakes for the man who can control time, space, reality, your mind, your soul and power?

He can reset as many times as it'll take.

So you have to build in a lot of bumps in the road or maybe keep one stone away from him for long enough in order for the thing to have any dramatic structure at all.

2. What is Ant-Man doing?

Possibly the only fun element of the Endgame trailer was the reemergence of everyone's favourite miniature hero Ant-Man/Scott Lang, who appears to have successfully escaped from the quantum realm, which he was stuck in at the end of Ant-Man and The Wasp.

What might have first appeared as a fun way of ending an otherwise downbeat trailer might have been a clue to a huge plot in the film.

The footage that Captain America and Black Widow see is labelled as 'archive' with a number next to it which some people think reads as 1983.

How 1983 would help Ant-Man or the Avengers with their struggle is a little puzzling, as we've never been to that point in history in any of the previous films.

It's also not clear how Lang would have gotten out of his predicament unless he was sucked into an infamous 'time vortex'.

However, he could have used the quantum device to escape as it is in the back of the van seen in the trailer.

All of these Ant-Man theories throw up even more questions so we will have just wait and see how this one plays out.

3. Nick Fury knew all along

As seen in the credits scene in Infinity War, Nick Fury was a victim of the Thanos snap, but just before he turned to dust he managed to use a paging device that appeared to send a message to Captain Marvel.

We know that Fury had already met Captain Marvel before any of the Avengers events started to happen, as the upcoming film is set in the 1990s, when he was a much younger man with both of his eyes.

We're not sure where Captain Marvel has been for this entire time, but we're sure it will be confirmed in her movie. Yet, from here there has been speculation about what Fury's role will be in her story.

A popular theory floating around Reddit believes that someone from the future will manage to contact Fury in the past and tell him about Thanos, thus giving Fury reason to set the Avengers Initiative in motion and bring all of 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' together.

4. Others died in Infinity War

While the ending to Infinity War was traumatic it's possible that we didn't see every death, which is kind of Marvel as we doubt we could take much more.

Since the release of the Endgame trailer, people have been focusing a lot on one frame which sees Dr. Bruce Banner staring at a couple of holograms of people who are 'missing'.

These include Spider-Man, Ant-Man and Shuri, Black Panther's sister. We saw what happened to Messrs Spider and Ant, but what happened to Shuri? Please tell us she didn't get dusted too.

The trailer also saw the return of Hawkeye, who had a much darker, violent and more brooding look than what we had previously seen from Clint Barton, possibly being a reference to the 'Ronin' mantle that he adopted in the comics.

His appearance in the trailer happened to coincide with a line from Captain America about the loss of family. Perhaps, Hawkeye was driven to this more ruthless edge after his family died in the 'snap'.

Also, eagle-eyed fans think they have spotted Groot in the Endgame trailer, despite the talking tree also ceasing to be after Thanos's victory.

5. Thanos isn't the only villain

Now we come to the big bad Thanos, who - in the period between Infinity War and Endgame - appears to have been chilling out and doing a bit of farming.

Good for him. He isn't a big fan of human life but at least he's doing his part of agriculture.

While everyone has been pontificating about how the Avengers will topple Thanos, we could have been blind about other threats that might lie in wake.

An Infinity War prequel novel named Thanos: Titan Consumed charts his movements in the run-up to his big finger snapping moment.

In that book, he encounters a cosmic character called 'the Lorespeaker' who tells him of a group of aliens that he should be wary of.

'They are hidden, Thanos,' the Lorespeaker said, as though badgering a child, 'because they are too powerful. And because the Celestials and the others, the ones whom the Celestials fear, keep close watch on the Stones from afar.

These could be the Celestials (who have popped up in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies) or other villains like Annihilus, Galactus, the Skrulls - or anyone, for that matter.

6. How to rescue Tony Stark?

Undoubtedly the most tragic and distressing part of the Endgame trailer was Tony Stark adrift in space, with seemingly no sign of rescue.

The genius philanthropist was left on Titan with Nebula after Thanos defeated them, and his efforts to get back to Earth look to have been unsuccessful.

While we would love to think that NASA might be able to save the day, it's unlikely that will happen. This leaves only a few possibilities.

Either Stark pays homage to himself and forges a new suit out of the materials on the ship, much like he did in the first Iron Man film, or someone else helps him.

This could be Captain Marvel, who we know has the ability to fly in space, or it could be Pepper Potts who he is trying to send a message to in the trailer.

Images have already been leaked online of Gwyneth Paltrow wearing her own suit of armour (conveniently called 'Rescue'), so that's a strong and very logical way to save Mr. Stark.

7. Captain America will die

A man once said that 'with great power comes, great responsibility', and one person that has accepted more responsibility than arguably anyone else is Captain Steve Rogers.

Now if we haven't already experienced enough heartache, it's a very strong certainty that someone else will die in Endgame, and it's gonna have to be a big player in the game.

That's just how it works right?

Chris Evans has fuelled speculation about his own demise in the film after a cryptic tweet the actor posted in October after the shooting of the flick was wrapped up.

Cap has died plenty of times in the comics and while some have said that someone else could take over the mantle in the future it will be a very sad day if we have to say goodbye to Mr Evans.

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