Endings are a rarity in the franchise movie-making business; especially when one’s popularity has only multiplied as the movies of Marvel have.
But Marvel Studios, which has never shied away from a little rule-breaking, is taking a sledgehammer to that old “don’t leave money on the table” maxim, and audiences will finally be able to see how they do it when Avengers Endgame opens nationwide on 26 April.
What exactly that means for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is something of a state secret. Feige said that this will be “definitive,” though.
“People can debate and discuss what that means before they see the movie,” Feige said. “But for us that means bringing to a conclusion the first three phases, the first 22 films in the MCU, so that everything thereafter is a new start.”
They have the next five years mapped out; they’re just not letting audiences peek behind the curtain until after “Endgame.” It’s that big.
“How we leave ‘Endgame’ will help define where we’re going for many people,” Feige said. But how does one talk about a movie that no press has seen and no actors or creators are allowed to discuss in detail? Well, carefully and cryptically.
We know some things. That the heroes left like Iron Man (Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and War Machine (Don Cheadle) are dealing with the devastating loss post-snap while trying to figure out what to do with Thanos.
A helpful “Avenge the Fallen” campaign served as a reminder of who survived and who didn’t (some of the dusted were even a surprise, like Black Panther’s Shuri). We also know they have a new weapon in Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, who Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury managed to page before dissolving into dust.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige found himself on a retreat in Palm Springs plotting the future for the wild, experimental “cinematic universe” that he helped start in 2008. He wanted to do something that they hadn’t done. He wanted an ending.
