The first teaser trailer for the follow up to Avengers: Infinity War has arrived, and things still look pretty bleak. Tony and Nebula are stranded in space. Steve, Natasha, and Thor are still distraught. There is no suit-up scenes or a sight of the Hulk. There’s no triumphant shot of the team back together or even a hint of their plan going forward. We only see a scarecrow made of Thanos’ armor; but where is the Mad Titan?
We don’t get much new information, except that Hawkeye is back! Well, I should say Clint is back, sporting Ronin’s costume. Scott Lang made it out of the Quantum Realm somehow (or did he?). I’m assuming that will be the most important piece of information or clue coming out of the trailer. We don’t know how Captain Marvel will play into the sequel yet.
There are plenty of questions centered around how the Avengers will recover or how they will undo the effects of the snap, now dubbed The Decimation. What about Thanos? Now that his plan succeeded what will he do next? Will he attempt to stop the remaining Avengers from undoing the Decimation?
When asked what he would do if he won, he told Doctor Strange, “I’ll finally rest and watch the sunrise on a grateful universe.” The last time we saw Thanos, he was doing exactly that; watching the sunrise and reflecting on his victory, and what it cost him. Before that we see him visiting Gamora as a child in what could be a daydream or a creation of the soul stone. I’ve seen some people theorized the snap killed Thanos and in this scene, he joined Gamora in the afterlife. It’s a possibility, but I’m not so sure. He could’ve simply used the soul stone to visit Gamora’s soul on the astral plane. This would mean what we’re seeing at the end of Infinity War is an astral form—a callback to the way Thanos loses the gauntlet in the comic.
The short glimpse of him in the trailer implies he’s back on his home world, Titan. The snap destroyed the gauntlet, as we saw at the end of Infinity War. It could also be a reference to the original limited series, Infinity Gauntlet where in the end, Thanos is living as a farmer on an unnamed planet. He had given up his quest and planned to lead a quiet, simple life. Which begs the question, is Thanos the main villain of Avengers: Endgame? Going back to Infinity Gauntlet, in the end, Thanos is fighting alongside the remaining heroes to get the gauntlet back from Nebula. Could the Decimation create a vacuum that a new villain rises to fill?
It’s fair to assume that’s what could happen, because as it stands Thanos doesn’t have a motivation to confront the Avengers again. If that’s the case, who will be the new villain? How will the Infinity Gems play a part in the next installation? For all, we know Thanos’ sacrifice could have freed the Red Skull who has had his eyes on the gems and now knows more about the way they work. What do you guys think? Is Thanos still the main villain? Is he even still alive? Even if you have your own theory, drop a comment below.
I’d like to see Kang the Conqueror as the next major villain. Do you think the MCU will drown out another bad guy for a decade like they did with Thanos?