Top Ten #23 - Top Ten Endgame Predictions

Top Ten #23 - Top Ten Endgame Predictions

It's close. It's so unbelievably close. In ten days, I will be in a theater, watching the culmination of my childhood on the big screen for three hours. And on top of that, i will know next to nothing about the plot. But, there are a few things that I think I do know for sure, so let's break down the top 10 predictions I have for the upcoming MCU installment. These are things that I THINK will happen, not things I HOPE will happen, although, for a lot of them there is a bit of overlap. They are in order from least likely to most likely.

10. Present-Day Thanos is in Less Than 30 Minute of the Movie: This one might be interesting if it's true. We have seen, in the toys and the promotional material at any rate, no less than one shot of the Mad Titan in "present day", and that was him walking through the field on Titan 2 with the damaged gauntlet. That's it. The only other shots and images of Thanos we've seen are, surprisingly, with his full armor, a repaired arm and gauntlet, and a sword? How does this make any sense, unless this is not the present-day Thanos, but a version of Thanos from the past? It would make sense. At the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War, we see Thanos take off his armor as a symbol of what he's becoming: more powerful than we even know. But in the past, he needed the armor and the weapons to fight. If he only has two stones (which some toys suggest), it stands to reason that he would need the armor. Which all points to this being a past version of Thanos that will antagonize the Avengers in Endgame. 

9. Steve Wields a Form of Mjolnir: Perhaps you may see this more of just a wish, and I can tell you straight up that this is definitely one of the strongest overlaps between "hope and wish". But you have to think about what the MCU has been hinting at and building up to. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, it was strongly hinted that Steve has the capability to at least move Mjolnir. What do we know about the hammer? We know it measures your worthiness in order for you to wield it. Vision is (or was, before he blasted Rhodey out of the sky and fell in love) an essentially perfectly moral being. That's why he was able to wield the hammer. What if, and follow me here, in his final act of heroism, Steve makes the ultimate sacrifice, and that's where Mjolnir decides he's finally worthy? We are traveling to alternate dimensions, or the past, or something o the sort, so who's to say Mjolnir isn't coming back? The Russos are pulling ZERO punches for this film, and I think it's very, very possible. 

8. Steve Dies: Out of the original six, I think if anyone is to die in the upcoming film, it's going to be Steve. We have to look past a "gut feeling" and back to what the previous films have been setting up. What was one of the first acts of bravery that Steve Rogers ever pulled? It was before he was even juiced up on the serum; Tommy Lee Jones threw a fake grenade in the middle of a military camp and Rogers jumped on it. Sacrifice. The first instance of Captain America, not Steve Rogers, that we see is sacrifice. We then see him later willing to die and crash his plane and bury the Tesseract so that millions would survive. If there was one character willing to sacrifice himself and do "whatever it takes" to get his friends, especially Bucky, back from the dead, it's Steve. 

7. (A Version of) The Young Avengers: Whether or not we've realized it, the Young Avengers have been subtlety planted throughout the past 21 movies of the MCU. You may not think we have enough characters to round out a lineup, but we actually do. Let's just assume that there is "dimension hopping" or "time travel" that brings the Avengers to the future. Harley OR Tony and Pepper's daughter (Morgan Stark) could be Iron Man. Cassie Lang is the new Ant-Man (Woman)/Stature like she is in the comics. Monica Rambeau takes the mantle of Captain Marvel. Katherine Langford can be a young Hawkeye. These seeds have been planted all across the MCU for a young group of heroes. And think of the emotional stakes. Let's say Tony goes to this future and realizes in order to save his reality, he has to give up a life with his daughter, Morgan. That would be the most bitter sacrifice, next to giving up his own life, that he could ever make. 

6. Thor Goes to Hel: Isn't it interesting that while all the other main characters are off doing their own things with the Quantum Realm, Thor is not seen? He's usually on his own side-quests. Isn't it also interesting that Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie is confirmed to be in the film? Isn't it also interesting that Hela and the Ancient One have been "confirmed" to show up? What does this point to? I think this points to Thor going to Hel. It's been set up in previous films, namely Age of Ultorn and Ragnarok, and I think in a last ditch effort to revert what Thanos has done, Thor will head, presumably with Rocket and maybe with Captain Marvel to the lowest dimension to see if he can't rescue some old allies (Loki? Perhaps?).

5. The Avengers Fight Thanos (from the past) on Xandar: Stick with me on this one. Because this theory is very oddly specific, but I believe there is precedent and evidence backing this one up. Going back to my earlier prediction, I do believe we're not dealing with a present-day Thanos, but a Thanos pre-Infinity crusade. That's why we see him descending on the planet in the "Special Look" via a portal, not the Space Stone, and why he has his armor and a sword. I think that this version of Thanos is about to ruin Xandar when the Avengers show up to stop him. This might be the final fight. Who knows? But we see a planet that the Sanctuary 2 is hovering over, and it looks like it could be Xandar. It would make sense for the Avengers to go back to the last time that Thanos didn't have any infinity stones and fight him there. There was even a "leaked" scene that detailed the Avengers fighting a losing battle on Xandar against Thanos. I think this one has some legitimacy. 

4. Dimension Hopping: Time travel has been the fan-favorite theory heading into the fourth installment in the Avengers franchise. And while, yes, I do think there is some legitimacy to it, I also think the Russos would be that obvious. I think what would make more sense was using the Quantum Realm to hop between dimensions and realities, which is how the Avengers plan to get their own batch of infinity stones to stop Thanos. I think that somehow, some way, the Avengers are dealing with past events, and I think this is how they get there. 

3. Hulk Goes BESERK: Speaking of things that have been set up, where's Hulk been? Our friendly green goliath has been having some issues as of late, and Endgame looks to bring him back in a BIG way. I think it's almost guaranteed that Hulk is going to finally come out, whether it be through world-breaker Hulk or Professor Hulk, and beat up some fools like we've never seen before. You though you saw the best of him in The Avengers when he was fighting the Leviathan, or in Ragnarok when he was beating up Thor? You haven't seen anything yet. 

2, The Dusted Return (By the Beginning of the Third Act): I think the non-parenthetical part of the prediction is no-brainer. 99 percent sure that this one will happen. So I added caveat to make things a little more interesting. I think that the Avengers will be able to get the dusted back before the end of the second hour. I think that it makes sense to have the dusted back in some capacity so that they can all square off in one grand finale and beat up Thanos. After all, we have to see Spider-Man and Rocket Raccoon for just a little bit, no?

1. Avengers Assemble: But to me, the thing that I'm MOST confident about happening in the film is Captain America uttering the words "Avengers Assemble". Joss Whedon almost gave it to us in Avengers: Age of Ultron, so he's said it before. But if this is Cap's last fim, and if Cap is going ot have a huge role in teh film like the Russos have said, then you can bet a million and a HALF that Steve Rogers is going to turn to the Avengers and say "Avengers Assemble". And I think that alone would be worth the price of admission. 

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.