Captain America has a plan to defeat Thanos in Avengers: Endgame - and we think we know what it is. Before Steve Rogers became a super soldier, he was just a kid from Brooklyn who didn’t like bullies and would stand up to them no matter the cost. So, when Thanos threatened to snap half of all life in the universe out of existence in Avengers: Infinity War, Cap finally came out of the shadows to try and save the world once again. But, he and the rest of the Avengers failed.
Marvel Studios is trying to hide as much as possible about Avengers: Endgame and what it will contain, and so far they’re doing a fairly good job. With less than three minutes of footage released to this point out of a possible 3 hour runtime, we’ve only scratched the surface of what Endgame will be. It is strongly believed that the Avengers’ goal in Endgame will be to reverse Thanos’ snap in some form and resurrect everyone who died in Infinity War.
Figuring out what this plan is going to be appears to be up to Captain America, who looks to have reclaimed his role as leader of the Avengers with Tony Stark still lost in space. He’s used to giving the orders, but his most important plan yet is slowly coming together. From what we can gather, it appears to include assembling a new Avengers roster and traveling through time to try and take down Thanos. Here’s how Captain America may be planning to defeat Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
- This Page: What We Know About Captain America’s Plan Page 2: Ant-Man Helps Make Cap’s Plan Possible
Everything Avengers: Endgame Trailers Have Revealed About Captain America’s Plan
Marvel’s marketing strategy for Avengers: Endgame has been to show as little as possible while still being able to drum up interest, and Captain America has been at the heart of the campaign. The first trailer showed that he’s clean shaven but also still dealing with the emotional loss. The newly released Super Bowl TV spot further highlighted just how difficult this has been on Steve, as he’s seen attending a group therapy session to mourn. But, the first Avengers: Endgame trailer also confirmed that he will develop a plan that he is not entirely confident in, but hopes it will work - because he doesn’t know what he’ll do if it doesn’t.
The stakes are higher than ever and Cap’s plan appears to be somewhat of a last ditch effort to save the day. This forces Cap to assemble a brand new Avengers roster as evident by the end of the Super Bowl footage. He is shown leading the team through a hanger at Avengers HQ and the lineup looks to be Thor, Black Widow, Rocket, Ant-Man, and War Machine. There does appear to be another person behind War Machine, but it is unclear who it is. We know Bruce Banner is at this location and with the team, so it could be him, especially since Ronin doesn’t appear have been recruited yet based on Black Widow’s still shorter hair. This could be the first venture for the group, which is why Natasha Romanoff is seen reassuring Steve that his plan will work during the first trailer.
Evidence Captain America’s Plan Is Time Travel
So what exactly is Captain America’s plan? Well, the logical move is for them to do everything in their power to undo the snap by any means possible. Everyone involved with Endgame and the MCU has insisted that the snap victims really are dead, so this could wipe out the notion that they’re all actually in the Quantum Realm, the Soul Stone, or some other reality. Instead, there is plenty of evidence that suggests the endgame for the Avengers is using time travel as a means of executing their plan. One of the biggest signs of this was set photos that surfaced during production of Endgame that recreated the Battle of New York from The Avengers.
In the photos, an older Iron Man is joined by present day Captain America and Ant-Man, as well as a version of Hulk. They all were seen with strange devices on their hands and dots on their suits that are commonly used as reference points for CGI to added in post-production. There’s been reports of old MCU characters coming back too, and while some theorized this could just be Tony’s Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing (BARF) technology at work, there is no clear reason why this technology would be used so prevalent. BARF only allows users to access memories, so they can’t change the past, present, or future. Time travel is the best explanation for different versions of characters appearing at prior events and how familiar faces can reappear.
However, there’s also been the reveal of new, white Avengers suits (with the hand devices from the set photos) that are believed to be Quantum Realm suits. Almost all of the core Avengers members will wear one of these suits according to toy leaks. Hank Pym wore a similar looking suit in Ant-Man and the Wasp to travel into the Quantum Realm, and the film’s post-credits scene introduced time vortexes to the realm that Ant-Man was left in after the snap. This all indicates that the plan will be to use the Quantum Realm to time travel, but they’ll only get the idea when Ant-Man returns.
Page 2 of 2: Ant-Man Helps Make Cap’s Plan Possible
Theory: Ant-Man Provides Captain America With Time Travel And Hope
Ant-Man being left in the Quantum Realm was direct set up to Avengers: Endgame and the role he will have. The first trailer included video footage of Scott Lang outside the front gate of Avengers HQ that confirmed that he is somehow able to get out of Quantum Realm. Captain America is shocked to see this footage play before him and asks if it is an old message, which it appears to be - in a way. The footage is noticeably labeled as “archive” footage, indicating that it was recorded before, and likely years ahead of it being uncovered.
We believe that Ant-Man will be the first person to time travel in Endgame and will originally end up in the wrong time period. It appears he’ll leave this old message at the front gate of Avengers HQ, which will just be an abandoned Stark Industries facility at the time. But, when Scott realizes what has happened and gets back to the present day, he’ll actually visit the Avengers. It’s possible that Ant-Man was just off screen in the first trailer and is the person that Natasha Romanoff is explaining the snap to since he wouldn’t know what happened. Scott will then be able to prove his time travel story to those at Avengers HQ - most likely just Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey - by showing them the message he left years ago. It will be new to them and be the first sign of hope for Cap that they actually can save the universe they failed, by doing what Scott accidentally uncovered.
With Ant-Man now on board, the plan for time travel begins to be set into motion. The Avengers will need to figure out how to travel through time and access the Quantum Realm as a team, a task that will likely be left up to Bruce and Scott to figure out together at first. After all, Tony may still be in space at the time this all is happening. We know that at some point the entire Avengers team will be assembled, but it may not be right away.
Captain America’s Plan Needs All The Avengers
The same day that we believe Ant-Man arrives at Avengers HQ and the time travel plan is hatched, somebody else appears to arrive. The Super Bowl spot showed Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey all outside looking up at the sky. And since they are wearing the same clothes as other scenes believed to be with Ant-Man, we also think that Scott has been digitally removed from the Endgame Super Bowl spot. Although the obvious choice of who is returning is Tony and Nebula, the marketing gives more reason to believe that this is actually Thor and Rocket returning to the team. They look to be off on their own adventure at first but are also in the team shot that may be from the team’s first mission together. This could mean that the team assembles and plots a plan to travel through time… but it may not work right away.
It likely will not be until Tony and Nebula return to Earth that the Quantum Suits and time travel tech will be built and perfected. While Bruce and Scott may be able to get the job done, it would be surprising if Marvel left Tony out of such a major scientific breakthrough. This could allow for Avengers: Endgame’s rumored time jump to take place while the Avengers try and figure out a way for Captain America’s plan to actually work. Once they do, then the full team should become assembled. Based on Natasha’s longer hair, this time jump and solidifying of a plan could then be when she finally finds Clint Barton in Japan as his new Ronin persona. She will be able to recruit him with a solution to bring his family back, leaving just Captain Marvel to join. She’s a bit more of a wildcard, though. But when Captain Marvel joins and how she factors into the team should become more clear after the Captain Marvel movie hits theaters. Regardless, after Tony and Bruce go full Science Bros to create the team’s time traveling devices and the roster fully formed, the plan will finally be put into action.
The Avengers Go Through Time To Get The Infinity Stones Before Thanos
Now that Captain America’s time travel plan is ready to go and he’s got a team of heroes to follow him, we believe that the actual purpose of time travel will be to collect all six Infinity Stones, but before Thanos was able to. This almost has to be the solution to the snap if the heroes really are dead and since the Russo brothers confirmed there won’t be multiple realities at play.
Time travel in general is a tricky concept to pull off in a movie, so the entire plot of Endgame could quickly unravel if not done carefully. With that in mind, the Avengers appear to be taking precautions when it comes to what they do when time traveling to try and collect the Infinity Stones. Set photos showed Tony disguised in S.H.I.E.L.D. gear during the Battle of New York, so they look to be trying to avoid changing too much in the timeline. If this logic is true, the Infinity Stones have to be the Avengers’ goal, because they aren’t going to pluck older or future versions of dead characters out of the timeline to try and save the day. This could make it very difficult for the Avengers to successfully steal the Infinity Stones, but their goal will simply be to acquire them before Thanos does or realizes that they are.
The latter does raise the likely possibility that Thanos or a new Endgame villain will attempt to interfere with the Avengers’ plan along the way. If not, they’ll just be able to travel to different points in time, get all six stones, and reverse the snap. The movie would be over much sooner than the 3 hour runtime would suggest. Thanos could be able to sense the Avengers’ plan thanks to the Infinity Gauntlet being fused to him or a brand new cosmic entity could try and prevent the Avengers from changing reality on a widespread scale, again.
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It won’t be long before fans around the world get to see what exactly Captain America is planning to do in Avengers: Endgame, but we believe this is a strong possibility. More clues and pieces of information will arrive as the marketing campaign continues though, which will hopefully add more credibility to this theory.
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