Marvel Studios is deliberately keeping the plot of Avengers: Endgame under wraps, but based on the recent full-length trailer (and previously released footage) we can piece together an approximate timeline of, at the very least, the movie’s first act.

A major clue as to when scenes take place is Black Widow’s hair, which was dyed blonde for Avengers: Infinity War but grows out until her natural red hair reaches shoulder-length in Endgame. Based on that fact alone, it’s clear that Endgame will include a major jump forward in time of a year or more, as the team deals with the fallout of Thanos’ decimation of the universe, and formulates a plan to undo the damage. There are plenty of theories about what this plan will be, but one thing’s for certain: it’s going to take every superhero still alive to pull it off.

Currently in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s timeline, those heroes are somewhat scattered. Ant-Man was last seen stuck in the Quantum Realm after Wasp, Hank Pym, and Janet van Dyne turned to dust, while Iron Man and Nebula are lost in space, and Hawkeye was under house arrest after the events of Captain America: Civil War. Then there’s Captain Marvel, who was called back to Earth by Nick Fury in Infinity War’s post-credits scene, but arrives too late to stop Thanos. So, when do each of these heroes return to the fold?

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Hawkeye Trains His Daughter: The Opening Scene?

Clint Barton was absent through Avengers: Infinity War - a first for the expert archer, who was a core part of the team in both previous Avengers movies. The second trailer for Avengers: Endgame revealed the earliest shot, chronologically, of Clint Barton: training a girl (presumably his daughter, Lila Barton) in using a bow and arrow. There’s a good chance that this will also be the opening scene of the movie, to reintroduce Clint into the narrative and also show another perspective of “the snap.” If that’s the case, this heartwarming moment could well end in tragedy.

Thor and Rocket Head Off on Their Own

Neither Thor nor Rocket are present when Captain Marvel returns in the mid-credits scene, and neither are they present in the scenes from the first trailer when the other Avengers are taking account of the missing people, or in the shot outside Avengers HQ when the others are looking up at the sky. It seems clear that Thor and his “sweet rabbit” don’t stick around for long after Thanos snaps his fingers, but instead leave Earth - most likely in search of the remaining Asgardians. Thor and Rocket were both shown in the Super Bowl spot on what appears to be another planet, with an ocean and mountains. It makes sense that Thor would choose to find a new home for his people before returning to Earth to help the Avengers.

Captain Marvel Returns Shortly After the Snap

Based on both Captain Marvel’s mid-credits scene and her scenes in the Avengers: Endgame trailer, it’s clear that she returns to Earth within days of receiving Nick Fury’s message. Distance isn’t much of an issue for Captain Marvel, since she absorbed the power of the Space Stone and is capable of traveling faster than the speed of light, but we don’t know where she was or what she was doing when Fury sent his message. Regardless, it seems as though she made it back to Earth pretty quickly, since the Avengers are still trying to regroup and take stock of the devastation when she returns.

Iron Man and Nebula Arrive on Earth

Both the first trailer and the second trailer for Avengers: Endgame open with Tony Stark facing a hopeless situation in space, stuck on the Guardians of the Galaxy’s ship (The Benatar) with Nebula. It’s clear that he doesn’t make it back to Earth before Captain Marvel arrives, but it’s probably only a matter of weeks before he does (enough time passes that the ship runs out of food and oxygen). The Super Bowl teaser for Avengers: Endgame showed Tony and Nebula working on repairs for the ship, followed by a shot of Natasha (still with fairly short blonde hair), Steve, Bruce, and Rhodey at Avengers HQ looking up at the sky - most likely at The Benatar as it returns to Earth.

Ant-Man Shows Up At Avengers HQ

The latest trailer for Avengers: Endgame showed Scott Lang standing outside his old house looking at Missing posters with an expression of confusion, indicating that this scene takes place shortly after he escapes the Quantum Realm and discovers what has happened to the world. The house behind him has a front yard that’s overgrown with weeds, with ivy creeping up the walls and dust gathering on the garbage cans, and the Missing posters are slightly faded, so clearly several weeks or even months have passed since “the snap.” Some fans have noticed that Scott appears to be pulling Hank Pym’s portable lab along with him in this shot, which is important because it seems as though the Quantum Realm will be crucial to the Avengers’ mission to save the world. Thus, Ant-Man’s arrival at Avengers HQ will likely be what changes the Avengers’ position from one of despair to one of planning.

Thor and Rocket Return to Earth

If Ant-Man is the impetus for the Avengers to begin hatching a plan, then his arrival will also likely be what draws Thor and Rocket back to Earth. The first meeting between Thor and Captain Marvel, shown in the latest Endgame trailer, does not take place immediately after she arrives on Earth (a moment shown in Captain Marvel’s post-credits scene), but some time after. However, we know that Thor does return (presumably with Rocket) before any significant jump forward in time, because in the wide shot of this scene Black Widow still has short, blonde hair.

Page 2: The Avengers Come Up With a Plan

The Avengers Come Up With a Plan

If Scott Lang does bring Hank Pym’s laboratory with him, the combined brain power of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner should be more than enough to start piecing together a plan for undoing Thanos’ galactic-scale mass murder. The conversation between Black Widow and Captain America in the first trailer for Avengers: Endgame points to the team coming up with an idea quite early on. Natasha says, “This is going to work, Steve,” to which he responds, “I know it is. Because I don’t know what I’m going to do if it doesn’t.” However, the trailers also indicate that some time passes before their plan is put into action.

Black Widow Training

We’ve seen Black Widow with short blonde hair in previous trailers, and with blonde-tipped long red hair in the most recent trailer - but what about this shot of Natasha with long(ish) blonde hair? Our best guess is that this shooting range scene takes place shortly before Black Widow heads to Tokyo in search of Clint Barton, pointing to a time jump of several months.

Black Widow Recruits Ronin

It’s generally assumed that Hawkeye’s family were turned to dust when Thanos snapped his fingers, and that this is what spurs him to adopt a new persona: Ronin. When Natasha first finds him in Tokyo, with his new identity (and weapon of choice), she still has her longer blonde hair and Clint’s hair appears to be shorter than the fully grown-out mohawk we see him with later (though that could just be because it’s wet). Regardless, the length and color of Black Widow’s hair indicates that while Clint may be one of the last Avengers to be recruited for the new mission, he’s still recruited - or at the very least, approached - before the major jump forward in time.

Black Widow and Hawkeye Team Up Again

We haven’t actually seen Hawkeye in his Ronin garb outside of that one shot in Tokyo, and the second trailer for Avengers: Endgame showed him with his new mohawk, using a bow and arrow again instead of a sword. This suggests that Clint’s time as Ronin is only temporary, and he reverts back to being Hawkeye once he joins the Avengers again. Assuming that Clint did lose his family when Thanos snapped his fingers, he would surely leap at any chance to bring them back.

Suiting Up For the Quantum Realm Mission

Barring the trailers’ action shots (more on those in a moment), the furthest peek along the Avengers: Endgame timeline that we see appears to be this shot, of the Avengers assembling in their new, white suits. The popular theory is that these suits are designed to help them survive in the Quantum Realm, a dimension that was introduced in the Ant-Man movies, which is accessed by shrinking down to the sub-atomic level. In the Quantum Realm, time and space become irrelevant, so with the right calibrations it could be the perfect path for anyone who wanted to, say, travel back in time to prevent a series of events that would lead to a Mad Titan wiping out half of all life in the universe.

Context Unknown: The Action Shots

Because so much of the Avengers: Endgame trailers have been dedicated to the immediate aftermath of “the snap,” showing our heroes either in a state of despair or declaring their intention not to give up, the few shots we’ve seen of them in action are harder to place. These are:

  • A miniaturized Ant-Man leaping through some kind of office environment during a battle scene. Hawkeye running through a narrow metal corridor and leaping away from an explosion. A dirt-covered Captain America tightening his shield strap on a battlefield. Nebula charging on a battlefield. Thor powering up his lightning abilities while holding Stormbreaker. Rocket riding on War Machine’s shoulder.

It’s possible that some of these battle scenes are taken from a fight scene that takes place early on in the movie, especially since Marvel Studios seems reluctant to show much beyond Endgame’s first act. We should also keep in mind that the studio isn’t above altering action scenes in order to hide story beats (for example, trailers for Infinity War showed Hulk fighting in Wakanda, rather than Bruce in the Hulkbuster suit). In fact, the Russos have openly admitting to manipulating Endgame’s footage with CG to try and trick savvy audiences. So, while we think we have an idea of how the film’s third act plays out - and what the Avengers’ plan involves - it’s possible they’ve managed to fool us all.

More: Avengers: Endgame Trailer 2 Breakdown - 43 Story Reveals & Secrets You Missed

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