UPDATE: The Super Bowl TV spot speculation was dead-on. Avengers: Endgame aired a 30-second ad/second trailer during Super Bowl 2019. Marvel Studios appears to be sticking with what worked last year. If it ain't broke...
Original post:
Spoiler alert: Much like the first Avengers: Endgame trailer, this post comes with many questions but no clear answers. Not yet. For now, we're just juggling a bunch of questions on Avengers 4, including speculation on when the next -- at this point, second -- trailer is coming out. If you don't have the patience for speculation ... it's hard to imagine why you'd still be a fan of the MCU, but you do you. Feel free to move onward.
Avengers: Infinity War came out last April, and released its first trailer the previous November. That's the same set-up as Avengers: Endgame, which released its first trailer in November and comes out this April. So we can start future Endgame trailer/TV spot speculation with what Marvel did last year for Infinity War.
Super Bowl 2019
Marvel aired a 30-second Infinity War commercial during Super Bowl 2018. That ad was viewed 17.6 million times across Facebook and YouTube, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and it reportedly generated the most social media buzz of any Super Bowl commercial last year. Super Bowl 2019 airs Sunday, February 3, 2019, so there's a chance we'll get an Avengers: Endgame ad this year.
Also, Infinity War's Super Bowl spot aired shortly after the first trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp, the third MCU movie of 2018. We just got the first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home, the third MCU movie of 2019, so a Super Bowl spot for Endgame would keep to that schedule.
That said, the set-up of 2019 is more delicate on the spoiler front, and they could decide to just air a Captain Marvel spot for the Super Bowl 2018 instead.
Things are slightly different this year, in that Black Panther was released in February 2018 before the April debut of Infinity War, and Black Panther wasn't expected to have a lot of spoilers that would influence Infinity War. This year, Captain Marvel arrives on March 8, 2019 and it is definitely expected to have a lot of spoilers that will influence Endgame the next month. Not only that, Endgame is being followed by Spider-Man: Far From Home, and the first Far From Home trailer has fans deeply confused about its timeline in relation to Avengers: Endgame.
So Avengers: Endgame has a lot of 'splainin' to do, but also many more secrets to keep than even Avengers: Infinity War had to juggle. Does that mean we'll get fewer trailers and TV spots for Endgame, or will they just continue to play coy with the information?
Oscars 2019
The Oscars are apparently going without a host in 2019, with various stars instead taking turns introducing segments. But ABC reportedly wants to get some Avengers: Endgame stars in on the action, and that could be used for a trailer tie-in. ABC is owned by Disney, which also owns Marvel Studios. So it would be easy cross-promotion to reward the fans watching Avengers stars at the Oscars with some new Endgame footage. The 91st Academy Awards air Sunday, February 24 on ABC, so that would be after the Super Bowl.
This is the kind of thing where it would be smart for ABC to announce in advance if Avengers stars will not only be around to present at the Oscars, but also to reveal new Endgame footage. Awards shows are losing relevance and this would be a good way to get more fans to watch.
After Captain Marvel
The second official trailer for Avengers: Infinity War was released on March 16, 2018. That was one month after the premiere of Black Panther, which was released on February 16, 2018, and about a month before Avengers: Infinity War was released in theaters on April 27, 2018 (after moving its date up from early May, just like Endgame).
This year, Captain Marvel is opening March 8. So ... what are they going to do with that, when Endgame opens a month later? Wait a full month for the Endgame trailer, or capitalize on the interest by giving us the official second trailer only a week after Captain Marvel's opening? Would that distract too much from Captain Marvel, or be considered too much of a spoiler for Captain Marvel?
They could easily do some non-spoilery teasers, but Infinity War trailer #2 was pretty meaty in terms of new footage. Releasing the second trailer after Captain Marvel would help tie her into the story, since they can't really show her there until fans meet her and understand why -- and how -- she's connected to the Endgame. But how soon after Captain Marvel's release would it be OK to show her with the Avengers?
ABC could have the Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame casts together on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! or Good Morning America and use that as a jumping off point for new Endgame footage. That way they could promote both movies on Disney-owned shows. We'll have to wait and see if they go for that option.
The second Avengers: Infinity War trailer was viewed 179 million times in the first 24 hours. That was the biggest release for a second trailer. Considering Avengers: Endgame set a new 24-hour record for its first trailer, defeating Infinity War's record, there's a very good chance the official second trailer for Endgame will also snap out Infinity War's other record.
Never
Honestly, I'm rooting for never, even though it's the least likely next trailer option. It's not like they need to market Avengers: Endgame to get us into seats. The less we know from here, the better. Besides, they lie. Remember the photo above? That was from the first big Avengers: Infinity War trailer -- the equivalent of the first Avengers: Endgame trailer we just saw in November. That running scene never made the cut of the movie, it was trailer misdirection.
You can't trust these Marvel folks! Fans were originally told that Spider-Man: Far From Home starts after Avengers: Endgame, and that may still be the case, but the first Far From Home trailer is still trying to keep more timeline secrets. Could that be because Endgame will reveal how Peter Parker is still around after he was snapped in Infinity War? Or did they lie and Far From Home actually takes place before Endgame?
It's possible the first trailer we already saw for Avengers: Endgame includes some misdirection, and future trailers will mislead us in new ways. According to the Russo Brothers, Endgame will be around three hours long, so there's a lot of footage they could show. But unless they create new footage just for the trailers -- and they very well might -- what they show will inevitably spoil a plot point from Avengers 4 and possibly Spider-Man: Far From Home as well.
Long story short: shrug emoji. But the earth beneath you will quake when new footage from Avengers: Endgame shows up, so don't go thinking you'll miss it. What I'm worried about is what we will all look forward to once the film is out and over -- most likely marking the departures of several favorite characters, whether they die or just retire. For now, we wait.
The 2019 Marvel Cinematic Universe will first give us Captain Marvel on March 8, then Avengers: Endgame on April 26, then Sony/Marvel's Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5.
