The Avengers have assembled (off-screen) once again! The press tour officially began last week for Avengers: Endgame, this time with a few different faces, plus some very notable but unsurprising absences. For instance, Brie Larson has joined the remaining Avengers in the press room for the first time, and Jeremy Renner has also returned to join the Original Six after being absent from the Infinity War festivities last year.
One cast member noticeably absent is Chadwick Boseman, whose death as Black Panther in Infinity War shook fans to the core. While the actor is very grateful that fans have so deeply connected to his character, he adamantly continues the on-screen narrative of his character’s death. At an appearance at CinemaCon last week, Boseman was asked about Endgame, and he was very quick to say that he knows nothing because his character is dead. That was the story he stuck to despite many rumors of his return, and that’s the only story we are going to get until opening night—if he is proved wrong.
This press tour is exceptionally special because it may be the last go around for some of the original cast members we’ve come to know and love over the last 11 years. As speculation about character deaths and expiring actor contracts looms over the future of the MCU, the press rounds are already starting to look like a big party for all the graduating seniors!
As for the remaining living Avengers, it’s certainly a different environment this time around. The gang is enjoying each other’s company, but Marvel Studios is making sure no one forgets, not even the cast members, that half of their friends are gone. At the press junket last week, the stage was set for all the current cast members and directors to answer questions, but there were also empty chairs set up to remind everyone of all of the heroes that perished in Infinity War.
Additionally, as most of the cast members know, it’s a minefield at these press junkets when it comes to avoiding spoilers. When asked questions, many of the cast members have to obviously sidestep any kind of real answer. Thanks to the shared terror of all the actors not wanting to let anything slip, they often come to each other’s rescue when asked too-specific questions and quickly change the subject. This isn’t exactly the type of information the public hopes to learn from a publicity event like this, but with the MCU films, we should all know the protocol by now.
Perhaps a better use of the remaining Avengers assembled is to feature them in funny skits that really give away nothing about Endgame. At least, this is what the team at Jimmy Kimmel Live! figured. Instead of answering probing questions about the finale to come, the Avengers cast read from the children’s book version of Infinity War called The Mad Titan Thanos. Though this reading gave us no new information, it sure was funny.
The press tour is in full swing now! There are surely more dodged questions and funny behind-the-scenes stories to come as the cast makes their way overseas and continues to assemble (for the last time?) before Avengers: Endgame comes to theaters on April 26, 2019.