--- title: "Captain America Basically Leads An Insurgency In The First Trailer For ‘Avengers: Endgame’" date: "2018-12-07" modified: "2018-12-07" authors: - name: "Jared Keller" job_title: "Former Managing Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/captain-america-basically-leads-an-insurgency-in-the-first-trailer-for-avengers-endgame/" categories: - "Culture" - "Entertainment" - "Mandatory Fun" --- # Captain America Basically Leads An Insurgency In The First Trailer For ‘Avengers: Endgame’ ![]() In the not-too-distant future, a disgraced Army O-3 will lead a group of heavily-armed, specially-trained special operations forces — including an [active-duty Air Force O-6](), [an ex-KGB assassin](), a [retired marksman](), and [renegade scientist,]() among others — to lead a semi-religious insurgency against a giant purple despot. No, this isn't a lost Tom Clancy manuscript, or the story of Hanukkah soaked in LSD — this is the new trailer for the fourth *Avengers* movie, aptly titled *Avengers: Endgame.* Here's a brief breakdown of the new trailer — and why it basically looks like an insurgency feisty enough to make the Taliban look like a bunch of amateurs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuOvmyuYFMo **[0:01 - 1:00:]()** The first minute of the trailer is Tony Stark doing his best performance from *Hamlet*. A contrite former weapons manufacturer faced with ultimate military defeat? A taste a hubris tinged with metal and fear? Alas, poor Yorick! We're sure Stark will return with some gangster tech at the end of the movie. **[1:01 - 1:09]():** Thanos, having picked up all six Infinity Stones and wiped our half of all sentient life in the universe in *Avengers: Infinity War*, is not enjoying his post-genocidal life of leisure in a field somewhere. You'll note the scarecrow, decked in his battle armor, as a warning to potential pests — how appropriate that the one hegemonic superpower left in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is played by the same guy who gave us cinema's best portrayal of George W. Bush. **[1:10 - 1:23]():** It's briefing time at the last remaining forward operating base for the UN's global strike force. With the world in chaos and the entire universe in the palm of Thanos' hands — and with everyone, including Col. James Rhodes, AWOL under the Sokovia accords — it's not as though the Avengers are part of a regular army like the Kree or Nova Corps that Thanos might recognize as a legitimate military force. This, by definition, makes them insurgents, and scary ones at that — as soon as Captain America stops crying. **[1:24-1:28:]()**Nebula is mourning her dead sister Gamora on Stark's interstellar ride. Seems like a bummer trip, but one laden with meaning: With her heart bursting with revenge, we'll likely see Nebula play a key role in the climax of the film. Either that or she turns Stark's carriage into a VBIED to buy Captain America's crew some time. **[1:29-1:37]():** "We lost family," Captain America says in a voiceover as we see Clinton Barton rocking swords instead of his regular bow and arrow. This is an allusion to Ronin, his mainstream comics persona adopted in the aftermath of a major trauma. We're assuming this means Thanos' universe-wide slaughter took out his wife and kids, too — all with the snap of his fingers. At least you can see a drone coming **[1:38]():** Captain America and Black Widow are in the cockpit of a vessel. They're on a last-ditch mission to turn things around. Annnnnd our title is *Avengers: Endgame*. This, by the way, is a reference to Doctor Strange's proclamation to Stark in *Infinity War* that, after giving up his Time Stone to Thanos, "we're in the end game now." At least the Infinity War isn't turning into a Forever War. So to summarize: A beaten group of rebel soldiers from a broken nation are basically embarking on a suicide mission against the greatest superpower the planet has ever known. They should have called it *Avengers: Insurgency*. **WATCH NEXT:** ## Author Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Facebook]() [LinkedIn]() [Instagram]()