You know the shocked look on Steve Rogers’ face in the Avengers: Endgame trailer when Scott Lang rings his doorbell? We must have made that same facial expression when we discovered that Tilda Swinton on the movie’s IMDb page. She’s far from the only surprise among the cast, though. But what could these unexpected characters mean for the movie?
The official Endgame IMDb page cast list includes every major character who was dusted by Thanos, but that’s not unexpected (the Black Panther and Spider-Man sequels say hello). What is surprising is seeing Swinton’s The Ancient One, who died in Doctor Strange. So is this more proof the movie will involve time travel? Will we see her in the past, or could she communicate forward through time itself? Maybe through another dimension?
Time travel would also explain why Frank Grillo’s Crossbones, killed in Civil War, is listed too. Grillo recently denied that he has a role in Endgame, but only after having said he would appear in the film. IMDb also listed plenty of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, even though the agency was disbanded (in the MCU movies) after Civil War.
Another clue that Endgame might be going back in time, and how far it might be going, is IMDb’s listing of characters named “’70s Car Girl #1” and “1970s Scientist/Lab Worker.” Again, it’s possible those characters could be seen in a flashback, but there is one final surprise character who seems unlikely to be seen in the past: Ty Simpkins, the kid from 2013’s Iron Man 3. Since the 17-year-old actor now looks too old to play 12, we would only see him (in new footage) in Endgame‘s present day.
BOND! James Bond… or not pic.twitter.com/hURxSFF5Y1
â TY SIMPKINS (@TYSIMPKINSactor) September 10, 2017
Could Tony turn to Simpkins’ Harley Keener for help with a project? Was Keener orphaned when his parents vanished in the Snappening? Or could Simpkins assume the role of Iron Man in the MCU after Tony’s death or retirement?
Or is this all less exciting than we thought because these old characters are erroneously listed and won’t actually be in the film? IMDb isn’t always the most reliable source, since so many people can edit pages. While the site tries to keep each film’s page as accurate as possible, mistakes do happen. It’s more than fair to be skeptical about seeing The Ancient One, Crossbones, or Harley Keener.
If you are looking for a reason to believe, there is one sign someone is paying attention to the page. All of the dusted victims are listed among the cast, but four major characters are not: Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Paul Bettany, and Zoe Saldana, who all played the characters we think actually died in Infinity War, are conspicuously absent. We think at least some of those four will appear in Endgame, and yet someone cared enough not to officially include them in the cast.
Maybe The Ancient One knows what to make of all of this. Hopefully she’ll be ring our doorbell and tell us.
Images: Marvel