My Problem With Avengers 4 Title Drama

When the Russo brothers agreed to take on the responsibility of directing Avengers 3 and 4, the movies were originally going to be titled Infinity War Part 1 and Part 2. Then somewhere during the production process decided to drop "Part 2" and leave the title of Avengers 4 blank. They teased it as a great mystery, even prior to the release of the first movie. This gave rise to a variety of fan theories speculating the final title. 

Then Infinity War was released, during which Doctor Strange delivers the iconic line "we are in the end game now". Almost immediately after the movie was released, the most popular title among movie theorists for A4 was Avengers End Game. It made so much sense. With the studio preparing to cut ties with some or all of the original Avengers in the cinematic Universe, all those classic cast members are in their "end game". 

That was the early favourite for the movie title, at least until Joe Russo shot that down a few days later. When asked in an interview if the Avengers 4 title was spoken dialogue in Infinity War (where clearly the interviewer was referring to End Game), Joe said no. He made a deliberate attempt to squash fans attempts to correctly guess the title, and it worked. The new favourite emerged as Avengers Annihilation and the Russo brothers continued their proliferation of the title mystery.

Fast forward to Friday, and we finally got to see the title of Avengers 4. It turned out to be Avengers End Game, exactly what everyone originally thought it was going to be. Forgive me if I'm feeling neither excited nor enthusiastic about this outcome. Fans already guessed what the title was going to be, you lied and said they were wrong, then spring this manufactured surprise when we were right along? Thanks, but no thanks.

We are still going to watch the movie, and this doesn't really curb our enthusiasm to see the final product. The trailer released yesterday looks compelling. I've just been left with a bitter taste in my mouth from this title mystery charade they have been dragging us through for an anti-climatic revelation. What was the point of all that? Seriously? Am I supposed to be more excited?

All we have really proven is that Joe Russo lies in interviews. I'm not going to hold a grudge because I do think they are great directors, I just think this whole A4 title drama was unnecessary. Originally, Marvel kept the title secret because they claimed it was a spoiler for Infinity War. The title End Game does not seem to spoil anything that happened in that movie and leaves us questioning their executives credibility.

This title reveal mess only lowers the trust level between Marvel fans and the studio. Why should we ever trust anything that anyone affiliated with the company speaks in the future? Kevin Feige was mostly honest throughout this title drama, saying that the title was simple and was made early on in the writing process. He also said that Marvel regretted withholding the title because it was not going to live up to expectations. That is exactly what happened. Feige did say we would get the trailer before the end of the year, which thankfully that did happen.

Feige may have been honest about the title, but the Russo brothers deceived fans. Their constant cryptic imagery on social media helped fuel speculation, when fans had originally correctly guessed the title. It would have been better if they had admitted that Endgame was the title as soon as it hit the internet. People would have moved on and it wouldn't have turned into this.