Kevin Feige Confirms 'Avengers: Endgame' Title Existed Before Filming For 'Infinity War' Began

With the reveal of the title of Avengers 4 as Avengers: Endgame last month, our months of breathless speculation was finally put to rest. But that doesn't mean we can't be a little sour that the folks at Marvel Studios led us on a merry chase for so long. You may have blocked it out of your memory, but it was one denial after another any time we got close to the actual title, which was speculated mere months after the release of Avengers: Infinity War. Now that the beans have been spilled, Marvel chief Kevin Feige is happy to talk about the title — specifically, how long they had locked down the Endgame title, which apparently was a done deal before they had even begun filming Infinity War.

In an interview with MTV News, Feige confirmed that the title "was in place before we started developing the movie. Or just as we were developing it."

Since both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame have been in some stage of development or production for nearly five years, that means Marvel knew the title for half a decade, and have been deliberately obfuscating the truth for at least a year whenever directly asked whether the title was Endgame. The biggest hint — apart from the set photo that the Russo brothers posted — was that the title was never spoken in Avengers: Infinity War, which again is kind of a lie. Feige himself confirmed that the title was the reason why Doctor Strange tells Tony Stark, "This is the endgame" before he turns to dust. "So Doctor Strange says that line because we knew it was the title," Feige said.

I guess if you want to get down to technicalities, Doctor Strange never specifically says "This is the Avengers: Endgame" so the Russo brothers can skate by on that one. But it's still frustrating. Marvel Studios keeps a tight lid on their secrets, but whether the title was a secret or not, fans will still show up at the theater. But Feige emphasized that they wanted to generate excitement while keeping fans in the dark:

"As was the case with a lot of our films, this one in particular, being able to generate a lot of excitement without giving away one of the many, many, many secrets. I think the Disney marketing team is the best in the world and we'll be able to pull it off."

But whatever the case with titles and theories, at least we can only focus on getting excited for Avengers: Endgame, which Feige promises will be an ending fans won't forget.

"That ending, which we had been working on for many years, and I do remember people, on all of the movies we've made and I'm sure on many of the movies we'll make in the future, whenever the good guy wins, which is often — good guy, good woman, good hero wins — they go, 'Eh, it's kind of predictable. Good guy wins.' Well, sometimes that's fun. But for years I remember thinking, 'I wonder what they're going to do when they don't?' Because we knew that was coming. And it couldn't have been better. The reaction was the best. The reaction. Was. The. Best."

Avengers: Endgame opens in theaters on April 26, 2019.