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Avengers 4 title Avengers: Endgame was a long kept secret and it was said it can spoil the Infinity Wars:

But how? How come this title was so big deal? Is this title have anything to do with some comic-book reference?

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  • Should this be flagged? Pretty sure it violates the Future Works policy, just want to be sure.
    – Gothamite24
    Commented Dec 20, 2018 at 3:27
  • Personally, I think the refusal to reveal the title for avoiding spoilers was for a couple of reasons 1) HYPE - to get people more excited about it 2) fake, as it doesn't really reveal much of anything (end of the Avengers? Hardly) 3) strategic, as it gave them a chance to change it if needed. All speculation, no evidence so just a comment, not an answer :)
    – m1gp0z
    Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 15:13

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"Endgame" isn't a reference to the comics, but to Infinity War. Specifically, Dr. Strange's remark upon surrendering the Time Stone:

We're in the endgame now.

This line - and his parting remark, "This was the only way" - were taken as indications that his actions throughout Infinity War, including surrendering the Time Stone, were all part of a complex long-term gambit to achieve the one timeline where Thanos is defeated. The fact it's now the title of the sequel would appear to confirm that theory.

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    Also Tony mentions "end game" in the Avengers: Age of Ultron, when he was describing the goals he had in mind for the ultron program, to Bruce Banner.
    – Thusal Hettiarachchi
    Commented Dec 14, 2018 at 4:45
  • Even better, Black Widow mentions "end game" in Marvel's The Avengers, when she's interrogating Loki and learning his plan for the Hulk
    – Gothamite24
    Commented Apr 25, 2019 at 5:59
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In chess the endgame is considered a phase of the game where it can be important to sacrifice a powerful piece in order to win the game. Many see that as an indication that while we might see a victory for our Marvel heroes, they might need to buy that with some true lasting sacrifices, e.g. loss/deaths of characters that won't be undone.

There's also some other associations with a chess endgame:

  1. It's likely there is some form of "Zugzwang", i.e. one party needs to do a move they'd rather not do. For example they might need to take an enemy piece in order to not loose or move to another position, but that move means defeat in the next round - or at least an even worse situation.
  2. Pawns become more important, especially if they get through to the other side (turning them into more powerful pieces). This makes moves that sacrifice a powerful piece for a pawn to reach the other side more likely.
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    Sacrifices in the opening and middle game are also reasonably common, although opening sacrifices are not usually very large. I wouldn't consider this a feature of the endgame. One characteristic of the endgame is that it's part of the game where there's enough pieces off the board so that things become much easier to predict.
    – David Thornley
    Commented Dec 13, 2018 at 18:40
  • @DavidThornley As a non-expert on chess my understanding is that it's more likely sacrificing an important piece is helpful to win and an "okay" tactic whereas initially one would rather sacrifice a less important piece.
    – Frank Hopkins
    Commented Dec 14, 2018 at 11:53
  • @Darkwing in Chess, realistically all pieces except King are sacrificial. Its much more than an "okay" tactic if your opponent bites so hard on taking that sacrifice but leaving King vulnerable to checkmate/stalemate.
    – enorl76
    Commented Dec 18, 2018 at 7:05
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Before Infinity War came out, there was no indication that this would be a two-part story. As far as anyone knew, Avengers 4 was just going to be another Avengers movie. Viewers going into the first movie didn't know that the heroes wouldn't be victorious in the end.

But the title "Endgame" suggests that it would be the ending of the story from Infinity War, which in turn gives away the fact that Infinity War isn't a complete story by itself. That implies that the good guys didn't win -- effectively giving away a major part of the ending of the first film.

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    Actually everyone and their dog knew that Infinity War and Endgame were basically two halves of a single film. To the point that the original title was 'Infinity War Part One"
    – Valorum
    Commented May 2, 2019 at 17:21

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