SALT LAKE CITY — “Avengers: Endgame” might have been referencing a cosmic Marvel character during one of its jokes.
In “Endgame,” there’s a moment War Machine(Don Cheadle) suggested to the Avengers team that they can go back in time to kill baby Thanos (Josh Brolin).
The dark humor moment might actually be a reference to a comic book storyline surrounding Cosmic Ghost Rider, according to ComicBook.com.
In a five-issue series, Cosmic Ghost Rider, who is actually Frank Castle (formerly the Punisher) from the future, travels back in time to kill Thanos as an infant before he becomes the evil villain.
“To make a long story short, Castle was unable to kill the child, so he ended up serving as Thanos' surrogate father and raised the child as his own. As fate would have it, it's eventually revealed that Castle's past as The Punisher is what launched Thanos off his psychotic path,” according to ComicBook.com.
Yes, but: “Cosmic Ghost Rider” miniseries released in July 2018, which was after “Avengers: Endgame” finished its principal photography.
“Since ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame’ filmed back to back, it's all but guaranteed that the script for the fourth ‘Avengers’ film was done long before the miniseries was starting to take to shape, let alone hitting comic shelves,” according to ComicBook.com. “It should be noted, however, that reshoots took place last fall, and it's certainly possible they added the line in at that point, though unlikely.”