The Marvel Studios Intro Is VERY Different In 'Avengers: Endgame' And You Might've Missed It
The flipping comic book pages that morph into the Marvel logo has become one of the most recognizable images in pop culture today. But since the Marvel Studios logo was introduced — first showing up in its modern form in 2002's Spider-Man before the studio was even established — it has slowly evolved. Ten years of one logo can get a little tiresome, after all, and with Marvel becoming a bigger behemoth with each record-breaking film, you've got to have an awesome logo to match.
But the Marvel Studios logo in Avengers: Endgame quietly changed in a way that was more than just a rebrand. Did you see what we're talking about?
Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War below.
In 2016, Doctor Strange introduced the modern Marvel Studios logo which showed the Marvel Cinematic Universe characters in the opening for the first time, rather than the comic book images that we had grown to know and love. This dynamic intro featured some of the most iconic moments of the MCU: Captain America throwing his shield, Iron Man raising his blasters for the first time, and other memorable moments that have appeared onscreen since 2008's Iron Man. It was a logo that carried us into Marvel's 10-year anniversary, which took place in 2018. But just the next year, in 2019's Avengers: Endgame, that logo would change — but not because the 10-year anniversary was over. It's because of the events of Avengers: Infinity War.
Did you spot it? At the beginning of Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Studios logo rolls out just as you expect it to, except a few key things are missing. There is Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, and Cap, of course, but where is Black Panther? Scarlet Witch? That's right, all the superheroes who vanished after Thanos' Snap are missing from the logo — a clever Easter egg that probably passed most people by when they first watched the film. It's a very clever way of introducing us to the empty world of Avengers: Endgame, and sets the foundation for a smaller, more intimate story.
It's been a long journey since the Marvel logo as we know it first showed up in front of 2002's Spider-Man. That logo would form the prototype for all Marvel introductions following it, from the bullet-riddled logos for Lionsgate's Punisher films, to the Marvel Knights logo for Sony's Ghost Rider movies. And of course, to the Marvel Studios logo, which first properly appears in Iron Man 2. Watch the evolution of the Marvel intro in the compilation video below.
A few fun things to note: the "Studios" in Marvel Studios first appears in Iron Man 2 before briefly disappearing with 2012's The Avengers. But it comes back again with Thor: The Dark World, which is the first MCU movie to have the 3D intro. This is where the logos begin to branch off from Sony's simple Spider-Man logos, which more or less stayed the same through Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films and the Amazing Spider-Man movies.
See the changed Avengers: Endgame Marvel Studios logo in theaters now.