Who was the mystery boy at the end of Avengers: Endgame?
An enigmatic figure actually has close ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe – contains SPOILERS
By the end of Avengers: Endgame all sorts of Marvel mysteries are solved for the film’s fans – but in its final scenes, it also poses a bit of a puzzler for audiences by introducing a mysterious character that doesn’t appear in the film before that point.
Beware – from hereon out we’ll be dealing with SERIOUS spoilers for Endgame, so if you haven’t seen the film yet please bookmark this, look away then come back to read the rest.
Still here? OK, can’t say we didn’t warn you.
The mystery young man turns up towards the end of the film when the assembled heroes (plus William Hurt’s Secretary Ross, among other cameos) are mourning at Tony Stark’s funeral.
As the camera pans over the likes of Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Nick Fury and more, it also lingers on the boy as he stands slightly away from the other mourners.
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He doesn’t say anything and no clues are given to his identity – he’s not seen again after this point – but if you cast your mind back quite a few movies and mentally de-age him a little, you might be able to work out the Marvel movie he’s appeared in before.
Yep, that’s right – this mystery character is none other than Harley Keener, aka actor Ty Simpkins, aka the little kid from 2013's Iron Man 3 who helps Tony (Robert Downey Jr) when he crash-lands his armour near his garage. Simpkins is also known for playing one of the kids in Jurassic World, if that helps.
In the film, Harley plays a fairly key role in helping Tony get back in the game after some difficult defeats, and the pair’s back-and-forth repartee was considered a highlight of the movie for many, so it seems only appropriate that Simpkins was invited back to cameo as his character for Downey Jr’s grand exit from the MCU.
Though, given Avengers: Endgame’s five-year time jump, we can’t help but feel he should be a little older…
Avengers: Endgame is in UK cinemas now
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.