How Star Trek: The Next Generation Inspired Avengers: Endgame’s Time Jump

Avengers: Endgame gave Marvel fans a peek into the past, present, and future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Endgame is hardly the first franchise film or television show to explore time jumps or time travel. Now Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has revealed the inspiration for the Avengers’ trip through time to be Star Trek: The Next Generation. During the “Vudu Viewing Party” on Twitter, Feige was asked why he chose to jump the MCU forward by five years in Avengers: Endgame. Feige cited the Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale episode “All Goods Things…” as the inspiration.

“I liked the idea of allowing our characters to evolve,” Feige tweeted via the Avengers Twitter account. “When I was a kid, the finale of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” did this very well, and more recently, “Veep” did a great job.”

For those Marvel fans who haven’t seen Star Trek: The Next Generation, “All Good Things…” takes place in three different periods in time. In the present, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) is the captain of the USS Enterprise. He begins having flashbacks to seven years earlier, during his first mission aboard the ship, the events of the pilot episode “Encounter at Farpoint.” These flashbacks alternate with flashes forward 25 years into the future, where the Enterprise crew have gone their separate ways. This format offers a chance for the cast and fans to look back at how much these characters have developed over seven seasons and a chance to see where they may end up in their later years.

Avengers: Endgame‘s structure is similar. We see the Avengers in the present, still reeling from Thanos’s attack on Earth. It jumps forward five years to see how they’ve all changed since then. And it sends the team back in time to offer a reminder of where the heroes started.

This isn’t the first time that Feige has noted Star Trek‘s influence on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s previously explained how the MCU, like Star Trek, seems to do something drastic in its third films.

“And I had never even thought out of this until right now, but maybe that is a trope that we…I had never thought of this before, but what do we do in Iron Man 3? Blow up Tony’s house, blow up all of his suits. What did we do in Captain America 3? Shatter the Avengers, shatter his relationships with Tony Stark and half of the characters that have become his present-day foundation,” Feige says. “In every part three, we can. And we’ve blown up Asgard in this! Oh, my God, we’re one-trick ponies. Search what happens in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. They blow up the Enterprise. That’s where we got it.”

What do you think of Star Trek‘s influence on the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let us know in the comments.