Watch MCU stars juggle Marvel lore to break out of Endgame escape room

We don’t know why they did it, and we’re not asking. All we do know is that Marvel’s new feature starring four huge MCU stars working themselves into a hilarious panic while trying to break out of an Avengers: Endgame-themed escape room is a study in the Marvel cast’s magic team chemistry.

Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Letitia Wright (Shuri), and Sebastian Stan (Bucky) all scurry around like clueless allies in a twisted escape game controlled by a tongue-in-cheek sadistic version of the man behind the curtain — you know, the guy who’s pulling all the strings. In this case, that’s an apt metaphor, since the guy controlling the game via closed circuit television is none other than Endgame co-director Joe Russo.

Russo takes obvious delight in watching the assembled stars comedically stumble their way through the necessary Marvel lore that holds the key to finding the escape room’s hidden Infinity Stones, which can unlock their door to freedom:

At one point, Russo tells Stan to “check your drawers, Sebastian” to canvass the furniture in the room for clues. Mackie doesn’t miss a beat: “Hey Sebastian, take your pants off, dude!” Not to be outdone, Cumberbatch puts his thinking cap on, with more than a little help from Wright, who actually has to remind him of a vital piece of information: Doctor Strange’s Bleecker Street apartment address.

The group dynamic is every bit as genuine and frantic, if a little less snippy, than what we’ve come to expect when these actors’ larger-than-life superhero personalities flare up on the big screen. Put together as a post-release promotion for Endgame, the stars push the escape game’s 45-minute timer right up to the limit for a movie-worthy photo finish — again, thanks to Wright’s uncannily Shuri-like problem-solving skills.

Not that the movie needs any more promotion to break box office records. So far, Endgame has shattered just about every sales milestone there is, and now has its eyes set on James Cameron’s Avatar as the highest-grossing movie of all time. We suspect it’ll be lighting up the big screen for a while yet to come. Find out how the past 10 years of MCU buildup all pays off by checking out Avengers: Endgame at a theater near you.