I feel like some people like to say that the ending of the TV series was a big troll, or even that Anno was trolling his fanbase with EoE and calling them out, but I think he was just doing the best with the resources he had available at the time. (though fan feedback definitely did influence EoE)
With 3.0 though, I definitely think that Anno was trolling. In a fun way. Not malicious. And mainly just in regards to the time-skip. With the whole "Curse of Eva" schtick and revealing the first footage months before its release with the Asuka-in-space fight, and then using that same fight as a promo that aired on tv the night before 3.0 came out. I definitely think he was trying to set people up for whiplash when the movie started and they found out that 14 years had passed.
So here are just some things I think he could troll us with this time.
・Avant 1 and/or the teaser footage we've seen isn't actually in the final film (ala the 3.0 preview at the end of 2.0)
・parallel universe hijinks (the TV series is directly referenced in some way)
・time-travel hijinks (Shinji literally goes back in time to 1.0)
・this is actually not the final film, ends with a preview of 3.0+2.0 (based on the mystery of the wierd three date listing on Anno's lantern)
・he sets up a shared universe with Shin Ultraman
・meta live-action sequence revolving on our actual reality as a plot point
Then you have the more straightforward "trolls" like:
・Sequel Theory CONFIRMED
So has anyone else thought of any "Oh my GOD! What if he did that?!" trolls? Doesn't have to be serious or anything. And I'd love to hear any strong reactions anyone got from the idea of any of these trolls actually coming to fruition.
Personally, I really love the dumb time travel idea and I think it would be so dumb and crazy I would accept it. It would be hilarious if half the movie was 3.0 timeline and half was 1.0 timeline.
More realistically though, I wouldn't be surprised if we get one last time-skip at the end of the film to act as the final scene of the movie ala "One More Final".