Endgame: Fan-Theory Suggests That The Key To Defeat Thanos Is To End A Time Loop

An Avengers: Endgame theory contends the way to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin) following his decimation of precisely half of the universe’s living creatures lies in a trick initially employed in Doctor Strange.

Reddit user u/RahulVijh, posting on the site’s popular Fan Theories subreddit, trusts Earth’s mightiest heroes are caught in a time loop, like the spell cast by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), who used the Eye of Agamotto — powered by the Time Stone, one of six Infinity Stones coveted by Thanos — while battling between dimensional conquerer Dormammu, who the wizard crushed by trapping Dormammu in an unending time loop.

The Reddit user contends the events occurring post-Doctor Strange — all of Phase Three, including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp — is part of a comparative unending loop that will repeat until the point that it’s broken in Endgame.

A key moment belonging to Sorcerer Supreme’s loop, RahulVijh argues, is Strange giving over the gleaming green Time Stone to Thanos, which he surrendered to save the life of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) before telling the Avenger they’re “in the endgame now.”

That circle isn’t broken by Strange’s ensuing death caused by Thanos’ Infinity Stone-fueled snap that devastated half of the universe in light of the fact that — as Strange recently revealed to Thanos lackey Ebony Maw — a dead man’s spell is hard to break.

The user proceeds to argue that time loop is the reasoning for the Infinity War title, believing the war between Thanos and the heroes “isn’t infinite in distance but in iterations” in addition to the “war” happening over the six Infinity Stones. The audience at that point sees only one emphasis of that infinite time loop, which will be finished when the heroes win the day and stop the loop in Endgame.

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a.k.a. Ant-Man is pointed as a “trump card” who will be significant in helping break the loop. The size-altering superhero was most recently seen stranded in the tricky Quantum Realm in the mid-credits scene in Ant-Man and the Wasp, where he was cautioned by Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) to avoid getting sucked into a time vortex when venturing into the world-between-worlds.

Ant-Man will get away from the time time-loop by going through a time vortex in the Quantum Realm, the user argues, enabling him to reach the Avengers facility and contact Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) — and at last help the heroes accomplish one of the 14 million or more realities where they win the day.