Avengers: Endgame
WARNING : Major looter forAvengers : Endgame .
Avengers : Endgamebrings time travel to the fore of the MCU and , as predicted , it ’s really rather complicated . Time travelling is n’t a totally new concept to the Marvel Cinematic Universe . Doctor Strange made use of the Time Stone in his solo movie to defeat theDark Dimension ’s Dormammuby trap him in a time loop , andAnt - Man and the Waspteased that the Quantum Realm had " clock time vortexes" . retaliator : Endgametakes that latter thread and runs with it .
After Thanos has destroy all the Infinity Stones and been stamp out by Thor , the Avengers are lack the mean to undo the effects of the gingersnap . A get around comes five years by and by in the kind of Scott Lang , whose sentence in theQuantum Realmfelt like only five hr ; he rationalizes that , because time act differently , it would be possible to leave and infix at different item across the timeline . A design is formulated , chair to the integral second number ofAvengers : Endgame(and a fair bit of the third ) being concern with prison term travel .
Related : Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie , Ranked ( Including Endgame )
retaliator : Endgame , as expect , does n’t make total sentience . It pulls from multiple dissimilar ideas of prison term travel , using them all at once for dissimilar ends . This is all in service of the characters and their combat against Thanos - you ca n’t get Captain America ’s improbably square ending without fudging thing a scrap - but it can mean making sense of what ’s going on a little tricky . And so here we ’ll explain every interrogative you could peradventure have aboutAvengers Endgame ’s fourth dimension travel .
First , though , here ’s a gloss of the four different type of metre travel that will be important in this discussion .
How Avengers: Endgame’s Time Travel Works
The justification of time travel is fundamental toAvengers : Endgame ’s second act , with characters repeatedly questioning its possiblity . Of of course , Tony Stark ’s scientific explanation - its perils are settle in quantum chromodynamics theory , Scott turned into a baby and old valet because of the EPR paradox and Deutsch proposition , the wrist joint gadget derive from the characteristic root of a square matrix of a particle battleground accounting for spectral decomposition under his Mobius comic strip configuration - glimpse with genuine theory but one without any literal app . Yes , Mobius strip time locomotion is a pre - existent melodic theme ( it ’s at the heart of the grandfather paradox ) , but it ’s not how the motion-picture show presents clip travel .
Later , when Bruce is attempting to get the Time Stone from the Ancient One , she talk to him and elaborates on his thought further : " The Infinity Stones make what you feel as the flow of meter . Remove one of the stones and that period splits . " This suggests that , while the post - Decimation future tense the Avengers have come from will be there when they return , their legal action in the yesteryear can impact the timeline to the point that fresh timelines are produce ( which , due to the deficiency of Stones , are much more pregnant ) . While it ’s possibleanychange could do this , it ’s only explicitly state that it hap when anInfinity Stoneis removed from the timeline , which Bruce proposes can be sterilise if they " return each one to its own timeline at the consequence it was direct so chronologically , in that reality , it never left . "
Related : Every Returning Character in Avengers : Endgame
In short , the Avengers ca n’t commute their own timeline as it already happen , so go into the past does n’t touch their own realness . However , removing the Infinity Stones from an early item does , creating drear timelines . To correct this , the Infinity Stones involve to be return to their original station in the timeline after use .
Now , both of these exposition part are shown inAvengers : Endgameto not have full knowledge of the situation - Bruce is enlighten by the Ancient One , who is herself by and by corrected byDoctor Strange ’s planinvolving giving up the Time Stone - but given these are the film ’s meridian expounding beat regarding sentence travel , they can be assumed to be think as accurate by the movie maker . The equivocalness come with what is a big enough change to change the timeline : take an Infinity Stone creates a subdivision , but returning it would essentially uncreate it ; but what does that intend of the fundamental interaction the future Avengers have with their past selves , or the full - on deflexion with Thanos ?
What The Avengers' Time Travel Plan Is In Endgame (& How It Goes Wrong)
The Avengers think to go back in meter to takes the Infinity Stones to attach to their own , new Infinity Gauntlet . They split up into four team : Iron Man , Captain America , Ant - Man and Hulk to New York duringThe Avengersto get the Tesseract , Loki ’s Scepter and Mind Stone ; Thor and Rocket to Asgard duringThor : The Dark Worldto transfer the Aether from Jane Foster ; War Machine and Nebula to get the Power Stone from the Morag at the start ofGuardians of the Galaxy ; and Hawkeye and Widow to retrieve the Soul Stone from Vormir .
There ’s a dubiousness of why they need to go to the events of the movies - while theBattle of New Yorkmakes sense due to the three Infinity Stone argument , the Aether was in the Collector ’s museum sinceThor : The Dark Worldand the Power Stone on Xandar followingGuardians of the Galaxy , site with fewer timeline implications . Of course , that would make for a much less interesting flick and is argued by in - universe as requiring eccentric ' knowledge of events .
Related : Every Marvel Movie Releasing After avenger : Endgame
The plan goes cockeyed in multiple cases . Clint gets the Soul Stone but has to miss Natasha ( which does n’t break away the timeline ) . Thor lecture to Frigga instant before her death , getting the auf wiedersehen he was surcharge and a speech about being a hero , before takingMjolnir . War Machine get the orb , but Nebula is stopped from traveling back to the present by 2014 Thanos . Captain America have the scepter after a hassle with his preceding self and Hulk the Time Stone ( as well as knowledge of the timeline issue above ) but Tony and Scott fail to guarantee the Tesseract , which Loki utilise to teleport out ; they or else go to 1970 to get it from Camp Lehigh in New Jersey , as well as more Pym Particles for the take journey .
Most Of The Infinity Stones (And Mjolnir) Create A Simple Time Loop
There ’s a good deal to break down here , so allow ’s first expect at the most simple case . The major wrinkle of taking the Infinity Stones create multiple timelines is addressed at the destruction ofAvengers : Endgame , with Steve Rogers returning them - along with Mjolnir - back to their original sentence periods . Assuming Cap does this aright ( as implied ) , that means the actions surrounding the Reality Stone inThor : The Dark World , the Space Stone in 1970 , the Mind Stone inThe Avengers , the Time Stone in 2012 and the Soul Stone in 2014 are all reverted to normal : he erases the timeline created by their remotion . The question of how on the dot Steve returned the Soul Stone , or his reaction toRed Skullbeing its guardian , is left to audiences ' imagination .
What that does result is a passably startling deduction : thisalwayshappened . Rocketalwaysstole the Aether from Jane , Howard Starkalwaysbumped into grown - up Tony on the day of his son ’s parentage , the Ancient Onealwaystalked to Banner four years before her death . It ’s a running timeline and all of this was perish on in the backcloth of the MCU all along . While that ’s a retcon by anyone ’s reasoning , it is rather tight ; none of the mentioned past - future interactions directly controvert the timeline .
Loki Created A New Timeline?
The first rightful interruption ( or deflexion ) of the Marvel timeline inAvengers : Endgameis regarding the Space Stone in 2012 . Tony and Scott intend to give2012 Tony an arc nuclear reactor failurewhen he meets Secretary Pierce ( something that presumably always happened ) , allow them to bump off the Tesseract briefcase from the equality . An raging 2012 Hulk complicates matters and theSpace Stone is achieve by Loki , who teleports out of New York .
Related : The Tesseract Timeline ( Including Captain Marvel )
The knock - on effects of this are serious : directly , Loki is still working for Thanosat this point so may give him the Space Stone years earlier ; from a pic perspective , he is n’t there for the upshot ofThor : The Dark WorldorRagnarok , imply Odin is never replaced and , possibly , Asgard may not be destroyed and Thor never loses Mjolnir ; the Avengers also have n’t make out their first commission , probably keeping them together longer and impacting solo film up to and beyondCaptain America : Civil War . The extent of all of this is speculation , sure as shooting , but the very immediate potential is massive . This would also mean that everything that occur subsequently in this clip period isnotpart of the prime MCU universe : Steve Rogers did n’t always fight his future ego because he was never looking for Loki .
Practically , this is a get around ofLoki ’s dying at the start ofAvengers : Infinity War . Thanos declared " no resurrections this meter " and he was right , from a sure power point of view . Loki is bushed in the MCU going forward , yet a edition of him is alive and well for young adventures at his most malicious in another timeline , which is a subject that will surely be explored in the Tom Hiddleston - starringDisney+Lokishow .
Thanos Breaks Avengers: Endgame’s Time Travel Logic
The one Infinity Stone we ’ve not accounted for yet is the Power Stone . Already , this was a uncanny guinea pig as Nebula and War Machine direct interfere with the opening ofGuardians of the Galaxy , although it could be explained Star - Lord being knock out always happened , mean Steve hark back the gem at the end maintained persistence .
have-to doe with : How Much Did avenger : Endgame REALLY Cost To Make ?
But it ’s the shock of Nebula being in the past times that breaks things . Due to her conscious electronic internet , the past and future Nebula are connect , which alerts aGuardians of the Galaxy - era Thanosto the Avengers ' mission : he swiftly learn about his victory inAvengers : Infinity War , subsequent death and an attempt to undo it via time travel . And here ’s where it gets really complicated : intercept future Nebula , Thanos time travels the Sanctuary II to the post - snap world in a tender to stop the Avengers undoing his dead next ego ’s work . His architectural plan is now to reclaim the Infinity Stones , rub outalllife and build a new world with him as de facto God . In the end , though , Thanos from 2014 and all his strength are dusted byIron Man ’s piece of cake .
The temporal issues here are massive . InGuardians of the Galaxy , Thanos was sat in his throne let minions do his bidding and yet to have a individual Infinity Stone in his grasp . Avengers : Endgamegives him full knowledge of the time to come , take him into the 2020s and kills him . With no Thanos or threat , the integral MCU afterGuardians of the Galaxyis different , up to there not even being anInfinity War(at least not against the Mad Titan - we know theCollectoris also coveting the Infinity Stones ) .
It ’s potential that this is all a issue of Loki ’s Tesseract grab , which has already happened in the " nowadays " of some of the future Avengers , but there ’s little to back that up . Conversely , it may be that Steve give the Power Stone readjust all of this timeline to make this Thanos essentially exist on a freestanding current . But the most logical explanation using the film ’s principle is that something the Avengers change in 2014 change the past . This would be unrelated to an Infinity Stone , make the Ancient One ’s advice wrong , and signify all these small changes the Avengers were making in the pastdohave an impact , butterfly stroke consequence - style , leading to an infinite number of alternate timeline .
However , any of those assumption go well beyond what ’s laid down explicitly byAvengers : Endgame , making big assumptions and undertake to consolidate multiple mannikin of time travel ( linear timeline , butterfly stroke consequence , alternative dimension ) into one . The authoritative matter is that this Thanos who instruct beyond his time is defeated at the end .
Related : Thanos ' MCU Introduction Does n’t Make common sense - Here ’s How We ’d Fix It
How Can Nebula Kill Her Past Self?
A subset of the Thanos concern is Nebula . The notion of both rendering being connected is in reality rather logical by itself ; think of it like taking a telephone to the yesteryear - which one receives call and messages ? But when things are take through to completion , it pose perplexing .
During the present - day battle inAvengers : Endgame ’s finale , future Nebula convinces past Gamora to unite her ( a reversal of their arc inGuardians of the Galaxy Vol . 2 ) , which leads to a showdown in which future Nebula kills her retiring counterpart . Common time change of location system of logic would make this a granddaddy paradox - Nebula ca n’t live to stamp out herself - but there ’s no tiresome disappearance away . This is further evidence that whatever is happening after Thanos get along to the futurity is from its own existent timeline , although any further exploration - or even an acknowledgment of what ’s pass off from Gamora or Hawkeye - is n’t extroverted .
Captain America Goes Back To The Past (And Was Always There?)
The final stage ofAvengers : Endgamehas one terminal big fourth dimension travel reveal . When Steve Rogers goes back in time to replace all the stones and , as the movie tell it , correcting every potential issue , rather of return to the present , he use the Pym particles to jump to the forties to be with Peggy . He gets that particular date , that dance , that life that he was forever robbed from by his obligation . This is confirmed by an appearance of a much older Steve just after he leave behind , saying he was happy with the life his chose and passing the shield to Falcon .
relate : Every Captain America Movie , Ranked
Thematically perfect and tear - inducingly delivered , this moment nevertheless creates even more complications thanks to , once again , adopt from multiple forms of time change of location . Captain America has inserted himself into the past , becoming Peggy Carter ’s husband .
It ’s noted that Marvel motion picture have been avoiding giving much of Peggy ’s post - Agent Carterbackground even as they teased Steve ’s eventual lot . The only proper acknowledgment of her married man came inCaptain America : The Winter Soldierwhere , in an archived video at the Captain America Smithsonian showing , she explained how he was someone Steve saved during World War II;Agent Carterwas invalidate before the show could reveal his identity as promised and pictures on her bedside further showed only her children . It ’s distinctly potential that this ambiguity was intended to hide that it was really Steve Rogers all along .
This product line of thinking fare with its own problems , many explainable . Steve and Peggy would have had to conceal his restoration from the external world , likely seeing him live under an alias . As spies , this would be well within their remission , and if the focusing was on living a sprightliness together , a worthy forfeit . It would also explain the now - incongruous fact that Peggy has a photo of untried Steve on her desk ; she ’s cover for him . It also does n’t make the Sharon Carter passion chronicle ( too ) disgusting as Steve would n’t be her parentage proportional .
Of of course , that would now work against what happened toGuardians of the Galaxy - geological era Thanos ; stick to that logic , Steve ’s proceeds would have started a newfangled range of mountains of events that would surely butterfly into a totally dissimilar , possibly Avengers - less hereafter . This result here would that previous Steve turning up direct after his disappearance is n’t just him simply revealing himself but having traveled across from another realness using Pym particles for a right good-by .
pertain : The Evolution Of Captain America In The MCU
honestly , the time loop topology where Captain America was always in the past have the most sense , with the Thanos job a product of twisty time travel storytelling .
What About The MCU Timeline?
From all we ’ve discussed , Avengers : Endgameleaves the MCU timeline pretty much as it is , with only one major branch thanks to Loki and the Tesseract and a closed loop with 2014 Thanos . And , for the most part , the significance is that the timeline of the MCU as has been told for the past decennary support true . No movies have been retconned or removed from persistence , just outcome added just off - projection screen .
But , as any Marvel fan get it on , the MCU timeline is n’t unadulterated . From Phase 1 , which altered along with theoriginal Avengers plan , there were always detectable patch holes that make nailing down a right edict of events tricky : Spider - Man : Homecoming ’s " eight old age later " claimis the most well - known , but complications run through the flick , from confusedness over whenIron Manis set , to a very unearthly post - Civil Warbuild - up toInfinity War .
Avengers : Endgamedoesn’t really touch on itself with address any of these . Avengers : Infinity Waralready make up theHomecomingmistake , and the movies revisited were all set in their release yr . However , the ending does lead a question . avenger : Endgamebegins in 2018 , the aftermath of Thanos ' snap , then jumps forward five age to 2023 . This is the baseline clock time for the Avengers , where the last conflict come and when the snap victim riposte to . This means that , from an external view , half the population go away for five years , then everything return to normal … sort of . one-half of the population will have mourned and aged five year , while another has been thrown back into a new world . This would be disconcerting for mob , friends , jobs and school .
link up : Avengers : Endgame ’s Ending & Marvel Movie Future explain In Detail
Indeed , while Peter Parker ’s counter to Midtown High and reunite with Ned is bring as glad , this ignores that surely one-half of his course are now college geezerhood . This poses some major implications forSpider - gentleman : Far From Home- it surely must be a prequel set beforeAvengers : Endgame , otherwise the film will have to take place in a near - miss - dystopia 2023 . It ’s further notable that 2020 ’s MCU secrete -Black WidowandThe Eternals- are both prequels to the rest of the MCU , imply the effects of the Infinity War do n’t need to be explored like a shot .
Time Travel’s Future In The MCU After Avengers: Endgame
With Hank Pym return , there ’s an unlimited amount of Pym molecule , meaning the Avengers are technically able to travel into the Quantum Realm as much as they so bid . But is that something to actually expect in the MCU ’s future ? The plot of land twist was rather specific toAvengers : Endgameand an opportunity to revisit late movies in a send - off Captain America and Iron Man , so it ’s unlikely to be immediately regress to infutureAvengersmovies . metre travelling can be a narrative - breaking gimmick ( as we ’ve already seen ) and worth put to bed .
However , there will still be several possible impacts of the time tampering . The most urgent is , of course , Loki . His Disney+ serial will at the very least deal with the fractured timeline he create when stealing the Tesseract , although whether it ’s resolved ( or how ) is up in the air . It ’s also suggested that Star - Lord still hop to discover Gamora , suggest at his discharge inGuardians of the Galaxy Vol . 3 ; it ’s also unreadable where 2014 Gamora has go , meaning there could still be a subsister of that puzzling metre eyelet .
tie in : Every Marvel telly Show add up To Disney+
Captain America ’s ending also leave open a rather tantalizing possible action : Steve Rogers ' eventual return . While he scram his glad life with Peggy , nothing pronounce he does n’t get called on again to help fight another world - threaten foe at some point down the line . Already , Chris Evans ' portrayal of Captain Americahas extend to classic status , and in 5 - 10 years , audiences would no doubt be excited to see him return ( think the originalStar Warscast in the sequel trilogy ) .
For now , though , Avengers : Endgame ’s final moments seem intended to put a unhesitating end to all the temporal tampering . Thanos is defeated , the timeline is safe , Captain America dumbfound a felicitous ending . Just do n’t overthink it .
Next : Every Marvel Movie Releasing After avenger : Endgame
