In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos will finally step out of the shadows and take on the combined forces of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. After various teaser appearances and cameos dating all the way back to 2012’s The Avengers, there’s a lot of hype for the Mad Titan and he’s all set to be the biggest, baddest enemy the heroes of the Marvel universe have ever faced. We’re sure that the titular team will ultimately be able to take him down, but they’re certainly going to have a tough time doing so.
Not only will Thanos have the Black Order there to help him, but he’ll also be in possession of the incredibly powerful Infinity Gauntlet, which will be fully equipped by the time the film rolls around. It’ll essentially allow the uber villain to wreak havoc and do just about anything he wants, which means he’s definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with. So, how will Iron Man, Cap, Thor and the rest of the gang put a stop to the deadly threat that the big bad poses?
Well, that remains to be seen, but by the time Avengers 4 comes to a close, Thanos will surely be dealt with and a new theory outlines how things may play out. The folks over at Nerdist have put their thinking caps on and have actually come up with something that sounds pretty plausible, as it suggests that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will use time travel to save the day and get rid of the Mad Titan once and for all.
Think about it. We already know that Marvel has filmed 1940s scenes for Avengers 4, while it’s also been confirmed that there will be flashbacks to the original 2012 movie that first brought the team together. Furthermore, it’s been strongly hinted that the studio’s looking to do a soft reboot of sorts for the MCU with the finale of Phase 3. In fact, Kevin Feige has even said, “There will be two distinct periods. Everything before Avengers 4 and everything after.”
As Nerdist points out, too, we’ve actually seen Joe and Anthony Russo shooting new scenes for the flashbacks, rather than just reusing old footage. This would seem to suggest that certain things will have changed – hence why they can’t reuse what they already have – which further supports the time travel theory. Though the exact events that lead to the this obviously aren’t known, the outlet believes that by the end of Infinity War, Thanos will have “killed off” all of the heroes, as he does in the comics, but one of them escapes/survives – Doctor Strange.
After all, Strange has already shown an interest in time travel in the past and Nerdist believes he’ll be the one to head back in time, round up the Avengers, take us on a trip down memory lane and somehow change the past to prevent Thanos from becoming the threat that we know him as today. Of course, this would also forever alter the MCU and could be an easy way for Marvel to retire characters like Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow and more without actually killing them off. Instead, they could just re-write their histories or even make it so some of them never existed.
Head spinning, yet? We know, it’s certainly a stretch, but also not entirely outside the realm of possibility and would be a cool way for Marvel to wrap up the franchise’s current arc and get rid of certain characters without having to kill them off.
After all, we know for sure that at least a few of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will be gone from the MCU by the time Avengers 4 ends, and erasing or re-writing their history so that they don’t have to bite the bullet seems like a great way to handle the situation. At least, we certainly think so.
What are your thoughts on this latest theory, though? Could there be any truth to it? Or is it way too out there for you to buy into? As always, you can sound off down below.
