Avengers: Endgame Theory Argues No One Actually Died In The Snap

Shortly after Avengers: Infinity War arrived in theaters and traumatized audiences with its genocidal finale, co-writer Christopher Markus went on record assuring us that the deaths at the end of the film were “real,” and that the sooner we accept this, the sooner we can move on to the next stage of grief. Of course, co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo also said that the subtitle of Avengers: Endgame wouldn’t be taken from any Infinity War dialogue and last week’s reveal showed that particular claim to be false, so apparently the team isn’t above lying to throw off the fans. With that in mind, perhaps it only figures that an old theory about the fate of the MCU’s dusted heroes has started getting some renewed attention.

The theory goes that Thanos’ dusted victims didn’t die at all, but were simply sent into an alternate reality, solving the overpopulation problem without the need for any killing. As the world of our heroes split into two, it’s said that the characters from one half of the divide saw the characters from the other half turn to dust, so while Tony Stark witnessed the supposed death of Peter Parker, Spidey was actually watching his own mentor fall apart before his eyes. What’s more, the line of speculation goes on to suggest that the Quantum Realm is the bridge between these two worlds, implying that Scott Lang will play a key role in reuniting these halves.

It’s a nice idea that offers a straightforward way of bringing back the dusted heroes for the sake of sequels, but it has a few problems. For one thing, it would lower the stakes considerably to find out that Thanos hadn’t killed half the universe but simply separated them. What’s more, after the finale of Infinity War left a lot of viewers shaken, you can imagine there’d be some considerable backlash if it all turned out to be an emotionally manipulative ruse.

Lastly, while the characters we saw dusted seemed very aware that something weird was happening to them, the supposed survivors gave no indication that something was happening to them. To put it another way, Peter famously didn’t feel so good, but Tony seemed fine, save for the emotional burden of watching his protégé die. Nonetheless, we’ll find out if the Russo Brothers have been misleading us this whole time when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.