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 fan theory outlines how things may play out. A Reddit user has put some thought into what we know about both Infinity War and its currently untitled sequel and concluded that there really is no way defeat Josh Brolin’s character. At least, not in the traditional sense. Instead, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will have to engage in a little bit of good ol’ fashioned time travel.
According to this intriguing theory, at some point during one of the two aforementioned films, the Avengers will realize that they simply cannot beat Thanos. He’s just too powerful. So, instead of trying to continuously fight him, they decide to go back in time and change history in order to stop certain things from happening.
It’s a bit out there, but stick with us. As the Reddit user points out, 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.”
So, as the theory goes, Iron Man and co. will use the Time Gem to change history and in doing so, prevent Thanos from ever even setting out on his quest for the Infinity Stones. However, to do this, several of the original Avengers will either be erased from history due to messing with the timeline or simply have their past re-written so that they never become superheroes.
This is how Marvel will apparently retire characters like Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow and more without actually killing them. At the end of the whole ordeal, only fresher blood like Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man, Spidey and the Guardians will remain.
