When Marvel Studios has worked this hard to keep their Avengers: Endgame spoilers under wraps, it’s unlikely that the company would give the whole game away right before the long-awaited release. But with Marvel Comics set to bring out a line of reprints in April under the “True Believers” label, it seems plausible enough that some of these old stories may have provided the inspiration for certain elements of the Avengers: Infinity War sequel’s plot.
One reprint that’s caught the eye of ComicBook.com, for instance, is Avengers (1963) #343, the first entry in the inter-dimensional storyline known as “The Gatherer’s Saga.” In this arc, a villain named Proctor leads a team of alternate reality Avengers in a mission to kill off their counterparts in the primary Earth-616 timeline.
While no one’s particularly expecting Endgame to be a direct adaptation of this storyline, there’s been some speculation that the film might draw on the inter-dimensional elements of the saga, and specifically the notion of alternate reality versions of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. And to the theory’s credit, this would tie in very well with a previously released synopsis for the film which teased that “our beloved heroes will truly understand how fragile this reality is.”
As for how exactly these alternate timelines could be explored, the Quantum Realm would be a pretty decent guess. Indeed, everyone from Michael Douglas to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has hinted that this mysterious place has more stories to tell, and if the studio intends to bring new heroes into the saga, then inter-dimensional travel would be one way to do it.
Regardless, this is all just speculation for the time being, but we’ll find out what reality-bending plan our heroes come up with to fix the mess left by Thanos when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.
