In the wake of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, fans have reignited old theories from the infamous 14,000,605 scenario from Avengers: Infinity War, and they’re now convinced Doctor Strange was lying.
The climactic realisation from Doctor Strange comes after he spends time in a Time Stone trance, working out just how many scenarios exist in which the Avengers can defeat Thanos — with the “one” involving Thanos winning the initial battle, gaining all the stones, and completing the “snap”. The winning scenario then requires another five years to pass, Iron Man to work out time travel, and then do the sacrifice play to decimate Thanos and his army.
It all seems like a bit of a huge risk for Strange to entirely entrust upon the chaotic elements of chance. So perhaps this wasn’t the only one – but rather the only one where he still lives? This fan theory posed by jso adds a slight twist to the fairly ubiquitous claims from diehards, with it citing a moment from early in Doctor Strange 2.
During Christine’s wedding, her partner who is a massive Avengers fanboy asks Strange if there truly was just the one winning scenario – to which the Master of the Mystic Arts hesitates to answer.
While this definitely adds some new layers to the Marvel canon, it can also be defused fairly easily by just thinking further about Strange’s character and the logistics of him using the Time Stone.
As commenter /u/Killboypowerhed points out, the technicalites of the stone just don’t work as easily as that.
Secondly, Strange has learnt the error of his egotistical ways by the time of Infinity War. His entire arc in his solo film is understanding the world does not revolve around him, and that time comes for everyone, despite how much you play with it.
Strange’s arc since Endgame has also seen him question a lot of what he believed in, and wondering if the current 616 timeline is truly the happiest one for him, and constantly querying his own choices.
Regardless, it’s a fun theory that adds some new weight to the decisions in the two-part Avengers arc, and to the personality of Stephen Strange.