Top ENDGAME QUESTIONS
Hey Squad...this is Frosty Phenix here. How are you feeling after EndGame? Content? Confused? This will be yet another long journey after Endgame to piece together where we think the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) will go next. There are also a few loopholes we’ll point out to begin investigations in whether they were “on purpose” or simply “not important” loops to close as this is all fiction ultimately and not everything needs to make sense. With these things in mind, let’s get started!
WAIT….before we continue...IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ENDGAME AND CARE ABOUT SPOILERS, TURN AROUND AND GO SEE IT...THEN COME BACK HERE. If you have seen it OR don’t care about spoilers and such...let's move on.
Top Questions/Investigations:
1). Time Measurements between travels (Scott’s 5 hours to real time 5 years vs Steve’s 5 hours to real time 5 seconds)
2). Thanos’ Armada Time Jump forward without the proper amount (or owning at all really) of Pym Particles
3). Steve Roger’s time return and redo and what effect it may have had on our timeline
4). Loki’s Sneak Disappearance with the tesseract (Space Infinity Stone)
5). Thanos destroying first set of infinity stones
Investigation/Case 1). The biggest LOOPHOLE of ALL! (The Journey through the Quantum Realm)
As we believed all was lost as far as bringing back the lost half of the galaxy’s population after Thanos destroys the Infinity Stones by USING the Infinity Stones...a ray of light/hope pops out of a repossessed van in a warehouse . The light was Ant Man! Scott Lang, who was trapped in the Quantum Realm after Hank, Janet and Hope were reduced to dust after the infamous Thanos snap, returns to a world 5 years older and reeling after the losses it incurred. Scott visits the memorial of those lost by the Infinity gauntlet effect to find he is listed amongst the lost but his daughter was not. Scott visits their home and find his daughter…significantly older. This realization made Scott realizing that time moved forward shortly for him and exceedingly for the real world. 5 years to reality compared to his 5 hours in the Quantum Realm. NOW...when we begin to break down time travel means, we never think about the conduit per say. Always just some mystical path way created by a device or being who can traverse it. A couple inconsistencies we will have to wait for an explanation or dissect ourselves:
Scott Lang (Ant Man) was stuck in the Quantum Realm for 5 hours comparative real time, but 5 years had past in reality (BASE FOR THE CONVERSATION)
For the Time Heist to retrieve the stones, the team went back to relevant times in history to retrieve the stones, walking through those times for about 2-3 hours at a time while only being gone from our time for about 1-5 minutes (look this up) (POINT 2)
At the conclusion of this movie, Steve Rogers (Captain America) takes on the task of returning the stones they used to the proper time periods and locations. He goes back for 5 hours...but in OUR TIME….5 seconds?!? Wait what?! And not only that, Steve did not come back, lived his life through time proper and placed himself on a bench nearby to greet his old team.
Case 1: SOLVED for Fiction Reasons!
Until otherwise stated, the measurement differences between these two instances can be written off as “Story Mechanics”. Time measurements between the 3 instances can be looked at as dramatization to add a depth to each situation purely for story purposes only.
Investigation/Case 2). Thanos’ Armada Time Jump forward seemingly without the proper amount (or owning at all really) of Pym Particles:
In the race for the stones, Present Day Nebula and Rhodes (War Machine) travel back to 2014 Morag in order to steal the power stone before Peter Quill can. Although successful in retrieving the stone, Present Nebula is revealed to Past Thanos by the network she shared with past Nebula. Present Nebula is then immobilized and taken prisoner while her time doppelgänger returns to the team. While the Avengers closed themselves into a safe room to use the stones, Past Nebula opens the Time Portal for Thanos and his armada to press right through to the present and wreak havoc on the team for the stones they stole. But HOW did he come to the present?
Case 2: SOLVED! Reversed Pym Particles!
Many sources online have the story now so this spin isn’t hard to find now, but I’ll cite one source in particular that gives the direct quote and answer. In an interview with QQ, a site written in Chinese, The Russo brothers answer this question (amongst others) in a full on break down. Shout out to bgr.com and Chris Smith (Twitter: @chris_writes).
Question: How did Thanos bring his army to the future?
Answer: There is a guy called Maw in his army (more on Maw here); he was a great wizard. Thanos himself was a brilliant genius as well. Those two easily reverse engineered, and mass produced Pym Particles.
I personally kicked myself when I read this! Ofcourse aliens, capable of galactic travel, science and brilliance, could figure out the formula of a basic human designed substance. Nothing really new under the sun as they say.
Investigation/Case 3). Steve Roger’s time return and redo and what effect it may have had on our timeline
After the day was won (amidst the loss of close friends) it was time to return the stone from whence they came. Steve Rogers helmed the journey to return of the stones. Dr Banner (now Hulk-Banner due to the truce Bruce and the Hulk came to during the 5 years gap) tells Steve he has 5 hours to return the stones in Quantum time but to them it would only be 5 seconds. Steve nods and enters the realm with the Infinity Stones in a case. Hulk counts down to Steve’s return but at the end of the countdown Steve does not return to the platform which he left. Instead, he appears on a bench nearby...and also appears different. Bucky and Sam (Falcon) walk over to Steve on the bench, looking much older and in civilian clothes. Steve chose to take the time machine back after returning all the stones to live his life with Peggy (Agent Carter). Steve greets his friends and gives Sam Wilson a new shield that he once wielded. But wait...did Captain America ruin the timeline?!
Case 3: SOLVED! Time Travel is such a confusing topic!
Thanks to the interview again by QQ (translated on bgr.com), here is the answer to this mystery.
Question: Did Captain America’s action at the end affect the timeline? Does that mean there was a time where two CA existed in a same universe?
Answer: To me, Captain America’s action in the end wasn’t the fact he wanted to change anything; it’s more like he has made a choice. He chose to go back to past and lived with the one he loved for the rest of his life. The time travel in this movie created an alternate reality. He lived a completely different life in that world. We don’t know how exactly his life turned out, but I’d like to believe he still helped many others when they were needed in that world. Yes, there were two CA in that reality, it’s just like what Hulk said, what happened in the past has already happened. If you go back to past, you simply created a new reality. The characters in this movie created new timeline when they went back to the past, but it had no effect to the prime universe. What happened in the past 22 movies was still canon.
So there we have it! Steve lived the rest of his life out in a new timeline! The article also mentions the other timelines affected by the movie, such as a world where Loki escaped and a world where Thanos disappeared (ohhh!! Brain explosion!)
Investigation/Case 4). Loki’s Sneak Disappearance with the Tesseract (Space Infinity Stone)
In Steve, Tony, Bruce and Scott's trip to the 2014 after the OG Avenger’s first encounter with Loki and the Army of Thanos, they go to calm three of stones. The Mind Stone (in the staff), the Time Stone (also known as the Eye of Agamotto) and the Space Stone (in the tesseract) were in the same space, so what better way to cut down time than to grab them from the same place in time after the action. Steve’s retrieval of the Mind Stone was a success (outwitting hydra agents with their signature line pretending to be a double agent and saying “Hail Hydra”, then giving his past self a whoopin from the future). Banner/Hulk visited the Ancient One in New York, a few blocks away. After trying to convince the Ancient One to give him the time stone, Banner mentions that Dr. Strange made the choice to give Thanos the time stone. This revelation made the Ancient One realize that Strange, being the future Sorcerer Supreme, must have given the stone up for a good reason and gives Banner her time stone. Unfortunately, the duo of Tony and Scott were not as lucky. After Scott (Ant-Man) causes past Tony to go into cardiac arrest to make him drop the case containing the Tesseract, Present Tony picks up the case but is then knocked over by past Hulk who ragingly came down the stairs from the top floor of the tower (hell, I’d be mad too if my friends made me take the stairs to the ground floor). Th dropped case slides and opens at the captured Loki’s feet. While everyone was distracted with saving Tony (past), Loki picks up the Tesseract and escapes through a portal he creates. Oh no! What does this mean?!
Case 4: SOLVED! Another timeline! DUN DUN DUN
In the interview with Chinese Site QQ, translated by bgr.com, the Russo Brothers address the timeline created by Steve Rogers/Captain America when he went back to be with Peggy (Agent Carter). Here is the quote:
The directors made it clear that every change of the past spans a different timeline, something we also explained in great detail a few days ago. For example, we know that there are a bunch of realities out there right now, including one where Loki is alive, and one where Thanos vanished in 2014.
So the Loki that escaped with the Tesseract moved to a NEW TIMELINE
Investigation/Case 5). Thanos destroying first (present) set of infinity stones
When the team that remained after the infamous snap traces the energy of infinity stones to find Thanos and confront him, they find a weakened Thanos and an empty gauntlet that housed the stones. Thanos proclaims that he used the stones to destroy the stones, almost killing himself in the process. Is it so simple to destroy the stones by USING the stones?
Case 5: SOLVED! Plot Focus for...the most part
Although not as simply answered as the previous questions and similar to the first investigation, we have to chalk this up to writing needs. Reading an article referencing this issue, shout out to Thomas Bacon and Screen Rant.com, the Infinity STONES are unique to the MCU because in the comics...they are GEMS. I mention this to reference that they are DIFFERENT items first whilst being the same in the scheme of representation in their respective universes. Second, in a quote from the article that I can agree with that leaves the stone’s fate up to the path of the next phase goes as follows: “These are cosmic objects that are barely understood, even by Thanos, and its by no means certain that the Infinity Stones can be destroyed, permanently. They could have very well been recreated elsewhere, just as in the comics. After all, energy may have been released, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t come back together again.”
Following this, the Russo Brother confirmed in a Q&A session in Washington D.C. that the stones still exist in the main universe. The Brothers stated "Thanos only reduced the stones to the atomic level. The stones are still present in the universe."
There you have it y’all! My perspectives and breakdowns of the tops questions I had following “Avengers EndGame”. What were your biggest questions? Were they answered? Comment down below, let’s chat about it and predictions for the universe from here on. Be sure to catch “Avengers EndGame” either in theatres or on streaming service or DVD purchase if you have come across this article later in the game. Of Course follow our social media across the web @phucaname. Follow my life shenanigans across social media @frostyphenix and I’ll catch y’all in the next article!
Sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers:_Endgame
https://bgr.com/2019/04/30/avengers-endgame-ending-russo-brothers-on-captain-america-iron-man/
https://screenrant.com/avengers-endgame-thanos-infinity-stones-destroy-comics/
https://screenrant.com/avengers-endgame-director-russos-infinity-stones-still-exist/