(This is a culmination of my article reviewing Avengers: Endgame)
Read it HERE
[As usual, careful for SPOILERS, both of Endgame and of Game of Thrones, Season 8 Episode 3]
Avengers: Endgame begins three weeks after the events of Infinity War, with the return of a broken, irate Tony, Nebula and Captain Marvel. However, when they realise Thanos has destroyed the stones, there is nothing they can do, leading them to go broken and hopeless for five years before Scott Lang shows up. Seeing as the MCU has always been in tune with our time, this places the rest of the events of Endgame in the year 2023. The events don't revert time (a condition set by Tony inorder to ensure he doesn't lose his daughter, Morgan) and so, at the end, the year is still 2023 and this means the MCU will continue from here henceforth, beginning with Spiderman: Far from Home this Summer. The MCU is officially in our future.
While the movies can easily work around this, the TV shows are a whole different matter, especially the ABC show Agents of SHIELD, which follows the movies' storyline. Season 5 ended just before the snap. Season 6, premiering next week, will take off... when? After 5 years? After the sna but during the 'broken period'? Who knows? Plus, the showrunners have long claimed that they were given no information on how Endgame would go, so could they even have worked around this? Guess we'll see. Other shows like Hulu's Runaways and Freeform's Cloak and Dagger are different as they never actually revealed exactly when their events unfold in the timeline. Easy to claim they happen long before Infinity War and go on as usual, perhaps including the snap in a far off season, after the main arcs are over. (hmmm... that's actually an idea! I should totally geek out about it in a separate post!)
Anyway, these are relatively minor matters. My main questions come from the rules of Time Travel employed in Endgame. Before they go, Professor Hulk assures the Avengers that nothing they do in the past can affect their present. The Ancient one later reveals to him that removing any of the Infinity Stones from the timestream would create alternate realities of their universe, putting those realities (especially hers) at risk. To avoid this, Steve takes the stones back to the exact points in time they took them from once they are done with Thanos. He doesn't return, choosing to stay and live with Peggy for the rest of his life, finally showing up old and wrinkled at the point they sent him off from and bestowing Sam with his shield.
However this raises some serious questions. If nothing affects the past, what then, did Steve's life entail up to the present? If he could arrive aged, doesn't that mean that the flow of time continues in the same reality? What happens to Peggy, who should have married someone else? Did Steve, in fact, marry her, or was the band on his finger for someone else? And what about Thanos? The troops of chitauri and outriders dusted at the end of Endgame were from 2014. If Steve's and Peggy's life are affected, doesn't it stand to reason theirs should be too? How Thanos have performed the infamous Snap in that reality?
Trying to understand Endgame's time travel theories
The only possible was to override all of this is if every journey into the past doesn't affect the avengers' reality, but creates an entirely new one, separate from theirs. This would introduce the concept of the multiverse-- universes with the same people, but slightly different situations and events. This means there is currently a universe where Steve and Peggy got married back in the 40s, one where Loki escaped from New York with the Tesseract after the events of the first Avengers movie (a concept which might be explored in Loki's Disney+ TV show), and another where Thanos and his forces were defeated in 2014. A pretty good explanation, really.
Meanwhile what is the implication regarding the ages of those snapped and returned? Are they five years older or the same age they were when they were erased? Is Peter going to join his unsnapped classmates or will they be ahead of him now? Far From Home trailers seem to suggest they are all together. How will that work? We are now in 2023... right?
We'll leave that question for Spiderman: Far From Home to answer.
On a different, more hilarious note, let's talk some Game of Thrones battle of Winterfell parallels to the final battle battle of Endgame!
I can't be the only one who noticed Dr. Strange's quite serene expression during the fight. He was so totally the Bran of the movie: the one who had seen everything, known how it would all go, but said nothing to anyone. That chrage against Thanos' forces also reminded me (and some others in my theatre) of the Dothraki's charge. Thankfully though, they weren't wiped out like the latter. Thanos was the Night King of the movie, Captain America and Captain Marvel Jon Snow and Daenerys respectively (they've both even got Captain in their names, like 'king and queen'), both of whom helped but didn't really get the job done. In both battles, the entire antagonistic army perished almost instantly with the death of their leader, the only difference being that the Night King shattered before his troops while Thanos was dusted last. Unfortunately, there was no Arya parallel. Tony Stark is far too old and much too male to be considered such, especially as he died after the act. Even I won't make such a leap.
Anyone noticed any more parallels? Drop them in the comments below, with any thoughts and theories on the timeline question.
It's a week ot celebrate, fellow geeks! The Night King and mad Titan Thanos are both vanquished. Yayyy!
Watch out for my next post on Dr. Strange's prediction, Tony's vision, and how one's coming to pass negated the other.
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So doesn't that mean Cap, Iron man and Black Widow are still alive in the reality from where past Thanos came, because in that reality infinity wars didn't even happen.
MCU may have purposely left this as it is so they can use it if they want to but we never know because most certainly they are sticking to the present time line where Tony and Natasha are dead. But never say never.
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EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING!
The MCU could use this for a myraid of purposes in the future, even decades from now. Rumour already has it they are developing Loki's series based on the Loki who escaped with the Tesseract in that alternate reality. That pretty much makes it Canon. Infinite possibilities!
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