Marvel execs who worked on Avengers: Infinity War told us time and again that the deaths were final and we’d better deal with it, because Avengers: Endgame will not have the happy ending that Marvel fans expect. It’ll be the end of an era, and we’re in for plenty of surprises, including the not-so-pleasant ones. Since then, however, we’ve seen plenty of proof that says the heroes who died after Thanos snapped his fingers inside that powerful Infinity Gauntlet will be resurrected in Avengers 4. And we’ve seen plenty of leaks that said the Avengers would travel through time to undo the snap. Now, a brand new fan theory says that the Avengers will indeed beat Thanos in the one scenario out of more than 14 million futures that Doctor Strange saw, but the snap still won’t be undone.
The theory, penned by Reddit user Enervata is almost perfect, as it proposes a way of resurrecting the dead without undoing the snap, and a way for some of the older characters to leave the MCU without dying. We say “almost perfect” because it does have a few problems. The Redditor thinks that Thanos hasn’t killed half the universe. Instead, he just created an alternate universe where all the “dead” now reside:
Everyone is obsessed with “undoing” the snap. What if they don’t? What if instead Thanos didn’t actually wipe out half the universe’s inhabitants with the snap, but instead created an alternate universe and tossed half the occupants into this other universe via the “dusting.” And this alternate universe is the one that Marvel moves forward with in the future. What if the people who lived at the end of Infinity War are actually the ones who get left behind?
Everyone who got “dusted” is strongly implied to still be alive moving forward in the Marvel franchise (Spider-Man, Nick Fury, Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Wasp, Most of the Guardians, Bucky, etc.). Everyone who is still alive at the end of Infinity War, have very uncertain futures in the movies moving forward (Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Nebula, etc.). Looking at the list of “survivors,” while it would be sad to no longer see them on the screen, they’ve kind of had their run already. All the new guys got snapped, all the veterans were left behind.
If the snap gets undone, we still have headlining superheroes (Cap, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, etc.) all waiting to launch into action to save the day again. That’s a problem based on the future planned movie schedule. That means you’d have to kill off or explain why every major surviving character becomes retired after End Game’s credits roll. That’s difficult to achieve. Almost impossible to achieve even with 3 hours.
The theory says that the survivors would either sacrifice themselves to save the other half, or defeat Thanos only to make sure that the Infinity Stones can never be used again in a similar fashion. But the universes will remain split.
I agree that the theory is great. It offers a happy, yet heartbreaking ending for the film, where everybody gets to live. Characters like Ant-Man and Captain Marvel could always travel to the new dimension through the Quantum Realm, which would explain how they remain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Moreover, Marvel would have an easy way to introduce the X-Men and Fantastic Four in the MCU, using this new universe. She-Hulk would replace Hulk, while Bucky or Falcon would become the new Captain America.
One glaring problem is Gamora. How would she be saved? After all, new Guardians movies will happen in the new universe. The same question concerns Rocket, who’s still among the living right now.
Furthermore, the theory implies that the Avengers would somehow have to decide that reality will maintain this split, which seems like a massive undertaking. So many people are grieving on Earth and the same thing is happening on other planets. It would be incredibly cruel for the Avengers to make this sacrifice, knowing that their loved ones get to live in a new universe. But what about everyone who gets to live in the old one? How will they be informed that their loved ones did not die, and yet they can’t see them ever again?
That said, the theory makes some sense when you look at the first Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer. The next Spider-Man movie takes place after Endgame, and the first trailer tries too hard to hide that fact. There are some hints in it that there might be some tragedy at the end of Infinity War. But the clip mostly makes it look like it’s life as usual on Earth in Far From Home. If the movie happens in a new universe though, then the new planet is only populated by half of the Earth’s population.
There’s no clear trace of the suffering these people may be going through in the first trailer — and yes, of course Sony tried to prevent any Endgame spoilers from making it into the Far From Home clip. But the people who have been snapped away to a new universe, according to this theory, would also have to deal with the same kind of pain. They too would lose so many people who mattered to them without knowing what happened. In other words, if this theory is indeed accurate, then Marvel had better find a way to offer closure to every single being in the MCU, not just the superheroes who have access to this privileged information.
You can read the full theory below:
Avengers: End Game – The Snap is probably not what you thought, and I think they won’t undo it. from FanTheories
