The MCU is a delicately arranged franchise where each cinematic entry has a responsibility not to contradict or unintentionally affect the events of their fellow films. And after twenty-plus movies that more or less manage to keep in continuity, time travel could be a real bull in the china shop, what with all the messy complications this plot device is liable to bring.
So while there’s certainly some strong evidence to suggest that the upcoming Avengers 4 will be taking this route, you can see why fans might be searching for other means to resolve the cliffhanger left by Avengers: Infinity War. This new Reddit theory, for instance, suggests that instead of our heroes preventing Thanos’ genocidal snap by journeying into the past, it could be the Mad Titan himself who brings back his own victims using the Soul Stone.
To offer a little context, the ending of Infinity War suggested that Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet had taken some damage, leaving him more vulnerable to an attack from the survivors. In order to defeat Earth’s Mightiest Heroes once and for all, the tyrant may then need to bring back all the dusted population and command them using the Mind Stone. From here, the plot would be a matter of the Avengers trying to destroy or deactivate the Mind Stone, causing Thanos’ zombie army to revert back to their normal selves.
With all the set material we’ve been seeing of old locations – not to mention talk of returning characters and time vortexes – there’s a reason why the time travel theory was picking up support long before this relatively unsubstantiated idea came along, but at the very least, it’s a nice bit of fan fiction. Either way, we’ll see how the Russo Brothers manage to save the universe they recently broke when Avengers 4 hits theaters on May 3rd, 2019.