Infinity War was already full to bursting point with famed superheroes, and next year’s Avengers 4 looks set to pack even more familiar faces into its runtime, raising the question of how exactly the Russo Brothers plan to integrate so many characters and their respective arcs into a single storyline. This new theory from Reddit, however, has an interesting solution: they don’t.
That is to say, the story for the upcoming blockbuster will apparently be split into two different timelines, making use of the time travel plot device that so many are predicting will play a part in Avengers 4. In a lengthy post from user Ramennov, it’s suggested that before Doctor Strange turned to dust, he’d already transported the Time Stone further down the timeline for Tony Stark to use, fulfilling the one successful future that the Sorcerer Supreme envisioned.
By this point, the user argues that Nebula has already left Stark to embark on her mission to seek vengeance on Thanos. It’s here that the narrative will reportedly be split into two.
“One narrative will be Tony Stark travelling through time and correcting previous mistakes to better prepare Earth against Thanos; the second narrative will be Nebula seeking revenge on Thanos in the “present” timeline after the Snap.”
In the Nebula timeline, things appear to go as planned for a while, before events take a turn for the worse.
“Nebula will end up stealing the Gauntlet from Thanos (like she does in issues #5, #6 of the Infinity Gauntlet series in the comics) to attempt to undo the events of Infinity War. However, because she lacks the same will as Thanos necessary to wield the Gauntlet, she ends up posing a greater danger to the Universe than Thanos did with his specific, directed mission.”
“I speculate that Nebula will become an unwitting villain that the remaining Avengers on Earth must face, with the addition of Captain Marvel. Thanos may even become something of an ally similar to the comics, and seek the Avengers out for help. (This speculation comes from us having already seen Thanos give his peak antagonistic performance in fulfilling his mission. To continue being interesting, we must see an unexplored aspect of Thanos, at least in one of the two narratives.)”
Stark, however, fares a little better in his mission, ultimately correcting the events of Infinity War while nullifying Nebula’s timeline.
“Both Nebula and Tony will try to prevent the Snap from happening, but only one may succeed. It has to be Tony. Nebula rewinding time to before the Snap leads to two results: an infinite loop in which the Avengers are still dissolved and ineffective against Thanos, and Tony prevented from going back in time. Tony will end up uniting the Avengers and in his timeline, Thanos will be defeated on Earth when he comes for the Mind Stone. The Snap will not only be undone, but will be prevented from happening in the first place.
The older heroes (at least some) will die bringing back the newer heroes, giving the audience a passing-of-the-torch moment. After their success, Doctor Strange will use the Reality and Space Stones to transport the Time Stone back to Titan, ensuring their current timeline will happen (Strange is willing to give the Time Stone away in this infinite loop because doing so also protects it). Tony’s success also prevents Nebula from seizing the Gauntlet and dissolves her “present” timeline.”
The original Reddit post goes into a fair bit more detail than this (for one thing, you can add this post to the growing list of theories where Tony Stark dies), and it all amounts to a pretty persuasive, elaborate and well-reasoned vision of what could be planned for next year’s release. Obviously this is just one of many routes that the sequel could take in wrapping up the first eleven years of the MCU, but the theory still serves as an enjoyable bit of fan fiction in its own right.
Here’s hoping that the Marvel team has a plot this compelling lined up for when Avengers 4 hits theaters on May 3rd, 2019.