Avengers: Endgame gave fans a lot to theorize about when it comes to the mangled continuity of the many branched timelines the movie created. As we know thanks to the Hulk and the Ancient One’s explanations, these won’t affect the central canon of the MCU, but it’s still fun to think about how things played out differently in those other tangential universes.
For instance, let’s consider the one where Thanos disappeared in 2014 to battle the Avengers in the main timeline in 2023. You’d imagine that this would be the best version of events, as no Mad Titan means there’d be no Snap and no Decimation, right? Sure, that’s definitely true, but War Machine and Nebula taking the Power Stone from Morag in this timeline would’ve still spelled doom for the entire universe.
As suggested by Reddit user Ljgor, the fact that Rhodey leaves Star-Lord out cold in that Morag cave likely means that Korath simply pinched the Power Stone when he arrived to fetch it a little while later. Without the Orb, Peter Quill wouldn’t have travelled to Xandar and encountered his friends – certainly not Gamora, as she left with Thanos to travel to 2023 – and therefore, never formed the Guardians of the Galaxy.
This would mean that when his father Ego locates him later in 2014, Quill won’t have the Guardians around to help him stop the crazed Celestial’s plan to transplant himself across the cosmos. Ego would’ve simply used his son as a “battery,” as he tried to do in Guardians Vol. 2, to make his scheme a reality and that’d be that, the end of the universe.
The only factor here that could save the timeline is Captain America going to Morag to return the Power Stone. If he also helped Star-Lord out and ensured he got away with the Orb, then maybe things would have played out relatively the same, though the lack of Gamora would still have a huge affect on Quill’s development.
What do you think of this Avengers: Endgame theory, though? And do you have any interesting ones of your own? Let us know in the comments section down below.