***WARNING: The following contains spoilers from the MCU films through Avengers: Infinity War. If you have not seen Infinity War or any of the previous films, then use the Space Stone and get out of here. Also, because this post deals with various fan theories about what will happen in “Avengers 4” (actual title TBA), you should be warned that there may be spoilers for that film.***
It’s been weeks since the most traumatizing finger snap in cinematic history, and enough time has passed for fans to process the events of “Avengers: Infinity War” (“IW”) and look ahead to what might be in store for “Avengers 4” (“A4”) next year. This anticipation has fueled speculation about what will happen, and a number of theories and guesses have already been proposed on social media, some of which are detailed below. But before we get to the actual theories, allow me to briefly describe the process used to evaluate each possibility.
In our view, the best (i.e., most likely to be true) theories are the ones which take into account the following: (A) previous trends in plot structure/tone and character personality; (B) leaked images and information from reputable sources (e.g., Tom Holland’s own mouth); (C) officially released set photos, cast listings, and plot details (or, you know, titles…ahem); (D) media and convention appearances by cast and crew; (E) Lego® sets, toys, and even information on intellectual property rights (e.g., which characters are the property of Marvel Studios, Sony, Fox, etc.). For example, it is unlikely that the X-Men will make an appearance in A4 because the rights to those characters (and the word “mutant”) have not been returned to Marvel. However, it’s a much safer bet that at least some of the characters who got dusted will make some sort of comeback. Here’s a list of characters from IW categorized by their status at the end of the film:
Characters Killed PFS (Prior to Finger Snap)
Loki
Heimdall
Gamora
Vision
Characters Dusted By Finger Snap
Black Panther
Spider-Man
Scarlet Witch
Winter Soldier
Doctor Strange
Falcon
Star-Lord
Drax
Groot
Mantis
Nick Fury
Maria Hill
Characters Still Alive After Finger Snap
Iron Man
Captain America
War Machine
Nebula
Black Widow
Rocket
Bruce Banner/Hulk
Thor
Okoye
M’Baku
Characters of Unknown Status
Hawkeye
Ant-Man
Wasp
Shuri
Wong
Captain Marvel
A good number of those names listed as KIA are integral parts of MCU properties that have been confirmed for sequels and trilogies, so it’s hard not to expect substantial resurrections. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” will need more than Rocket and Nebula to draw audiences, and Black Panther and Spider-Man are too early in their respective franchises to continue without the central characters. On the other hand, a number of the survivors are played by actors with expiring contracts. So who will make it out alive, and how will they manage to do so?
THEORIES – EXPLANATIONS & EVIDENCE FOR/AGAINST
After sifting through a number of theories on the interwebs, here are some of the more compelling, plausible, and popular options that have been proposed regarding how the damage of Thanos can be undone. Each will be presented with a basic description, and evaluated with evidence for and/or against it being true.
#1 – The Bill and Ted Option (Time Travel)
The most frequently suggested theories for Avengers 4 involves the use of time travel to rebuild the team with previous versions of the fallen heroes and/or collect the Infinity Stones before Thanos gets to them. Those who favor this idea claim that the Quantum Realm can allow for time travel without the need for a Time Stone, DeLorean, or phone booth.
Evidence For:
A) Hank Pym described the Quantum Realm as a “reality where all concepts of time and space become irrelevant,” and while we will have to wait for Ant-Man and the Wasp to provide more concrete details, it would certainly seem plausible for the Quantum Realm to be a gateway to all kinds of possibilities of traversing space-time.
B) There have been leaked set photos from A4 showing Captain America, Iron Man, and Ant-Man wearing some sort of device on their hands, in addition to motion capture dots. Ant-Man’s gizmo is integrated into his suit, while the others are removable, and that would seem to indicate that the technology was designed by Hank Pym or Scott Lang, the gatekeepers of the Quantum Realm.
C) Kevin Feige has indicated that Avengers 4 was partly inspired by the Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale “All Good Things…” (S7.E25-26), which features “Captain Jean-Luc Picard jumping through time and the formation of an anomaly that defies causality.”(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Good_Things..._(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
D) On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Russo brothers responded to a question about A4 by cryptically stating, “Time doesn’t always flow in one direction. You can go backwards in time. You can go forward in time.” This certainly fits with the Star Trek episode that Feige mentioned as an inspiration, as well as the idea of time travel.
Evidence Against:
A) For starters, the idea of going back and recruiting past versions of dead heroes poses the problem of altering the timeline and history of the MCU. For example, rescuing Captain America from the ice shortly after he crashed would undo him waking up at SHIELD in the 2000s. That alone would cause a chain reaction of other events to be different. In terms of nabbing the Infinity Stones themselves, it might be easy to grab the Space Stone and Mind Stone after the Battle of New York from the first Avengers film (and the leaked set photos certainly show characters wearing their costumes from that film), but that would prevent the circumstances of Wanda and Pietro receiving their powers, as well as the creation of Vision, among other things.
B) Aside from the basic scientific and philosophical problems of time travel (we are dealing with superheroes and aliens and occasionally magic, after all), this plot device would feel like a huge cheat to audiences. One of the consistent criticisms of the MCU has been the lack of real risk for the heroes, as they always manage to come through their battles alive and unscathed. By negating the permanence of the deaths in this way, it seems like more of the same.
#1.B – The Sliders Option (Alternate Realities)
A slight twist on the previous theory involves the Avengers utilizing the Quantum Realm, but to access time points in alternate universes. One particular variation suggests that there is a universe where all the dusted heroes survived the finger snap and all the survivors were dusted, which would allow the team to be back to full strength (but the downside is that it would leave one universe devoid of all its heroes).
Evidence For:
A) This would be reasonable using the Hank Pym quote above, as time AND space have no meaning in the Quantum Realm. It might be that the Quantum Realm is some sort of nexus for alternate realities.
B) This would be another possible use of those hand devices that have been seen in leaked photos.
C) Alternate realities have been previously introduced in the MCU via “Doctor Strange.”
D) The leaked plot synopsis indicates the point that the “heroes will truly understand how fragile this reality is.”
E) This isn’t evidence, but it would open up a host of other storytelling options for the MCU going forward, such as how to explain why mutants (e.g., the X-Men) have not been mentioned previously (i.e., they might only exist in another reality). It might also allow grander plots from the comics (e.g., the Negative Zone, Beyonders, etc.), and it could also facilitate introductions of other versions of the heroes already on the roster (e.g., Miles Morales as Spider-Man).
Evidence Against:
A) In the comics, the Infinity Stones and Gauntlet only work within the universe in which they originate. In other words, if the Avengers were to travel to alternate universes and collect the stones from those places, they would not necessarily work against Thanos in the main universe.
B) If using time travel as the main plot device, it might not be necessary to physically include other universes.
#2 – The DIY Option (Avengers Gauntlet and/or Avengers use the Stones Cooperatively)
This is another motif in a number of theories, and it meshes well with the idea of the Avengers time-hopping to collect the Infinity Stones before Thanos gets his cosmic Pokémon on. The core idea centers on the Avengers and Guardians working together to gather the Stones, and then adding them to a gauntlet/armor of their own making (e.g., forged with uru metal at Nidavellir, using some Wakandan vibranium, or integrated into a new Iron Man suit) or having each Avenger use the power of one stone. Some versions have Iron Man wielding this Infinity Gauntlet, while others give that honor to Cap due to his strong moral character.
According to some (supposedly) leaked plot details posted to Reddit, at the end of the film, the following Avengers have the Infinity Stones: Captain America uses the Time Stone to return to his own time and live the rest of his life with Peggy Carter; Ant-Man declines to use the Reality Stone himself, but gives it to Scarlet Witch, who uses it to bring Vision back to life; Bruce Banner uses the Mind Stone to separate himself and Hulk into two bodies so they can exist independently of one another; etc.
Evidence For:
A) This is another suggested use of the hand devices from the leaked photos.
B) This would be satisfying in a thematic sense, as there are six total stones, and the original six Avengers are left alive at the end of IW. Marvel Studios has made a very big deal about this movie being a culmination and end of an era with regard to the first three phases of the MCU, and it would be fitting to end with the characters that were there from the beginning.
Evidence Against:
A) Each stone is powerful enough to utterly destroy anyone touching it. Thanos was barely able to wield the power of all six stones using the Infinity Gauntlet, and he is *several* orders of magnitude stronger and more durable than any of the Avengers, most of whom are simply athletic human beings without superpowers. It is entirely likely that trying to use just one stone would kill the user, much less a full gauntlet.
B) The Soul Stone can only be acquired by sacrificing something that the person loves. This poses a problem for the heroes, as the mantra of “we don’t trade lives” was repeated numerous times in IW.
#3 – The “Change My Mind” Option (Thanos Reverses Course)
On the car ride home from watching IW, my wife proposed this theory to me, and it has since been independently suggested by the good folks at Wisecrack, who attempted to use the philosophy of the previous films to project how it would all end. The essential concept is that the heroes try various methods to undo the damage done by Thanos, but ultimately realize that they cannot overpower, outmaneuver, or outsmart someone who, for all intents and purposes, has the power of a god. This realization prompts them to attempt to reason with Thanos directly to reflect on what he has done and to reverse it. Luckily for them, Thanos has not found peace or happiness from balancing the universe his way and he concedes that the price that was paid was too high.
Specifically, this theory puts the responsibility of persuading the Mad Titan on the shoulders of Tony Stark, who is one of the two central protagonists of the entire MCU up to this point (the other being Cap). Stark has had the most dynamic character development over the 10 years of movies, having achieved the most improvement and also still needing the most improvement. He will recognize that Doctor Strange gave up the Time Stone to spare his life not because it was the only way to achieve the one-in-fourteen-million chance at victory, but because it was the morally right decision, and this realization will inspire him to also do the right thing without first making a tactical calculation. In a sense, Tony will finally come around to Cap’s way of thinking.
Another version of this theory is that a new, greater villain will emerge (e.g., the return of the Celestials) in the universe that will require the lost heroes to defeat. This might also fit with the idea of multiple universes or time travel, as breaking those boundaries might open up the main universe to external threats on a cosmic scale.
Evidence For:
A) While the Infinity Gauntlet looks to be fried at the end of IW, the Marvel creative team has reiterated that it is still 100% functional. The stones have not lost their power either, so it is entirely possible that the universe could be returned to the way it was.
B) This would fit thematically with the way Thanos has been introduced and portrayed thus far in the MCU, especially at the end of IW when he seems to reflect on the cost of his victory. He is too smart to be tricked, and too strong to be coerced. Despite his nickname, the Mad Titan in the films seems like he can be persuaded with the right argument.
C) Introducing a new threat could set up the next phases of the MCU.
Evidence Against:
A) This would be a complete tone change from the rest of the MCU, as it would likely sacrifice action with heartfelt dialogue. In other words, it could make for a boring, anti-climactic finale.
B) Introducing a new villain could take away from Thanos, and it would work against the closure that the filmmakers are trying to create for the first three phases of the MCU.
CONCLUSION
As we have seen, each of these theories has its strengths and weaknesses, and none of them are particularly comprehensive in scope. There are plenty more theories being put forth with varying levels of seriousness, from predictions of who might still not survive to guesses of new technology to be introduced. Nevertheless, each poses interesting possibilities in direction for the story’s conclusion. Personally, after many hours spent watching videos on YouTube and listening to interviews, I tend to favor the theories that include references to the Quantum Realm providing access to other times and places. Whatever your preferred theory, however, we won’t have to wait long to find out how it all ends, and I predict we won’t be disappointed.
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