During Marvel‘s Avengers Infinity War Doctor Strange viewed 14,000,605 possible futures with the Time Stone and in only one of them did the Avengers defeat Thanos.
The Sorcerer Supreme later referred to this as “endgame” after he willingly handing over the green gem to Thanos in exchange for Tony Stark’s life.
While it looked like all was lost, it’s clear Doctor Strange knew exactly what he was doing to ensure the future where the Avengers won happened.
And now a new post has claimed there are three main components he had to ensure took place to get the right timeline to occur.
Posted on Reddit by comrade_batman, the theory has been upvoted over 17,000 times.
The theorist wrote: “The three main components Doctor Strange needed to ensure that this timeline was the one in which the Avengers won.
“Thanos sparing Tony. Fury paging Danvers. Scott trapped in the Quantum Realm at the precise moment of the Snap.”
The first one we already mentioned, but it certainly looks like Iron Man is needed alive in Avengers 4, perhaps even to die a sacrificial death later on.
Meanwhile Nick Fury’s post-credits scene saw that Captain Marvel was contacted.
Brie Larson’s superhero is the most powerful Avenger yet and is sure to unleash a huge can of whoop-ass on Thanos.
So that’s two essential leaders in Tony Stark and Carol Danvers, but let’s not be forgetting Ant-Man.
Scott Lang’s shrinking superhero was found stuck in the Quantum Realm when Thanos’ Snap occurred during the mid-credits scene for Ant-Man and the Wasp.
With Thanos now in possession of the Time Stone, it look like the Avengers will have to use the Quantum Realm if they want to time travel.
Of course that’s a big if, but chrononautical antics are considered to be likely after Avengers 4 set photos saw key scenes from previous movies recreated.
It looks like the Avengers may have to collect the Infinity Stones from the past and create their own Infinity Gauntlet to reverse the Snap.
Avengers 4 will be released in UK cinemas on April 26, 2019.