What’s Doctor Strange’s Plan?
Doctor Strange giving Thanos the Time Stone in exchange for Tony Stark’s life seems like a human, but ultimately dumb move. However, his dying words to Tony that this is the only way suggest that, however bad an idea it might seem now, Stephen does have a plan. Well, did have a plan, as he’s now dead.
Earlier in the movie, he used the Time Stone to view millions of alternate versions of the future to ascertain how many ended with the Avengers beating Thanos. It turned out that there was only one. Presumably, giving the Mad Titan the Time Stone somehow began the path towards this particular future. As Strange said earlier, his primary concern was defeating Thanos not saving the lives of his allies.
The big sticking point to Strange’s plan coming to fruition, though, is that he’s now dead so can’t help guide the timeline towards the one where the Avengers win. Wouldn’t it have been handy to explain to the others what needed to happen in order to beat Thanos in the long run? For whatever reason, it apparently wasn’t and the remaining heroes need to stumble into this victory blind now.