Ready for another Avengers: Infinity War theory to pick your brain?
Over on Reddit, someone by the name of ‘chunkypeanutbutted’ (top marks for that username) has cobbled together some clues to claim that Thanos may have created another universe using the Infinity Gauntlet.
Fair warning: this theory was essentially debunked only six days ago, but this particular Redditor offers a little more insight into how Infinity War may shape and inform Avengers 4. They’re seemingly two very different movies, but you really can’t have one without the other.
And below, you’ll see why the Mad Titan may have harnessed the power of all six Infinity Stones – namely Power, Space, Time, Mind, Soul and Reality – to create another universe for the likes of Spider-Man, Black Panther and Doctor Strange.
Assume that the universes experience time at the same rate. Universe 1, with Cap, Iron Man, etc we see in Avengers 4 team up a couple years down the line to finally track down Thanos, realize the other half of the universe is alive, and merge the universes back together. All set photos indicating time travel are the result of BARF. Doing this would set up a major event in Universe 2, but something we don’t have to deal with for a while.
It’s a neat and simple way to join the dots between Infinity War and Avengers 4, though we imagine the Russo Brothers have something a little more definitive in mind than splitting Marvel’s character roster between two universes. Doing so would also somewhat undermine the haunting finale of Avengers: Infinity War, but let’s hear out the remainder of this theory just for argument’s sake.
Thus, after Avengers 4, the MCU would largely take place in Universe 2, where most of our new franchise leaders will have to fill the void of the missing OG Avengers (who remain in Universe 1). This would be a great way to shift the Avengers roster to focus on the new heroes. It could allow for original avengers like Hulk to take a temporary absence and return later, and they could still kill them off. Imagine after the events of Avengers 4, where the universes merge back together, and Bucky thinking Cap might still be alive, only to realize Cap sacrificed himself to merge the universes back together.
Avengers: Infinity War is currently available across all the usual platforms, meaning fans are now counting down the days (242) in anticipation of Avengers 4.