Vader47000

27th Apr 2019

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Question: How did Thanos get to the present timeline? Wasn't Nebula left with just one dose of pym particles, which she used to get back?

Answer: It shows Nebula presenting the vial of Pym particles to Thanos, it's probable that he (or someone like Maw) was able to reverse engineer the particles so that they had their own supply to use.

Answer: 2014 Nebula would have needed the vial to power her future self's suit to get to 2023 so she could impersonate her. But Thanos would have had to re-create enough of the particles so that the time tunnel could lock onto his ship and pull it through.

Vader47000

Answer: She used the excess Pym particles that Tony and Cap brought back.

lionhead

Is that your own personal interpretation of it? They don't show it in the movie, unless I am mistaken. And it should be Thanos to use the Pym particles to jump into the Quantum dimension, how does she having the particles in the present affect it?

Her robotic fingers seem to be red as they go into the machine, implying they're making use of the Pym particles. And they had Nebula's "GPS" unit they all wore on their hands - given Thanos' technology they could presumably have copied or adapted it in some way to work with the ship, positioning it in time and space if nothing else.

Jon Sandys

Yes that's my interpretation. The machine works differently than the suits. She did a lot of modification to it as well before activating it. She somehow managed to get an entire ship transported to the future in a matter of minutes. The only logical conclusion is that she used Pym particles to power the machine and then pull the ship through.

lionhead

No. Thanos on his end, would need those particles to get small and enter the Quantum Realm. Like the others.

DetectiveGadget85

Answer: The directors have addressed this and confirmed that Thanos gave the Pym particles to Ebony Maw (a brilliant scientist) who then reverse engineered them and created more.

Answer: He could have gotten the Pym particles from Pym himself. Likely by force. He has Nebula's memory and saw their whole plan. But, the official answer that came out was Maw reversed engineered them.

Answer: Short version, because he's dead. Bruce only brought back everyone Thanos "snapped", and Vision was killed before that. Now, whether Shuri managed to finish her work before then, somehow "backing him up" or otherwise separating him from the mind stone, we don't know as yet - it may be they somehow revive him in a future film, or the upcoming WandaVision TV series. But for now, he's gone.

Jon Sandys

Answer: Technically vision wasn't "killed." He wasn't even alive. He's a robot. Maybe they could have used the mind stone they had to try to revive him, but Thanos ripped out a good chunk of his head already. And they needed to put the mind stone back anyway.

Vader47000

Answer: If you noticed Black Panther's sister had just one connection left with the gem, and who said she didn't download a copy of his Consciousness but didn't finish, due to the snap and the end battle.

14th Jun 2019

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Question: Why did 2014 Thanos bother to come to the future? As we are already aware, changing one time doesn't affect the other, and whether he knows that or not is sort of irrelevant. He could have stayed in 2014 and completed his mission, in fact he could have done it even more easily with the Pym particles he obtained without anyone ever knowing. He really had no reason to need to come forward in time. Knowing that Thor kills him in the future just means he could take steps to prevent that if/when it happens, he didn't need to act right then.

Answer: They stole the power stone from his timeline, so he could never complete the gauntlet.

lionhead

And the soul stone.

Probably, yeah.

lionhead

Answer: As an alternative to the above answer, another thing to keep in mind is that Thanos believes that his vision of a better world shouldn't be fought against. Finding out that an alternate universe version of himself wins the battle and then ends up having his plans ruined makes him believe that the heroes of that universe are ungrateful, and that he should help the alternate universe version of himself that died to stay the winner. He's evil. He doesn't just want to win in this universe. He wants to win in all universes.

Answer: He probably also realises that if the Avengers can get all 6 stones, stealing them all at once would be easier than trying to collect them himself.

Vader47000

14th Jun 2019

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Question: Why did time not end when Thanos destroyed the stones, and what happens in now there aren't any? The Ancient One stated that the stones control the flow of time, and removing even one of these opens up the world to unimaginable horror. Well why did nothing happen after Thanos destroyed them all? And now that our timeline has no stones, how would Dr. Strange be able to stop Dormammu from coming back?

Answer: The way I understood it, removing the stones from one timeline into another timeline is what The Ancient One was talking about. The "new branched reality" is what would be overrun by the forces of darkness. But, even if she meant this reality, the reality where Thanos destroyed the stones, The Ancient One said it was their chief weapon, not their only weapon. Bruce then tells her Doctor Strange gave the time stone to Thanos and The Ancient One says maybe she made a mistake. However, since Thanos eliminates half the population of the universe, including the forces of darkness, whatever forces she was talking about may not have been around to try and attack Earth. Or in the 5 years that we don't see, there was an attempt and other weapons were sufficient.

Bishop73

Answer: In the comics the stones will be replaced by something else equally powerful to compensate for their loss. I suppose the same applies to the MCU. These powers need to have a physical presence in the universe, in one way or another.

lionhead

The only problem is the films never insinuate this at all. The Ancient One flat out states that not having the stones would be bad for the universe, and yet Thanos destroys the stones with absolutely no adverse affects to the universe whatsoever. This movie played very fast and loose with the rules they established regarding the stones and time travel and I feel like things like this were massive flaws.

BaconIsMyBFF

The universe is a pretty big place, though. There could very well be bad things in another part of the universe that have yet to affect our galaxy. Additionally, the forces of darkness that could potentially threaten the universe may be curbed by a cosmic entity such as the Living Tribunal, whose existence in the MCU was acknowledged in "Doctor Strange" and could very well appear in "The Eternals" or "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

Phaneron

I just believe the ancient one didn't even know. The ancient one isn't always correct, as Bruce proved. And the bad thing was taking the stones away from their timeline, creating timelines where they are not supposed to be, it says nothing about destroying them.

lionhead

That to me is still bad writing. You have a character whose entire purpose in the movie is to give exposition, and the exposition she gives is apparently incorrect. That's all well and good but that still needs to be addressed at some point. Some character should have brought up the fact that the stones were destroyed (and incidentally, remain destroyed in the main timeline) and the Ancient One should have addressed that fact. Otherwise, like the original question points out, it leaves a bit of a gap in the film's logic.

BaconIsMyBFF

Answer: I believe the filmmakers have said that the energy of the stones was dissipated into the universe when their crystal vessels were destroyed. So that while they didn't have a physical form anymore, their essence remained and continued to regulate the flow of existence of the Universe. Presumably the energy can't then be reconstituted into the stones without some sort of profoundly intricate magic/science, the kind of power only possessed by gods and/or ancient elemental beings. Also, the Ancient One says that Hulk taking the time stone would be good for his timeline, but would leave hers without their weapon, which I presume means they wouldn't have the time stone to help the Sanctum's usual efforts in holding dark magic at bay. The actual effect of removing the essence of a stone from its timeline is still open to speculation.

Vader47000

If the ancient one was only talking about the time stone then Cap wouldn't have to bother bringing all stones back. No, she was talking about all infinity gems. Remove a stone and that universe is doomed.

lionhead

Answer: The sorcerers may have other ways to stop Dormmamu from returning (even if those ways are currently unbeknownst to them). This could be addressed in the sequel. Additionally, since Dormmamu would have to know that the Time Stone was destroyed in the first place, he may well just stay away rather than falsely believing that he can be trapped in a time loop again.

Phaneron

Answer: She said the world not the universe. She said "without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness our world will be overrun." Theory: since Thanos used the stones to destroy the stones and Hulk heard what the Ancient One said, he could have used the stones to bring back their stones along with everyone else. He couldn't have know who all died in the universe, he could have just undid everything from 5 years ago.

Question: If Captain America had to go back to return the infinity stones to balance the timeline, would he not have to go back to before Black Widow died to return the Soul Stone?

Answer: Well since he wouldn't know the exact moment she sacrificed herself, he might have shown up before then and then just had to wait for everything to play itself out before returning the stone.

Phaneron

Answer: No before Black Widow died the soul stone was still there, he had to get it back after it was taken, so after Black Widow died.

lionhead

I think the poster meant he would go back to the time he knew Black Widow and Hawkeye were aiming for, or a bit before for safety, then go there and wait until Black Widow died and Hawkeye got the stone, and then return it. It would be hard for him to watch, but then he would know when the right time was.

Right. But you also have to think that, having witnessed the events, and then seeing that the Red Skull is the guardian, that would have been a damn interesting scene to watch. Does Cap try bargaining with the Red Skull to return Black Widow to life after giving the stone back? On the other hand, the Ancient One's explanation was that the flow of time occurs simply because the stones are in the universe. I don't think it mattered where they are. She only wanted the time stone back because of how it was tied to the Sanctum. So really, Cap probably could have just thrown the stone in a ditch somewhere and been done with it. It also raises a question about the nature of Vormir as the home of the stone. We see the other stones were more or less fashioned into artifacts and out and about. This implies that they too were in some sort of temple in their raw stone form before being found, seized and manipulated into a real-world application. So does Vormir even have a mechanism for receiving the stone back once it's been claimed? And what is the soul stone's solo power, anyway? Reading people's fates like a crystal ball?

Vader47000

I don't think the red skull is really the red skull anymore, just some kind of ghost of whats left of him. However the stone gets returned is irrelevant, yes he could even just leave it in a ditch somewhere. He didn't return other stones in their original form either, except the time stone. These timelines don't continue on as the original one. According to the comics the soul stone is sentient and everyone sacrificed to obtain is has their soul trapped inside the gem. Cap and the others of course don't know that (although Hulk must theoretically know having used it) or in the MCU this does not apply. When possessing it you can control any life and read their souls (their feelings and desires). One can also revert living things back their original state (like Nebula for example).

lionhead

10th Aug 2019

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Question: Why didn't Hulk use the Infinity Gauntlet to snap Thanos and his army? He was able to snap everybody that Thanos killed and survived, so he would have survived another snap.

Answer: The gauntlet fell off after his first snap, then Thanos arrived from the past and destroyed the building, separating them. Hulk never got near the gauntlet and the stones during the ensuing battle, so he didn't have an opportunity to try a second snap to destroy Thanos.

Sierra1

Really what they should have done was pulled the stones off the gauntlet and separated them again, and not run around with a fully assembled and powered up Gauntlet for Thanos to grab.

Vader47000

I agree.

That would mean they had to touch them, and nobody besides Hulk, Thor and Carol could touch one without dying.

lionhead

Ordinary humans can't just grab an infinity stone. Even when Thanos takes the power stone out of gauntlet you see it start to destroy them.

Only the Power Stone has been shown to kill normal people who try to hold it. Hawkeye literally held the Soul Stone in his hand in this movie.

Phaneron

Because he made the necessary sacrifice. Anyone else touching it, big problem. Could be an exception though. The power, reality and space gems have been proven to be untouchable and killing anyone who does (with exceptions though). Time gem is very carefully handled as well so I wouldn't touch that one either. Mind gem, who knows?

lionhead

I don't recall the Time Stone killing anyone who touched it. The only example I can think of was the Red Skull presumably being killed when he handled the Tesseract, but was in actuality teleported to Vormir. The Reality Stone has a will of its own, so someone could feasibly handle it without harm. You're wonder about the Mind Stone is correct, as no human character was shown in any movie to have handled it directly. Overall though, I would say that I disagree with someone trying to remove a stone from the gauntlet, as one stone could easily be lost, and Thanos could still kill every hero at the battle even with one or more stones missing.

Phaneron

The reality stone attaches itself to anyone touching it like a parasite and slowly kills them. I'd say it's a bad idea to touch it. As for the time stone only the ancient one and Hulk actually touched it and there is reason Strange handles it carefully and without touching it. As for the Red skull, don't really know if he is really alive on Vormir. Who knows what the tesseract did to him?

lionhead

Whether or not Red Skull is still alive is an interesting topic, but either way, I'd argue that while the Tesseract transported him, it itself is not what made him in his current state, but rather his curse to guard the Soul Stone and the planet of Vormir itself, as it is a dominion of death as Nebula stated.

Phaneron

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