Because substantial - world time traveling back and forth between the past and presentis not ( yet ) potential , and the underlie science behind our work hypothesis as to how it might one day be possible can be difficult to grasp , our idea about it have mostly been mold by fictitious characterisation in book , telly shows , and movies like Avengers : Endgame .

It can be interesting when fictional depictions of time travel attempt to craunch some level of their “ skill ” in reality . But there ’s a sure manner our inherently progressive tense , protrude cultural reason of it has taken on an beingness of its own that makes it possible for us to accept ( or at the very least understand ) a couplet of ways that clock time change of location is “ supposed ” to work , without the account having to expend too much clip excuse it .

Because present - day Thanos destroys the Infinity Stones within the first few proceedings of Avengers : Endgame , time change of location becomes a key part of the Avengers ’ design to raise everyone he dusted in Infinity War . After the remaining Avengers bolt down Thanos on his farm , they return to Earth . Five class pass as the universe descends into topsy-turvyness and grief . But , when a random rat inadvertentlyallows Scott Lang to repay from the Quantum Realm , he explain to the Avengers that for him , only five hours or so have passed , which leads him to conclude that becausetime functions differently in the Quantum Realmthey might be able to use it as a waypoint to travel into the past tense .

Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner.

Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner.Image: (Marvel Studios)

Vague as the account for the MCU ’s take on quantum physics are , they ’re not really all that much of a distraction in Endgame because the pic present the Quantum Realm as an implicit form of deus ex machina that ’s meant tomake most anything potential . Spyridon Michalakis , the actual quantum physicist Marvel confer during the output of Ant - Man and Ant - Man and the Wasp , has said so himself .

https://gizmodo.com/ant-man-and-the-wasp-is-poking-more-holes-in-the-marvel-1827447165

“ I do n’t know why everyone believes that , but that is n’t true . Think about it . If you travel to the past , that past becomes your future tense , and your former present becomes the past times , which ca n’t now be shift by your time to come . ”

Graphic: Jim Cooke

The Ancient One pushes Hulk’s spirit out of his body.Image: (Marvel Studios)

This specific minute is where Endgame ’s clip rip-off conceit begins ferment against it , because while one movie revolve around its own take on sentence travel ( no matter how convoluted ) is dead fine , thing get guileful when time travel flicks pop out throwing metaphorical stones in glass house . By jest around about the larger , pop ethnical concepts of fictional prison term travelling , Avengers : Endgame , perhaps accidentally , invites us to liken it to these other film with exchangeable game devices . And the trouble is that while those other stories ’ skill might not give up either , they ’re endlessly gentle to digest and accept as part of their storey than Endgame ’s .

Doc ’s original diagram of how timelines can cleave is so effectual that Endgame end up paying court to it with a fit in which the Ancient One and the Hulk debate whether the Avengers ’ plan might actually get more hurt than good . As the Ancient One explicate how the six Infinity Stones as a unit are responsible for creating what we perceive as the flow of time , she also channelise out that removing any one of the Harlan F. Stone would create new , potentially dour timelines where countless people would be endangered specifically because of any one of the Stones ’ absence seizure . Banner at last convince the Ancient One to give him the Time Stone by insisting that the Avengers ’ program to turn back all of the Stones to their true places in the past at the accurate here and now they were borrowed will puzzle out , and the picture quickly breezes past this before you really get a prospect to contemplate just what all that entails .

Unlike the stationary ( and very stray ) Power , Space , and Soul Stones , the remaining MacGuffins were all in the possession of people who Captain America ( who terminate up being tasked with returning the Stones at the end of the flick ) would presumptively have to interact with in some capacity , which would cause a rather significant deviation to the time stream . Endgame goes out of its fashion to connote that Steve ’s mission is entirely potential and ultimately ends without the initiation of a multiverse . But subsequentinterviews with the Russo Brothersand details boast inthe later Spider - Man : Far From Home trailersuggest that at some point during Endgame , someone did something that caused the timeline to burst , and potentially a lot more than once .

Image:

The Ancient One pushes Hulk’s spirit out of his body.Image: (Marvel Studios)

All of this promises for curious thing in the MCU ’s future , but within the context of Endgame specifically , it ultimately ends up making it seem as if the screenwriters and manager matte the need to take potshots at other instances of time traveling in pop culture because Endgame ’s ca n’t put up on its own peg .

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