Quantum Realm

Crazy Avengers 4 Theories That Could Actually Come True

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ANT-MAN AND THE WASP AND THE AVENGERS 3. DON’T READ IF YOU DON’T WANT THE ENDING OF EITHER OF THESE MOVIES SPOILED.

Ideally, if you’re reading this, you’re either one of two people: you don’t care about spoilers or you’ve seen Ant-Man and the Wasp.

For anyone that has seen Ant-Man and the Wasp, you know exactly where this is going. A large portion of this Ant-Man sequel takes place in the Quantum Realm, which is the subatomic realm that Scott Lang’s suit allows him to travel too. As noted in the movie, the rules of reality don’t necessarily apply — the deeper you go into this realm, the more true this is. Theoretically, at the core of the Quantum Realm, there is no time, no space, no anything as we understand it on Earth.

After the movie ends, in true Marvel Cinematic Universe fashion, those who wait behind with the patience to sit through the credits will be treated to at least one post-credit scene. In the Ant-Man and the Wasp’s post-credit scene, we see Ant-Man in the Quantum Realm when he hears a snap. Anyone who’s seen Avengers Infinity War knows exactly what this snap is. When we return to the scene back in reality, we’re shown piles of dust. Presumably, that dust is the only remains left of Hope, Janet and Hank. Scott Lang, though, survives through this snap and according to one Reddit user, JuggerClutch, that’s because the Infinity Stones don’t work in the Quantum Realm.

JuggerClutch expands on this idea by explaining that in Avengers 4, the heroes left to defeat Thanos will learn of this (presumably from Scott) and bring Thanos and their fight with him to the Quantum Realm. There, try as he might, Thanos will be left to fight without the powers of the Infinity Gauntlet. At this point, the Avengers and Thanos will finally have their fair fight (as long as you ignore the fact that this fight will likely be multiple Avengers versus one Mad Titan). Because they have to, the Avengers will win and Thanos will be defeated, left trapped within the confines of the Quantum Realm. 

Professor Hulk

Crazy Avengers 4 Theories That Could Actually Come True

Remember that scene from the beginning of Avengers Infinity War where the Hulk was unleashed on Thanos, only to get worked by the big, purple guy? Remember how after that defeat, Hulk was virtually nowhere to be seen in the rest of the movie, save for a few scenes where Bruce Banner is begging him to make an appearance? Well, this theory explains the reason for that.

In the comics, there is a version of Hulk called the Merger Hulk or Professor Hulk. Essentially, this character has all of the strength and size of the Hulk, but the intelligence of Bruce Banner. The interactions between Bruce and the Hulk throughout Avengers Infinity War only lead more credence to this theory. When Hulk loses to Thanos at the beginning of the film, he’s bested through strategy, rather than force. In the rest of the movie, Bruce has all the intellect he needs to hold his own, but not near enough strength to make that intellect matter on the battlefield — hence the Hulkbuster suit. By merging Bruce and the Hulk, the best parts of both of them will be able to truly shine and culminate with a proper rematch against Thanos. Professor Hulk might even be the last push the team needs to bring the Mad Titan down once and for all. 

Time Travel

Crazy Avengers 4 Theories That Could Actually Come True

At this point, this theory is almost a guaranteed shoe-in. There’s plenty of set photos showing our heroes in extremely familiar MCU scenes — the Battle of New York, WWII, Loki in chains and more. Even more, in these scenes, we see remnants of characters’ past such as Thor sporting his golden locks, Captain America in his original suit and Tony Stark in his S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, first featured when Loki attacks the helicarrier in the first Avengers film. There’s only a two things this could mean: In Avengers 4, we see flashbacks (but why reshoot the scenes if this is the case — just use the old footage) of our beloved Avengers time traveling.

In the time traveling theory, we see the Avengers traveling back to key scenes in the MCU’s history to thwart the Infinity Stones from ever being gathered, stopping the culmination we saw in Avengers Infinity War. To do so, our heroes have to go back to the movies, or periods of time, where Infinity Stones were sought after, hence WWII, Avengers 1 and more. Instead of keeping the stones, the heroes destroy them as they find them, thus stopping Thanos from ever obtaining them all. 

Doctor Strange Never Died

Crazy Avengers 4 Theories That Could Actually Come True

This theory popped up on Reddit just under two weeks ago and it comes from Reddit user, LordoftheDeadEnd. According to LordoftheDeadEnd, Dr. Strange never died in Avengers Infinity War, and a key scene in Doctor Strange’s solo debut explains why. In Doctor Strange, The Ancient One tells Stephen Strange that she couldn’t see beyond her death and that no magic-user would be able to see past their own as well. If Strange had died in Avengers Infinity War, he wouldn’t have been able to see the ending in the 14.2 million scenarios he saw (all of the ones that featured him dead).

LordoftheDeadEnd theorizes that because of this, Strange must be in his astral form, which before his “death” in the movie, we witnessed in 2016’s Doctor Strange (his body died temporarily while he was fighting one of Kaeciliu’s henchmen). With Doctor Strange still alive, his next move will be to travel to the Quantum Realm and save Scott Lang.

Because of Ant-Man and the Wasp, we know that everything Doctor Strange did before Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet snap was perfectly timed to ensure that Ant-Man would get trapped in the Quantum Realm, which we see play out in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Many think that Tony Stark is the key to defeating Thanos, but if this theory is true, it would seem that Ant-Man might actually be the deciding factor. If he isn’t, why would Doctor Strange set in motion a chain of events to ensure Ant-Man remains trapped (and potentially guaranteed safe) in the Quantum Realm?