New Avengers: Endgame theory says Iron Man will die 14 million times. Here’s why

Marvel fans cannot imagine watching their favourite heroes die but what if they had to watch it 14 million times? A new Avengers: Endgame theory on Reddit is here to make a lot of Iron Man fans really, really sad.

The fan theory, shared by /u/alexandrepigeot suggests that Tony Stark has some really tough times ahead of him. It says that when Doctor Strange saw the 14 million possibilities to how things will unfold for Thanos and the destruction of the universe, he decided to trap Tony in them. Reminds you a little of how Strange defeated Dormammu in his solo movie?

“Dr Strange has trapped Tony Stark in a time-loop to guarantee that Tony learns how to survive in space and also matures enough to handle the fight in Endgame. Tony will essentially die 14 million times in space and “reboot” with each failure until he finally wins and makes it back to save the day,” the theory says. Sounds confusing? Here’s the full text:

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First of all, we need to rework our definition of “winning”. The Russo brothers have hinted many times that they would not go out of their way to undermine the ending of Infinity War so I don’t personally feel like in Endgame they would just outright undo the snap. The movie will most certainly end on a bitter sweet note, compromising between some things saved and some things lost forever.

One thing that bugged me however is that Dr Strange stated there were 14 million 605 futures that he visited and only 1 of them lead to victory. I’m not going to discuss whether or not he lied at this point (or if he just stopped counting the moment he found one good outcome), what I want to focus on here is the fact that Steven Strange only had mere moments between “viewing” the futures and his own decimation, meaning everything he did that would lead to that one victorious outcome had to be done in those few minutes.

And what did he do exactly ? He told Stark and Nebula (the others present got dusted) about the one winning scenario, pretended that there was a point in fighting Thanos, then willingly gave him the stone. Assuming he didn’t zap back and forth in time behind the scenes during that time, that was all he did and, apparently, that was enough to reach that one scenario.

In my opinion, there is only one way this could work out, that is if Dr Strange set up a time loop before dying. Not on Thanos, but on Tony Stark. He trapped Tony and Nebula in that moment, doomed to die in space 14 million 605 times before finding a way to escape their destiny and fly back to the others to save the day.

This is why in the Endgame trailer we saw a calm and resigned Tony Stark leaving a defeated message to Pepper Pots... He is not hoping to survive, he is in the process of giving up trying (refer back to Groundhogs Day when Phil Connors decides that he’s never going to escape his looping day ever and gets depressed over it).

In that moment of pure desperation, Tony will be dying over and over and, in the process, he will learn an invaluable lesson of trust and acceptance. He will forgo his control issue (still very present, as demonstrated by his relationship with Peter Parker) and learn to let go of some things to gain others.

Remember that he is very much hell-bent on saving everyone and everything and Dr Strange simply knew that it was not a possible outcome and that, unless he matures first, Tony would have never compromised on this.

So first, he had to show Tony how to humbly accept defeat which is why he fought with Thanos, losing the battle to win the greater war in the heart of Tony Stark.

A few other Redditors also saw how the theory just might work. “One point that supports your theory. In the trailer he says “and when I drift off I’ll think of you... It’s always you.” That could be each of his deaths,” read a comment. Others thought the idea was a little too harsh and 14 million deaths would drive anyone insane. “14 million times? He would be utterly insane after a thousand. Or he would come out as God. He isn’t walking around a nice little town for 10 years in a row, sleeping with everybody, having a beer, learning piano and ice sculpting,” read another comment.

What is your reaction to the fan theory? Iron Man and other heroes return with Avengers: Endgame on April 26.

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