Whats your Theory about Thanos and Doctor strange in infinity war?

overlukk (43)in #marvel • 6 years ago

The title quote comes from Thanos speaking to Dr. Strange about not using the time stone in their duel on Titan. I was always bothered by this line being dropped because it struck true with me;

Why didn't Dr. Strange use the time stone when they were battling against Thanos?!!

An answer became clear when I remembered certain key details from the Dr. Strange movie; even with the power to slow, pause, or reverse time we have seen foes with the ability to ignore the time stone's effects (Kaecilius and his acolytes). I think the power stone would have allowed Thanos to do the same; to bypass the -power- of the Time Stone. That's why it's the first stone Thanos retrieves. Not only does the power stone allow him to contain, control and amplify the power of the other stones, but also bypass the powers of any stones that could be used against him (in essence, overpowering other stones). Dr. Strange in viewing many alternate futures saw the futility of using the Time stone in their fight and chose to use it differently...
-very- differently.

When Dr. Strange pulls the time stone seemingly out of nowhere (like Loki did with the Tesseract) and floats it over to Thanos to save Tony we can see two unique elements to this transaction:
The first is that the stone is glowing brilliantly. Normally, when any of the stones glow like this it is because their power is being used.
The second is that Thanos is unable to grasp the stone physically but is instead grabbing on to what appears to be its aura. He even shoots Dr. Strange a glance over this peculiar phenomenon.
This kicked my Fan Theory senses into overdrive and I have been trying to piece it together ever since.

Before I can launch into this, let's talk about the unique properties of all the other stones themselves; not their powers, the properties each stone itself possesses.

The power stone so full of...power... overloads and even destroys living beings coming into direct contact with it.
The **space stone **is able to house itself within, and propagate the existence of, a 4-Dimensional hypercube on a 3-Dimensional plane of existence (that's what a tesseract is).
The Reality stone doesn't have to remain a solid and can instead become a liquid (possibly a gas or plasma?)
The soul stone cannot be acquired without trading a soul.
The mind stone has its own consciousness or can develop consciousness (Vision).

We see that these unique properties tie back beautifully to the identity of each stone and are very well suited to them.
So what about the time stone?

I would postulate that the time stone can be sent through time all by itself, going forward or backward. How would you play keep away with the time stone? Easy. Send it forward in time to where Thanos can't get it! The problem is (as comic fans already know) Thanos is immortal, so he can wait it out. Let's swing back to the exchange.

Dr. Strange conjuring forth the stone the same way as Loki did the tesseract is a gigantic misdirect! Loki is able to conceal the tesseract with his godlike powers of illusion and while Dr. Strange could certainly be capable of mimicing this easy trick, I don't think that's what's happening. The stone is glowing brilliantly because it's actually travelling back in time from the future!

(This becomes a lot easier to envision if you've watched Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure).

When Dr. Strange hid the time stone it wasn't through some trick of light or illusion like Loki but by sending it forward in time to be used later. Only to be sent back when the Avengers had finished using it.
The time Stone can travel forward or backward in time, but not space. It will appear on Titan soon after the snap presenting itself to Tony.
This is also why Tony needs to survive. If the snap is inevitable then he is the only one smart enough to a) figure out what is going on when the time stone presents itself on Titan and b) study the stone in order to unlock the quantum realm (the same way the mind stone in the sceptre allowed him to create Ultron).
This is why the** Gauntlet breaks from the snap! **It's using a time stone from a reality where the Avengers have already won and sent it back in time. The paradox of using a stone from a mutually exclusive reality breaks the gauntlet and helps advance Dr. Strange's plan even further because it cripples Thanos' ability to fight back when the Avengers start mounting their counter offensive.

I think clips from the Infinity War trailer corroborates this. The clip of what looks like Tony taking off his glasses while an out of Focus Wong and Dr. Strange are in the background seemingly frozen in time also doesn't appear in Infinity War but might be pulled from Avengers 4 where Tony has acquired the Time stone and begun looking for ways to retrace his steps or travel into the past. The shot of the battle of Wakanda containing Hulk also didn't appear but may be from Avengers 4 when **they have already gone back in time and must now face off against Thanos **and his army again at Wakanda (because Hulk wasn't at the original battle).

Dr. Strange did use his greatest weapon! Just not -when- we think he did.

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