Avengers Infinity War was the culmination of over a decade of movie-making, it was the epitome of Disney’s finale for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We see over 40 different characters and 20 movies worth of stories coalescing into one beautiful and tragic adventure as narrated by and centered around the main antagonist of the series. The entire plot of Avengers Infinity War starts from the fact that Thanos is looking for the infinity gems. We know that the threat is coming and we know that Thanos will be an indomitable force who will bring every form of death and mayhem imaginable pouring down on the Avengers and their allies.
We also know that there is no one left in the Marvel Cinematic Universe powerful enough to defend the cosmos against the might of the Mad Titan. Odin is dead, Hela is lost to Asgard and Ragnarok after Sutur’s incursion and the ancient one is dead after a battle with the followers of Dormammu (Eye makeup Mads Mikkelson).
The main protagonist for the most of Phase 3 (Mainly after the death of the ancient one and Odin) has been a coalition of Thor and Doctor Strange. It is mainly a ‘passing on the baton to the next generation’ story arc centered around both Strange and Thor and both of these characters were imperative in the fight against Thanos in Infinity War.
We see a rather grim perspective in Infinity War, one where defeat seems the only logical conclusion for the heroes. But what if it wasn’t, what if the vents of Infinity War played out exactly how they should have in the grand course of things. What if we are stuck in an ontological time paradox of e Marvel Cinematic Universe and we are headed for a redemption of cosmic proportions.
We can’t know for sure, because no matter how hard we writers (or the fandom) tries we are not capable of looking into the future. But the sorcerer supreme is. He is the man who can traverse the stream of time like an old sea captain. The river of time is tame at his hand, the tempest soothes to a breeze at his will and bows down to Strange’s most powerful weapon, ‘The time stone’. But if the good Doctor is so powerful then why did he not use his most powerful weapon against the Mad Titan.
For the sake of a fair argument there are two specific incidents from Avengers Infinity War that are in favor of Doctor Strange, but before I put them in front of you I’ll warn you that these arguments of using the time stone were perhaps as fruitless as Peter Quill’s slap to Thanos’ face. Now, the first argument is the most obvious. Every time someone puts up a thread on a forum saying that Strange did not utilize the time the person is instantly hit by the fact that Strange went forward in time and saw 14 million futures. Yes, while that is true, every Marvel fan knows that that is not the limit of power of the time stone.
The second argument is that Dr. Strange must maintain a balance of forces of nature and he cannot disregard the natural laws, because there are always consequences for breaking them. Although this argument is a little more structured, I nonetheless consider it futile. Because when you have some personal consequences on one side and the existence of half of all creation on the other, you save the universe and don’t worry about your consequences. Because whatever the consequences for doing the right thing, our heroes must endure it.
So the argument remains that although it seemed like the sorcerer supreme tried his best, he never once did use his greatest weapon. But why is that, why did the most powerful Avenger choose to remain so docile in one of the greatest battles of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The answer is more apparent than you think. You see, Strange went forward in time countless times and then decided to pursue this particular story to the T. He saw Star-Lord’s fury, he saw Thanos’ victory and he wanted all of that to happen because we are in the endgame now. The fandom believes that Dr. Strange saw every possible battle scenario and finally decided to sight like he did because that is the only way they win.
