Avengers: Endgame is just over the horizon. Less than 45 days to do for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to receive its end to the ultimate culmination of movies. A 22 movie arc brought to you by the folks who created Mickey Mouse. It’s funny how Disney pulls such magic bunnies out of its hat but the fans continue to do nothing but show support for the final movie of Phase 3.
Any comic nerd can tell you that the most interesting thing to come out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not Thanos or the insanely powerful infinity stones but rather the dynamic (and often turbulent) relationship of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. The Cap and Iron Man have seldom seen eye to eye but they have always gathered their forces when the world needed them most.
Although this time it is not the world that needs them, rather the entire universe hopes that these two heroes can work together to take down the mighty Thanos. It has been long speculated that Avengers: Endgame is a time travel movie and the Russo brothers have commented in the past that it will feel like a heist movie; a collaborative effort by the Earth’s mightiest heroes to push back again the power of the infinity stones. A single opportunity afforded to the heroes by the way of time travel to redo the Infinity War, to do them better and in a way that they are truly able to rival Thanos.
The hardest of the stones to acquire in Avengers: Endgame is surely going to be the soul stone. As per a theory by u/CaptainCayden2077 on r/ Fantheories only Red Skull and Thanos know the secret location of the soul stone and the condition required for its acquisition. It hence makes sense that the hardest stone to acquire for the Avengers in their time traveling escapade will be the soul stone stored upon the yet unknown planet of Vormir.
It stands to reason that Nebula will be the one to inform Tony of the secret location of the stone because Gamora broke in front of her and only she has the material connection to Thanos to figure out that he gave up Gamora as a sacrifice for the stone. It is also highly likely that both Nebula and Tony Stark will keep the condition of the acquisition of the stone secret so as to not spook out Captain with the idea of sacrificing someone.
Fans have speculated on the same lines before and have often come up with the conclusion that the Captain will sacrifice himself to acquire the soul stone. It is also completely possible that Iron Man uses the stones to create weapons to battle Thanos and his infinity gauntlet. But to acquire the soul stone you have to sacrifice something that you love so fan speculation has often led to the conclusion that Captain America will be sacrificed by Tony Stark to complete the relationship arc between the two characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But this theory completely departs from the conventional and puts forward a possibility where Tony not only actively hides pertinent information from the team in Avengers: Endgame but also seems to be plotting against them.
The theory then proposes that when the reveal finally comes, the Captain will voluntarily offer himself up as the sacrifice. The only problem will be that it will not be the Captain dying but Iron Man himself. The theory is simple. Iron Man is sacrificed by the Captain to make sure that the ultimate sacrifice is as real for the Captain as it is for Iron Man.
They both make the sacrifice play as Tony lays down his life and lets the Avengers go to the final battle without him. The idea is so ridiculously ambitious and emotional that it just might be true. We may get to see the most grueling and gritty sequence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with one brother sacrificing the other for the universe.
There is also the possibility that at the end when all of the calamities are overturned and everyone is brought back from the dead, Tony Stark will be the only one left without a trace. What do you think about this theory? Let us know in the comments below.
