Many fans are wondering why out of 14 million possible futures, Doctor Strange decided to hand over the time stone and facilitate Thanos’ snap.
While the Doctor Strange Desperately trying to find a way to defeat Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, the Sorcerer Supreme explored no fewer than 14,000,605 possible futures. Given that number, you’ve likely seen a lot of major events that go beyond Thanos’ own snap. In light of this, a recent fan theory proposes that Strange saw the rise of The Eternals. If he knew about this event, it’s possible he had it in mind by giving Thanos the Time Stone and thus delaying it.
During the battle on Titan at the end of Infinity War, Doctor Strange is supposed to have done his best to stop Thanos from getting hold of all the gems and carry out his grand plan. But nevertheless, as pointed out by a Reddit fan theory by user LuckyMe111Doctor Strange did nothing to stop Star-Lord from hitting Thanos and waking him up. With the Avengers blocking Thanos and about to seize the Gauntlet, it could be assumed that they would have beaten him and retrieved all the Infinity Stones. If this is the case, many are wondering why Strange didn’t intervene.
While Strange may not have intervened because he foresaw that Thanos would use the Gauntlet anyway, fan theory suggests that he actually wanted the snap to happen. In the film The Eternals (already available on Disney+), the Celestial Arishem reveals that he seeded a Celestial within the Earth’s core and that it will emerge when he obtains “large amounts of energy from intelligent life”. Around the time of Infinity War, Earth came very close to having a large enough population to produce enough energy for emergence. But with the halving of the population, the appearance was delayed another five years.
If the Avengers had defeated Thanos on Titan, then the events in The Eternals they could have been very different. Their leader, Ajak, may not have been inspired by Tony Stark’s sacrifice and realized that Earth is worth saving. This would have prevented the other Eternals from discovering his true purpose and rebelling. Even during a deleted scene of The Eternals recently released, Sprite and Makkari have a conversation about the value of the human population. While Sprite resents them, Makkari points out that the humans They defeated Thanos and saved half the universe. showing that the Avengers’ actions had an impact on how the Eternals viewed Earth.
The theory is very convincing, as it is true that without the Snap, the Earth would probably have been destroyed. Also, with how easily Thor was able to decapitate Thanos in Avengers: EndgameIt seems unlikely that in the 14,000,605 results, none of them resulted in Thanos taking the Gauntlet from him and killing him.
But nevertheless, not everyone is convinced of this theory. It is pointed out that if Doctor Strange knew of the Celestial’s existence within Earth, he would surely have become involved in the Eternals’ plan to ensure it worked. And also, it is unknown how far into the future Doctor Strange looked, as the Emergency was ready around a year after the events of Avengers: Endgame, meaning he would have had to look pretty far into each future. But either way, it’s still a compelling theory that’s fun to believe, as it adds even more weight to Strange’s Infinity War actions. However, this is not the only theory that links the saga of infinity with the events of The Eternals, this also makes Thanos a hero and not a villain.
The real motives of Thanos to reduce the population of the Universe by half
Some point out that Thanos’ goal was to prevent overpopulation in the universe, and it is also possible that he had knowledge of the Celestials and how they emerge, it should be noted that Thanos is an Eternal. By halving life on all planets, he delayed the destruction of many Celestial Seed worlds and saved the life of the remaining half.