Endgame Timeline Shenanigans
So, I've been thinking more about the time travel in Endgame. So I made myself a little diagram. Key:
- Black lines: normal time passing.
- Red lines: going back in time.
- Blue lines: going forward in time.
- Orange lines: Steve going back in time returning the stones (because we don't know what order he did it in).
- Purple line: going forward in time, but...
- Green line: normal time passing, but...
(click to enlarge)
So. This diagram is based on the principle that timelines can never be destroyed, only created. As explicitly stated in the movie, you can't change the past; to be precise, you can't change your past. As soon as someone goes into the past and changes something, a new timeline is created, a new parallel universe. This means that the Quantum-Realm-Time-Machine can not only travel in time, but can travel across parallel universes. Why do I say that? Because Our Heroes all created new timelines with their actions, which means the tech has to be able to retrieve someone from Timeline X and bring them back to Timeline A. But if normal time is passing, and you are in Timeline X, you will stay in Timeline X.
Hence the problem with Old Man Steve; he created a new timeline which I'm calling "Timeline F". If he's just living his life, then there's no way he could return to Timeline A to give Sam the shield.
So, options:
- It isn't Steve at all.
- It is Steve from Timeline F, who used parallel-universe-travel tech to make a quick trip to Timeline A, and then went back to Timeline F.
In regard to past!Nova bringing Thanos forward in time from 2014 to 2023, that's a different problem, as I mentioned in the previous post. That's the problem of how the tech can be applied to a whopping great spaceship when it was built for individuals. But if it could, then it is possible to bring Thanos from Timeline D 2014 to Timeline A 2023. And there is no paradox caused by the future Nova from Timeline A killing the past Nova from Timeline D, because they are from different timelines.
I've seen people complaining about that specifically, and, like, hey, you weren't paying attention! The problem with the time travel in Endgame is not that it doesn't behave like the time travel in Back To The Future. The problem with the time travel in Endgame is that it is internally inconsistent.
Yeah, this is all old hat and people all hashed it out two years ago, but I'm allowed to apply my brain, even if I am late to the party.
This entry was originally posted at https://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/1207275.html. (Comments
) Respond here, or respond on the Dreamwidth post, as you prefer. You can use your DW login or OpenId there.