Avengers 4 Fan Theory Suggests Marvel Lies

Is Avengers 4 really a time travel movie, or is this all just misdirection from Marvel Studios? A new fan theory suggests that Marvel is deliberately deceiving viewers by a series of fake set photos and leaks. The idea is getting a lot of traction, but is it really likely?

Most viewers have long assumed that Avengers 4's story involves time travel. The evidence for this mostly rests on the fact actors such as Chris Evans, Zoe Saldana, and Karen Gillan have been glimpsed in older costumes or makeup, while set photos have shown scenes around the Battle of New York. But one Redditor has suggested this is nothing more than an extensive campaign on Marvel's part to fool us.

Can we really be sure Marvel isn't deceiving us to try and protect real Avengers 4 spoilers? Or is the time-travel theory too solid to be shaken by a criticism on Reddit?

The Fake Scenes Suggestion Is Ridiculous

It's true that Marvel isn't above being a little misleading, especially with trailers: Thor: Ragnarok's marketing, for example, carefully avoided revealing that God of Thunder would lose an eye. The trailers for Avengers: Infinity War then hid that he'd get a replacement, and famously featured the Hulk during the Battle of Wakanda. In both cases, though, these were minor deceptions. Thor's bloodied eye - and later eye-patch - were added by CGI during post-production, so wouldn't even have been added to the scenes until after the trailers dropped. And while the Russos have said they filmed that famous Wakandan charge purely for the trailer, at one point the script did feature the Hulk as part of that battle. This Redditor's proposal is a whole different level of deceit to anything we've seen before from Marvel.

It's important to remember that the back-to-back production of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 was a logistical nightmare, with Marvel juggling schedules for countless A-list actors. To give an idea of how complex a production this was, at one point the Russos were forced to use a stand-in for Doctor Strange and reshoot scenes when Benedict Cumberbatch was free. The idea that they'd waste a significant amount of time getting their stars to shoot scenes that wouldn't even be in the film is absurd.

What's more, it's important to note that making extensive sets like those seen in the leaked photos isn't a simple matter. Reproducing the Battle of New York would have been both expensive and time-consuming. The Russos themselves have insisted they didn't film fake scenes just to confuse fans; "We're too tired to shoot anything that's not going in the movie," Anthony Russo observed.

Besides which, the evidence isn't limited to set photos. We have casting calls and costume/makeup details, a whole slew of confirmed resurrections, and even the fact that Marvel is deliberately exploring the post-"snap" reality. Time travel is more than just some New York set photos.

The Quantum Realm Avengers 4 Theory is Solid

Ant-Man and the Wasp End Credits Scene with Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel

The Redditor also devotes some time to disproving time travel theories. Now, it's true that some of the theories propagated by fans are unlikely. However, most of the effort is spent on a rather odd theory that Doctor Strange sent the Time Stone to the future, where it was picked up by Tony Stark. This theory is almost certainly wrong; if the Time Stone is used for time-travel at all in Avengers 4, it's probably by Thanos.

The more reasonable method for Earth's Mightiest Heroes is the Quantum Realm. That's been explicitly described as a realm outside the normal laws of time and space, and concept art from Ant-Man & the Wasp has already shown Marvel is playing with time travel methods. The movie itself made explicit mention of "time vortexes." When asked about this, director Peyton Reed admitted the science Marvel had set up made time travel possible. Amusingly, the Redditor discounts the Quantum Realm because he doesn't believe Ant-Man is a popular enough hero to be important to Avengers 4; instead, he suggests Captain Marvel will be a major figure in the film. That's ironic, given it's already been confirmed that the Quantum Realm will figure in Captain Marvel too.

It's possible that Marvel has shot some minor scenes to confuse audiences. But a deception on this scale wouldn't make any sense at all, especially given the clear narrative focus on the Quantum Realm running through both Ant-Man & the Wasp and Captain Marvel. Avengers 4 is almost certainly a time travel film, and there's no compelling evidence to really suggest otherwise.