Ancient One’s Endgame “Mistake” Was Further Proof Of Doctor Strange’s Plan

The Ancient One's (Tilda Swinton) line about making a mistake in Avengers: Endgame further proves of Doctor Strange's (Benedict Cumberbatch) plan. The shocking ending of Avengers: Infinity War left fans wondering how Earth's Mightiest Heroes were going to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin) and bring back those who perished from his snap. The film didn't leave many clues, but one explicit hint that everything would be resolved come Endgame was Doctor Strange's weirdly calm demeanor as he was dusted off following the Mad Titan's decimation.

Early on in Infinity War, while his fellow heroes came up with a plan to attack Thanos in Titan, Doctor Strange took the time to use his unique ability to peer through the future and check the potential outcomes of their impending battle with the Mad Titan. According to him, he saw 14 million possibilities and they only succeed in one. After this, his demeanor throughout the whole situation drastically changed and he was even more relaxed when the villain finally arrived. His most suspicious action, however, was voluntarily giving up the Time Stone to save Tony Stark/Iron Man's (Robert Downey Jr.) life even when he explicitly said that there would be no way he would part with the Eye of Agamotto.

By then, it's clear to the viewers that Doctor Strange was up to something, but it's uncertain what he was trying to accomplish. After the five-year time-jump in Endgame, the surviving Avengers devised a plan to collect all six Infinity Stones to bring back those who were dusted by the snap. Doctor Strange's words and actions, however, didn't play into it; it wasn't something that kept the team going, and Tony didn't seem to read anything more into the sorcerer saving his life on Titan. But, the Ancient One did immediately recognized that there was a big plan in play after learning of her future protege's decision from Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).

Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange and Tilda Swinton as Ancient One

While Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), and Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) were tasked with acquiring the Tesseract/Space Stone and Scepter/Mind Stone during the Battle of New York, Smart Hulk was assigned to nab the Time Stone from Doctor Strange. What they didn't foresee was that in 2012, the Eye of Agamotto was still with the Ancient One while Doctor Strange was still practicing as a surgeon. As keeper of the Time Stone, the Ancient One understandably refused to hand it over simply because she was asked to do so. It's only when Hulk shared that in the future, Doctor Strange willingly gave up the stone to Thanos that The Ancient One did as she was asked. In frustration, Smart Hulk had suggested that Doctor Strange had "made a mistake" by letting Thanos have the Infinity Stone, but immediately, the Ancient One recognized that her future mentee was executing a plan, replying that maybe she's the one who made the mistake since Doctor Strange was to become the best of them.

At the time, fans may have wrongly interpreted the Ancient One's words, believing that she was expressing doubts about choosing Doctor Strange to succeed her. In reality, however, she was referring to her own misunderstanding of her protege's actions. She realized that while she was not able to see what future lies beyond her death, Doctor Strange was seemingly able to and despite him disintegrating into dust due to Thanos' snap in Infinity War, that doesn't mean that he died. Whatever his motivation in giving up the Time Stone to Thanos, it was part of the plan that the surviving heroes were executing in Avengers: Endgame, which compelled the Ancient One to eventually change her mind and give Smart Hulk the Time Stone.

Next: Why Avengers: Age of Ultron Doesn't Fit In The MCU Phase 2