Avengers: Endgame – Doctor Strange's crazy plan, From war to infinity at the end of the game, explained

Avengers: Endgame's title derives from a key sentence uttered by Dr. Strange towards the end of his predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War. After losing the fight with Thanos on the Titan planet, Strange told Tony Stark, "We are in the final phase now." This is a reference to the fact that Strange has a plan to defeat Thanos, and even though it seems the Avengers are losing, the fight against Mad Titan is not limited to this battle. (Check out our review of the Endgame to see if the final is up to the configuration.)

Infinity War ends with the victory of Thanos and his cliché in which he uses the Infinity Stones to eliminate half of the life in the universe. Among those who ceased to exist, there was Dr. Strange, who never had the opportunity to explain his great plan. Now that Avengers: Endgame has arrived, we can see what he was thinking – and why he changed his mind to allow Thanos to get the stone of time.

First, it is important to remember exactly what Strange said in Infinity War. Originally, his plan was to keep the stone of time away from Thanos by any means necessary, but he would not let Tony destroy it or remove it in any other way. Strange insisted that he keep the stone. After being kidnapped by Thanos' lieutenant, Ebony Maw, and saved by Tony and Spidey, Strange repeated that the most important element of the fight was the stone. He told Tony that, whatever happens, he would protect the stone, even at the cost of Tony's, Peter Parker's, or both.

When they reach Titan, Dr. Strange will devote part of the discussion to the question of knowing Take Thanos with the Stone of Time. He tracks about 14 million possible chronologies and, as he tells Tony, saw only one in which the Avengers won the battle. The fight ensues, the team being about to move away from Thanos with the Gauntlet of Infinity, which could have allowed them to stop, but they fail. In the last moments of the fight, Thanos stabs Tony in the belly and then prepares to finish him off.

This is the moment when Strange changes things. He makes a deal with Thanos: spare Tony's life in exchange for the stone of the time. This is a big change from Strange's earlier statement that the stone was more important than anyone else in the team. Strange's comment on the end of the game comes shortly after Thanos leaves Wakanda. This reveals that Strange has changed his mind and allowed Tony to keep a more ambitious agenda, more important than keeping the stone of time away from Thanos.

We all know what will happen next: Thanos wins. But Endgame reveals why Strange made that decision, because Tony's survival in Infinity War is essential to everything that's going on. When Scott Lang returns from the quantum realm, he will reveal that Hank Pym's increasingly small technology can make the journey as long as possible – but Tony Stark himself explains how the team can get to places and places. at specific times without getting lost. Strange knew that the Avengers could not beat Thanos in a live fight, but that they could possibly cancel the slam – so Tony was still alive to help them understand how.

Strange and Tony have yet another big deal. moment during the climax of the film. While Tony is fighting Thanos, trying to take him the Gauntlet to no longer be able to use the Infinity Stones, he attracts Strange's eye. The two men have already had a conversation about the future. as Strange says, telling Tony what would happen would not happen because knowledge would make Tony (and potentially everyone) change the way they would act.

In the last moments of the fight, Strange, meeting Tony's eyes, raises a finger. This is reminiscent of their previous discussion – it's the only successful version of the events, telling Tony that they're on the right track. But Strange also points out what Tony has already understood: it's up to Tony to defeat Thanos and use the Infinity Stones to do it. And Tony, seeing Thanos and Hulk using the Gauntlet, would probably kill him.

The reality is that Strange knew that it was so that things had to happen. He prevented Thanos from killing Tony in Infinity War because he knew that Tony had a huge role to play in the rest of the fight. Tony would be essential to secure travel over time. it would be necessary to grab the stone from space and build the glove allowing the Avengers to use Infinity stones; and he would be the one who would eventually defeat Thanos.

And when Strange said that he could not tell Tony the result or that it would change, it was because he knew that Tony still had a role to play: he had to sacrifice himself to defeat Thanos.

The worst thing was that Strange knew all that, but over 14 million chronologies he could not see any other solution – perhaps one where Tony could have lived a long and happy life with his family. But with the great arc of Marvel Cinematic Universe starting with Iron Man and closing with Avengers: Endgame, it's pretty normal that the key to everything is Tony Stark, doing exactly what Steve Rogers said he was incapable during his first mission together in The Avengers: sacrificing oneself for the greater good.