Doctor Strange May Not Return In Avengers: Endgame This is Why
Doctor Strange took one of the more important roles of Avengers: Infinity War. He not only put up the most impressive one v one fight against Thanos but also foresaw the events necessary to stop the Mad Titan. However, despite all of this, he still bit the dust at the end of the film, mysteriously claiming that his demise and that of half of the universe was necessary to defeating Thanos in the endgame.
Because of Spider-Man: Far From Home, it feels pretty obvious that the heroes who died in Infinity War will be making their return in Avengers: Endgame. Doctor Strange himself even has a sequel to his movie in the works with a release year of 2020 or 2021 being tossed around. But even with all of that, is it possible that Doctor Strange may not actually return to the living in Avengers: Endgame?
The Gauntlet Prolongs His Return
While it’s true that we have confirmation that Nick Fury, Mariah Hill, and Spider-Man all return from the dead, we don’t know if that means everyone else does. At least we don’t know if everyone returns at the same time. What’s that mean? Well, as it stands now, we don’t know how the Avengers manage to pull off bringing everyone back.
The most sensible method seems to be using the Infinity Gauntlet itself for this. Even if the Avengers managed to bring everyone back through other means, Thanos would still have the gauntlet and would continue to insist on being a problem for everybody. So getting the gauntlet away from Thanos seems to be the best solution. Thing is, The Infinity Gauntlet is damaged. We saw at the end of Infinity War that after Thanos snapped his fingers the gauntlet was tarnished and smoldering. We know that it’s not damaged beyond all possible use, though, because Thanos could still use it to manipulate the Space Stone into providing him with a speedy getaway from the scene of his crime. But there would be no reason to show us that the gauntlet was damaged if it didn’t have any overall effect on its performance. With that, it’s probably safe to assume the gauntlet can’t utilize its full power the way it could before it’s original snap. So, if the Avengers used it to say snap the rest of the universe back into existence. There would probably be some drawbacks or conditions.
One of these conditions could be the time it takes for everyone to return. When Thanos first snapped his fingers, people more or less turned to dust all at the same time. That was when the gauntlet was fully functional. Now that it’s not, the timing of everyone’s return may be off. For instance, Peter Parker, Nick Fury, and Mariah Hill may return when the Avengers snap them back into existence, but everyone else may have to wait their turn. The gauntlet will take some time to reverse the effects of the original snap, probably much longer than anticipated because another universe-affecting snap would put yet another strain on the gauntlet and possibly damage it even further. So Doctor Strange wouldn’t return until a few years after the events of Endgame occured. Probably right around the time Mordo’s “Zero Sorcerers Plan” starts to show signs of being a real issue.
Doctor Strange Remains Behind Willingly
Doctor Strange is new to this whole “Sorcerers Supreme” thing. If this incident with Thanos has taught him anything, it’s that he still has a long way to go when it comes to monitoring threats to his dimension. With that being said, the Soul World of the Soul Stone is quite possibly very new territory for Strange. He may not have any prevailing knowledge of this realm. While he assuredly knows of the Soul Stone -- as his and Wong’s Infinity War explanation of the Infinity Stones proved -- that doesn’t mean he knows the full scope of the Soul Stone’s powers. After all, the stone is a lot more obscure than the rest, even in name.
So if the Infinity Gauntlet really was used to send half of the universe into the Soul World of the Soul Stone, then Strange may have found himself in unexplored territory. He’s in a dimension no living person has ever been to before (as far as we know). Strange may choose to stay behind here in this place to gather some knowledge on it. After all, everything he had on him was turned to dust. If his Cloak of Levitation was destroyed by the snap, it stands to reason that his sling ring was too. In the 2016 Doctor Strange movie, the sling ring was stated to have the power to allow the user to transport themselves anywhere in the multiverse, which, funny enough, would make it’s teleportation abilities stronger than even that of the Space Stone (if the MCU is going by comic logic anyway, which, admittedly, it does tend to stray from). The Ancient One could have been exaggerating the artifact’s power but that seems unlikely. So why not use the Sling Ring to escape the Soul World? Is it not apart of the multiverse? Does the sling ring simply not work here? If so, why not? Does any of Strange’s magic work in this dimension at all? These are questions Strange may want more time to investigate. He’ll never know when he may actually find himself in the Soul World again, or if he may find anything of use to him about the Soul World.
It’s quite possible that the Avengers decide to destroy all of the Infinity Stones when this whole situation is over, but it’s also very possible that they decide to just keep the stones under their protection. Strange himself refused to sacrifice the Time Stone when he had the chance, so it’s not like he wouldn't it be on board with the idea. That being the case, if he can find a way to manipulate the Soul World, he’ll definitely jump on the opportunity. We already know from experience that Doctor Strange is a curious person. He soaked in knowledge like a sponge does water in the original Doctor Strange when he was just learning magic (granted, any self-respecting human being would do all they can to learn real magic if they found out it existed). So if the Soul World has any beneficial secrets to it, he’ll want to learn them. Even if the Soul World doesn’t, Doctor Strange would like to find that out as well.
The Soul World Won’t Release Him
It’s quite possible that the Soul World has its own special set of rules to it, rules that need to be followed if someone wanted to leave it after entering. Again, the Infinity Gauntlet has been damaged and there’s no telling what the extent of the damage is until Endgame hits theaters. It’s very possible that the gauntlet won’t have the same control over the stones needed to bring everyone out of the Soul World on command. If that turns out to be the case, then everyone in the Soul World would be at its unique mercy.
What does “unique” mean in this instance? Well, Thanos has had two different interactions with the Soul Stone. Right after Thanos sacrificed Gamura, the next place he found himself in was the Soul World (allegedly), holding the very stone he sought to claim. The next interaction Thanos had with the stone came right after he snapped his fingers, right after he banishes half of the universe into the Soul World (again, allegedly). Here we see him in a place with a sky resembling the one that belonged to the world Thanos was in when he first held the Soul Stone. Here he sees Gamura, only it’s not the Gamura of the present, the one who died when he body made contact with the rocks after a hundred-foot drop. This Gamura is a child, and yet somehow has knowledge of the present day, asking Thanos what the cost of his actions were.
The fact that Gamura is a child in this scene is weird. If this vision is just a simple hallucination on Thanos’ part, it comes at a very strange time -- between the short space it takes for Thor to realize that he just allowed Thanos to kill half of creation. So we're going to instead count it as something the Soul Stone showed him through the Soul World. We thinks it's safe to assume that because the Soul Stone demanded a sacrifice and Gamora was used to fulfill that sacrifice, that she was the first hero to enter the Soul World. That would mean that the Soul Stone changed her appearance to match how Thanos chooses to remember her.
What does this have to do with Doctor Strange? Well, if the Soul Stone manipulated Gamura, who’s to say that it won’t manipulate Strange and everyone else once they’ve entered it? What’s stopping the stone from playing with their realities the same way it did Thanos and Gamora? We’re sure Thanos didn’t ask the Soul Stone to take him into the Soul World the same way Gamura didn’t ask to be a child again, which would mean the stone did that on its own (of course Thanos could have asked, but why of all times when he has an axe in his chest). It’s possible that the stone won’t allow the inhabitants of its world to leave until they fulfill some sort of obligation to it, the same way Thanos had to just to get the stone in the first place. Strange would have to figure out what part of himself he’s willing to give up in order to get out -- same with the rest of the heroes.
The Gauntlet Just Doesn’t Have the Power
The gauntlet’s damaged state may just prevent a full resurrection of the universe. Again, we don’t know how badly the gauntlet was damaged, but we do have something to go off of to gauge it. When Thanos got his hands on the Space Stone, it made him the first known person in the universe to ever wield two Infinity Stones at the same time. At this point, Thanos was so confident in his newfound power that he discarded his battle armor. Whyever would he need it? He has control over all of space and all the power the universe has to offer. He also a gauntlet that will enable him to use both in whatever fashion he sees fits. This was just with two Infinity Stones.
We know of course that by the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos has managed to acquire all of the Infinity Stones. He is quite easily the most powerful being walking the face of existence because of this. Yet for some reason, most of if not all of the Avengers: Endgame promotions we’ve seen, depict Thanos back in his battle armor. He even has his trusty two-bladed sword with him. He’s gone back to his mundane weapons despite being in possession of all six Infinity Stones. Why?
We think the obvious answer is just that the gauntlet doesn’t work the way it used to anymore. It can’t handle the stones properly to be reliable. This would mean that if the Avengers attempt to use it to bring the others back from the Soul World, the gauntlet won’t allow it, or if it does, it only brings back certain individuals and not all of them. So while Nick Fury, Spidey, and Mariah will make it back, Strange will be left behind with other heroes like Black Panther. Etri is still alive so he may be able to do something about the gauntlet, but he also doesn’t have his hands anymore, so fixing the gauntlet may prove to be more than an issue. At this point, how Strange returns to the living world be a mystery. However Strange gets back to the physical world would probably be something explored more in-depth in his second movie.
