North Texas Daily

The highly anticipated Marvel film, “Avengers: Endgame,” is set to release this April 26, but that hasn’t stopped comic book and cinema fans alike from trying to figure out how Earth’s mightiest heroes defeat Thanos and reverse his population-annihilating snap.

Here is a quick look at the most popular fan theories the all-knowing internet has to offer:

Loki is a hero

Flashback to the first Avengers movie that was released in 2012. In this film, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye and the Hulk battle Thor’s adopted, Norse god-of-mischief brother Loki in order to prevent him from using mind control on citizens of planet Earth with the use of his scepter which contains the Mind Stone. It has been theorized that Thanos gave Loki that scepter, leading Loki to do Thanos’ bidding on Earth.

Now, flash forward to the opening scene of “Avengers: Infinity War.” One of the first things the audience sees is Thanos choking Loki to death with a physically restrained Thor watching tearfully. If Thanos and Loki were on the same side not too long ago, what caused such a severe rift?

Once Loki figured out that he was being controlled by Thanos’ Mind Stone scepter, he defected to become allies with the Avengers. Marvel has confirmed this theory showing viewers that Loki actually died a hero.

Dr. Strange’s time loop

In Marvel’s 2018 blockbuster film, “Avengers: Infinity War,” Dr. Stephen Strange, a powerful sorcerer, envisions 14 million ways in which the Avengers and their allies can fight Thanos, but only one of those futures “stops Thanos.” This is not to say that he is defeated or that the Avengers survive, but merely that Thanos does not wipe out half the population of the entire universe with a single snap. Dr. Strange does this by putting the universe in a time loop using one of the Infinity Stones, the Time Stone, much like the one he used to defeat Dormammu in Marvel 2016 film, “Dr. Strange.”

Reddit user RahulVijh theorised that “When Strange cedes the Time Stone to Thanos, the stone is clearly glowing and thus “activated” — since the events of ‘Infinity War’ at least at that point are within the time loop. Even though Strange is dust, that does not break the time loop, as we saw in ‘Doctor Strange’ (when Dormammu repeatedly kills him).”

We are again reminded of that by Strange when he tells Ebony Maw, “You will find a dead man’s spell hard to break” in “Infinity War.” While it is still unclear whether Thanos killed half the population or simply transported them to an alternate universe, it’s safe to say that Marvel Studios’ production team is intent on keeping fans on the edge of their seats with this plot point.

Alternative universe for snapped people

One of the most heartbreaking scenes in “Infinity War” for viewers was discovering which of their favorite characters survived Thanos’ snap and who didn’t. Some of the characters that didn’t survive include King T’Challa (“Black Panther”), Wanda Maximoff (“Scarlet Witch”) and Peter Parker (“Spider-Man”).

A brief moment of silence to honor the afflicted.

Before the release of the “Avengers: Endgame” trailer, most Marvel cinephiles who aren’t familiar with the comic book series assumed that Thanos’ snap meant death for everyone who disappeared.

However, Reddit user ApathetikTurtle35 has hypothesized that “When Thanos told Doctor Strange and Tony on Titan that his plan would have half the population of the universe gone, he said “It would be merciful, like they never existed.” What I’m thinking is that his visionary utopia was TOO great of a goal for even the Infinity Stones to handle (Hence the gauntlet being destroyed with a snap of his fingers.)

At the cost of the gauntlet itself, the Gauntlet created an alternate, semi-permanent reality where all those that disappeared were transported to. It would explain why it seemed almost ALL of the characters with movies coming up disappeared.

The distress signal sent by Nick Fury at the end of the post credit scene with Captain Marvel logo is a distress signal to a now more or less retired Captain Marvel. This theory has not been confirmed by Marvel, but it does tell Avengers fans one thing: your favorite characters aren’t dead.

While Marvel’s post-credits scenes, subtle Easter eggs and artfully crafted movie trailers have given fans an opportunity to speculate about upcoming films, the true reveal comes after the movie.