The Avengers: Endgame Directors Just Explained Some Of The Movie’s ‘Plot Holes’

So we’ve done it. We finally know how the Infinity Saga ends. 11 years worth of stories, boiled down to that 3-hour epic. Now, if you got through that without any questions, well, you’re a smarter person than me.

Caution: This article contains major spoilers.

For the rest of you who have watched Avengers: Endgame, let us proceed.

However, if you’re still floundering in the dark and have questions about the movie, you’re in luck. It’s not even been a week since the movie released, but the Russo brothers decided they needed to sit down and answer a few questions fans had about parts of the movie. All of it basically. But particularly the whole time-travel bit.

In a conversation with Chinese-language site QQ, the Russos answered a few important questions we all might’ve had. The post was translated and shared on Reddit by u/gianben123.

Let’s start off with the main question that’s on everyone’s mind:

Q: Why does Iron Man have to be the one to do the final snap, couldn’t people like Thor, Star-Lord or Captain Marvel who have all previously handled the power of Infinity Stones done it instead?

To which the Russos answered:

A: Thor in this movie couldn’t do it, only Hulk was strong enough to do the snap without dying. We are still not sure whether Captain Marvel can also withstand all the power of Infinity Stones at once. The reason we choose to let Iron Man do it in the end was because he was the closest one to Thanos at the time. In all the futures Doctor Strange foresees, Iron Man was the only one who could get close to Thanos and do the snap. People usually think the death of a hero is a horrible tragedy. But we think this is different. When his death was able to bring back hope, to save half the universe, then his death was powerful and meaningful. We shouldn’t feel too sad or angry about it.

So I guess it had to be Tony. Which brings us to the other co-leader of the Avengers, Captain America.

Q: Did Captain America’s action at the end affect the timeline? Does that mean there was a time where two Captain Americas existed in the same universe?

A: To me, Captain America’s action in the end wasn’t the fact he wanted to change anything, it’s more like he has made a choice. He chose to go back to past and live with the one he loved for the rest of his life. The time travel in this movie created an alternate reality. He lived a completely different life in that world. We don’t know how exactly his life turned out, but I’d like to believe he still helped many others when they were needed in that world. Yes, there were two Captain Americas in that reality, it’s just like what Hulk said, what happened in the past has already happened. If you go back to past, you simply created a new reality. The characters in this movie created new timeline when they went back to the past, but it had no effect to the prime universe. What happened in the past 22 movies was still canon.

And there it is, official confirmation that Cap lived in an alternate reality. But how did he come back? All in good time, friends.

The directors also confirmed that Endgame opened up a bunch of alternate realities.

Q: Endgame’s plot, is it a parallel universe or a closed time loop?

A: Nope, not a time loop. Both Ancient One and Hulk were right. You can’t change the future by simply going back to past. But it’s possible to create a different alternate future. It’s not the butterfly effect. Every decision you made in the past could potentially create a new timeline. For example, the old Cap at the end movie, he lived his married life in a different universe from the main one. He had to make another jump back to the main universe at the end to give the shield to Sam.

Another question people had was the fact that Iron Man got a big funeral scene at the end, but it seemed like Black Widow was all but forgotten.

Q: Why didn’t Black Widow get a funeral as well?

A: Did you forget when the heroes where mourning for her after when they returned from past? Maybe her funeral happened off screen. Maybe it will be shown in a future installment, because there are still tons of stories in the MCU that are waiting to be told.

And of course, finally the Russos agreed with us about the main hero of Endgame.

Q: What if the mouse didn’t press the button to turn on the quantum machine, wouldn’t that stop Endgame from happening? Isn’t this a bit too much of a coincidence?

A: Yes, the MOUSE SAVED THE UNIVERSE. Among the many realities in those 14 millions possible futures Doctor Strange foresaw, the mouse failed to press the button and thus the heroes failed in those futures.