Kevin Smith has an alternate take on one of the most pivotal moments of Avengers: Endgame, in which Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) plan comes to pass. Today marks the one-year anniversary of Endgame, the highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide and the biggest movie to hit the MCU. Reportedly, Endgame earned Disney nearly $900 million. The film revealed the original Avengers’ final mission together as they sought to reverse the damage done by Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Infinity War. Fans were largely impressed with how the MCU’s Infinity Saga wrapped up and are eager to look ahead to Phase 4. However, with the next MCU movie still several months away, it’s easier to take a trip back down memory lane.

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One of the key moments of Infinity War saw Doctor Strange using the Time Stone to view all possible outcomes of their battle with Thanos. He looked at over 14 million options, and in the end, he saw only one where they won. That one outcome seemingly plays out in Endgame, when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) looks to Doctor Strange near the end of the final battle, and Doctor Strange holds up one finger, indicating they’ve got their one chance. This spurs Tony to make the ultimate sacrifice: Taking all the Infinity Stones for himself and snapping his fingers to destroy Thanos’ army. The largely accepted explanation for this is that Doctor Strange knew all along Tony would need to sacrifice himself to save the day; it’s why he gave up the Time Stone to spare Tony’s life in Infinity War.

However, a year out from the film, writer-director-actor Smith has offered a different theory. Smith posted on Twitter that the wordless exchange between Tony and Doctor Strange, as well as what followed, is “Once of the best moments I ever saw across a then 48 years of watching (and even making) movies.” He then revealed that he interprets Doctor Strange’s one finger a different way: “I take it to mean “And THAT was our once chance” –  hence Tony’s sacrifice.” See the moment for yourself, along with Smith’s tweet, down below:

In Smith’s eyes, Tony’s sacrifice was never on Doctor Strange’s radar. Instead, Doctor Strange realizes they somehow blew their one shot at taking down Thanos, and he conveys this to Tony by holding his finger up. In response, Tony takes matters into his own hands (literally) and makes one last-ditch attempt to save the universe. It’s certainly a different interpretation, and one that does make some sense. However, it also doesn’t fully explain Doctor Strange’s willingness to give up the Time Stone to save Tony’s life in Infinity War. Doctor Strange spent much of that film refusing to give up the Time Stone no matter what, and his sudden switch was seen as a major twist. If Tony wasn’t vital to the one solution right from the start, why would Doctor Strange fight for his life?

It’s a testament to Endgame‘s success that fans are still discussing and appreciating its biggest moments a year later. From Tony’s devastating and epic sacrifice to Captain America (Chris Evans) becoming worthy enough to pick up Mjolnir, Endgame will likely always hold a special place in Marvel fans’ hearts, even if some of its story choices proved to be a bit controversial. While Phase 4 promises to be as massive as those that came before, it’s got some big shoes to fill when it comes to its conclusion.

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Source: Kevin Smith/Twitter

Key Release Dates
  • Black Widow (2021)Release date: Jul 09, 2021
  • Eternals (2021)Release date: Nov 05, 2021
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)Release date: Sep 03, 2021
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
  • The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
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Rachel Labonte
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Rachel LaBonte is a news, feature, and movie review writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for film and television. A graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.

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