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Why did Thanos lose in Endgame if he had already won 14,000,604 times?

posted 3 years ago by TMC-4 (19458)
17 replies | jump to latest

When Doctor Strange looked into the future he saw potential 14,000,605 timelines. In all of these save one Thanos wins. But none of these timelines have actually happened.

https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-e4f75a3cace19565f1dbf66adecf6a97

Is it because none of those timelines happened? In other words, Thanos hasn’t won, and Thanos won’t win, because the choices Doctor Strange makes in the next few hours ensure that the timeline in which he loses is the one true timeline.

[–] Towelie_Towel (1720) 3 years ago

Yes, you answered your own question correctly.

[–] furiousstyles (4361) 3 years ago

Strangest post ever , i mean the answer is right there in his post

[–] FilmBuff (6716) 3 years ago

How did he answer his own question? It seems more like speculation, as no definitive answer was given on film.

If the timelines never happened, what was Dr. Strange witnessing?

Moreover, how could the choices Dr. Strange makes in the ensuing few hours ensure anything? If Thanos "losing" means he takes the Time Stone, then goes to Earth to get the final Stone, then snaps and kills half the universe, including Dr. Strange, then is killed, then 5 years pass, and then all those other things happen-- what could Dr. Strange do to make sure the myriad other things that must happen actually happen? If there are over 14 million possible outcomes, there must be a lot of things that can happen after Dr. Strange dies that must happen in a very specific way.

[–] ultravioletx (10216) 3 years ago

Quantum mechanics is tricky stuff. Every choice is a Schrodinger's Cat situation. Your future branches off into a tangent every time a choice is made. But that does not erase the other tangent. The cat is alive in one tangent, and dead in another.

Seeing your future tells you how to avoid being the dead cat. Once Doctor Strange saw a dead cat, he moved onto another tangent, and when that cat died, he went onto another, until he finally found a winner, which pretty much meant the MCU timeline we'd been watching for 10 years was on the path to being the alive cat.

As I said when Infinity War came out, Doctor Strange is the biggest spoiler in the MCU.

[–] triplea (3577) 3 years ago

Lol that's not how it works at all.

[–] Seperatrix (1091) 3 years ago

"Every choice is a Schrodinger's Cat situation. Your future branches off into a tangent every time a choice is made."

I'm no expert on QM, but the Schrodinger Cat paradox is based on observation, not choice, is it not?

When the box is opened the act of observation itself collapses two superimposed states into a singular state. Without any chance of preference (choice) in which state emerges from the collapse.

Again, I'm no expert on this, but I think you really mean to refer to the Many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics which states that there are no collapses of wave functions, thus creating many possible outcomes from a single event.

[–] ultravioletx (10216) 3 years ago

I'm not saying every choice is the observation of the cat inside the box.

What I'm saying is, every choice we make puts another cat in another box to be opened and observed (measured).

When matter is in a superpositional state (a wavefunction), it is in a "many worlds" type state. It's collapse means it is reduced to that one world where it was measured (observed), but its superposition suggests there are alternate worlds where a different measurement (observation) was taken causing it to collapse differently.

You can't observe superposition with a cat in a box though. The cat will always be dead or alive, never both. But you can observe and measure superposition with the double slit experiment.

[–] Goliard (1413) 3 years ago

I used to have SUCH arguments w/my professors over this. Essentially, this concept (and many others!) requires you to not only understand the math, but *interpret* what the math means. At its highest levels, it really did become a philosophy discussion.

Ah, well. I suspect that what's "really" going on can be understood/supported on several, incredibly subtle levels. Or, as Einstein was fond of saying: "It's all relative."

[–] ultravioletx (10216) 3 years ago

Right. Because we cannot peer into any of the "many worlds" outside our own, we are pretty much limited to speculation which makes the whole discussion very philosophical.

[–] Jimmyt11111 (136) 3 years ago

Surely you wouldn't have to open the box to find out if the cat was in there. It would be jumping around trying to get out. Or did Schrodinger kill it first?

[–] ultravioletx (10216) 3 years ago

Some cats are lazier than others.

[–] Moonglum9 (10736) 3 years ago

Because the present is different than the future.

[–] ATG6 (3000) 3 years ago

You'd think the odds of stopping Thanos would be better in some of those potential timelines where they don't let him get all of the infinity stones.

[–] ultravioletx (10216) 3 years ago

True. 14,000,605 was a silly number done for fan service. 14,605 would've been plenty.

[–] PaladinNJ (20331) 3 years ago

He didn't win in those other timelines. Those were potential situations where he could win. Dr. Strange was arranging things to lead to the one where Thanos loses.

[–] LookMaAFag (145) 3 years ago

Yarp

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

What do you mean by "actually"? It is a movie, you realize that, right?