Work Text:
Marvel's intro of flipping comic pages, showing scenes from Avengers – Infinity War and Avengers Endgame. The last picture shows Dr. Strange.
DR. STRANGE and BRUCE BANNER stand in the ruins of the Avengers Compound after the last scene of AVENGERS ENDGAME. STRANGE returns the time stone to the Eye of Agamoto. He uses the time stone to reset a couple of walls to the state before they were hit by Thanos's missiles. In the background are several other heroes cleaning up other parts of the destroyed area or helping the hurt people.
Bruce is holding his arm that was injured from using the gauntlet. He watches Dr. Strange resetting the buildings to their original state.
PROFESSOR HULK
Now that is a really convenient power. (Looking at his arm) Is there any chance it would work on this, too?
STRANGE
No. The Time Stone is incredibly powerful, but it cannot undo what the collective of all stones has caused. (He is looking exhausted away. Then he looks back at Bruce's badly injured arm). I am sorry.
PROFESSOR HULK
Never mind. Tony told us everything. We couldn’t have won without the time stone. (He ponders for a second.) It is incredible. I still can’t fully comprehend that each and every choice, being even so small, alters the future, and yet there are only those 4 Million 606 possible versions of how it could have ended… (He shakes his head). I would have assumed there must have been a couple of billions at least.
STRANGE
Oh, there are (eye roll) billions of different possible futures. I just had to browse through those 4 Million and 606 until I finally found one in which we won.
PROFESSOR HULK
Wait… (close up, shocked) you mean there could have been another possibility for us to win!? One without all those sacrifices??
STRANGE
Bruce, listen. Of all the paths I saw, this was the first one that did not end in blood. Having lived through only so many almost shattered my mind. Could there have been another solution? Maybe. In the multiverse of possibilities, there might have been one…
The camera zooms backward and out quickly, showing the scene being a part of a bright yellow timeline. (Compare the visual of the ancient one showing timelines to Bruce in “AVENGERS ENDGAME”.) As the camera goes further back, more and more splitting timelines emerge. The original timeline is left behind when the picture pans over many red timelines that then dissolve in black. A count appears that rises with each timeline that gets crossed. It goes faster and faster up, quickly reaching the millions. When a red timeline is crossed, a snapshot appears that shows how Thanos defeats the Avengers in every possible way. “Ash lines” show vast empty space, dead planets, and destruction of the galaxy. In the distance, another yellow timeline appears dimly. The camera hesitates, then goes to it and dives in.
The counter shows “Possibility No. 39 Mil. 042”.
CUT TO Thanos’ spaceship. Missiles and energy blasts, all firing at once, are pointed at a small glowing dot in space. The dot approaches, dodging some blasts and being hit by some missiles without taking visible damage. It’s Carol Danvers who attacks and destroys two giant chitauri vessels. Beneath the fight scene, a green/blue planet with one large continent and two small moons are seen. Large areas of the planet’s surface are either burning or charred (and smoke).
Carol trashes her way into the biggest vessel. Thanos stands there, his right arm burned and scarred by the snap, but he meets Carol in battle regardless and catches her fist with it.
THANOS
You! (mocking) “Captain Marvel”. I heard about you.
She forces him to retreat by landing a series of heavy blows, which he manages to block.
CAROL
Where are they?
THANOS
Where is what?
She stares at him challenging. He starts smiling.
THANOS
The stones? You will never get them!
The revelation makes Thanos fight much harder. He grabs Carol's arm and throws her through a wall. She lands on her hands and knees, amidst burning and sparkling cables. Carol jumps to her feet and blows a strand of hair out of the face. Her aura grows stronger and she attacks, wrestling Thanos down and twisting his arm.
CAROL
Let’s try again. Tell me where they are.
THANOS
Right where they belong!
He pulls a cloth away from his left arm and reveals the space stone that is now embedded in his vambrace. The stone glows brightly as it builds a blue aura around her, forcing Carol backward. (Compare his fight against Loki in Infinity war.) Thanos rises and punches her repeatedly.
THANOS
Feisty. (Wipes blood from his nose.) About time someone teaches you obedience.
With an angry scream, she throws herself at him, but he gripes her head and arm. She struggles, as a dark figure approaches behind a broken-down grid from the ceiling. It’s a big man, dragging a mace behind him, making sparks fly where its thorns scratch the floor. His face is hidden by a metal helmet with a visor. Light and shadows fall alternatingly on him. Thanos throws her at the feet of the man. Carol fights the man, but whenever Carol seems to get the upper hand Thanos uses the stones, embracing her with the blue aura of the space stone or red sparks from the power stone. She screams in frustration and charges Thanos, as she gets hit by a lightning bolt from her back, making her stumble. Thanos grabs her head, lifting the mind stone between two fingers. She gasps, trying to back away, but he does not let her. Finally, she succumbs. Her eyes turn first black and then blue. The fight leaves Carol's body and she goes to her knees, looking up at Thanos (frog perspective from behind, Carol is a light figure before the darker background which is Thanos).
CUT TO Captain America watching his friends getting turned to dust after the fight in Wakanda. Tony hugs Peter while he dusts away.
CUT TO Captain America standing in the Avengers’ compound, staring through a window into the distance. There is smoke in the sky and distant fires in the city spark. His face and uniform are dirty. He looks wary.
CAPTAIN AMERICA
They are plundering.
BLACK WIDOW
They are humans.
CAPTAIN AMERICA
They are stealing from children!
BLACK WIDOW
They would probably tell you that they are stealing to feed their own children.
CAPTAIN AMERICA
It’s a lie! They are hoarding food for later! They either don’t care that the orphans might starve now or they don’t believe we can actually get the economy back to track within the year.
BLACK WIDOW
So what do you want to do?
Captain America stares at her gloomy and she cocks her head. He sighs and turns his back on the window.
CAPTAIN AMERICA
What can we even do? (Pause)
CUT TO people dragging goods out of a truck against the protesting screams of its driver.
CUT TO Thor is drinking beer with his buddies while playing computer games.
CUT TO Hawkeye is slaughtering small-time criminals in japan.
CUT TO Tony who stares into the rain from his house in the forest.
CUT TO a green landscape with plentiful fields ready for harvest. ZOOM TO a forest with one old, knobby tree on a hill at its border. Robes are wrapped around its trunk as if someone is bound to it on the other side. A woman stands beside it, looking at the tree and what is bound to it. She is clothed in black and has long black hair.
CAPTAIN AMERICA (off-screen)
Who would have any interest in fighting a fight in a war already lost?
The woman looks over her shoulder into the camera. It is Hela.
CUT TO Tony walking down a corridor, carrying a coffee-to-go cup, and turns around, speaking to the camera.
TONY STARK
No, no, no! No arguing! You came here and gave me a present so we must be friends! Friends give each other stuff. I promise you will like it! Well, at least I like it. And…
He uses the wooden stick to point slightly below the camera.
TONY STARK
… no offense, but you can’t wear this! Noo… But I have just. The. Thing. You need.
Tony’s face turns serious.
TONY STARK
Because it will be one hell of a ride.
CUT TO Thanos's ship hanging over the Avengers compound, firing missiles at the building.
CUT TO chubby and bearded Thor who stares incredulously through the window of an interrogation room in which a lean Thor with long blond hair turns around to the window.
CUT TO Prof. Pim who is in his thirties, and threatens SCOTT LANG of the same age with a pistol.
CUT TO Thanos lifting his two-sided sword over Tony who lies on the ground on a battlefield. The gauntlet is lying at a small distance. Both stare at it, looking as if they are about to leap for it.
CUT BACK TO TONY STARK giving the camera a sharp smile, only one finger tapping the coffee to go betraying his nervousness.
LOKI
Hmm, when do we start?
