In 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, Benedict Cumberbatch’s then-Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange used the Time Stone to look into the future. He viewed 14,000,605 possible outcomes of the war with Thanos and saw only one in which the heroes won.
A recent theory from a Marvel Cinematic Universe fan posits that, as Strange scanned each alternate future, he became aware of the existence of the Time Variance Authority from the Disney+ Loki show.
So, could this theory be true? Has Doctor Strange known about the TVA in the MCU since the events of Avengers: Infinity War? There are arguments both for and against the idea.
Why This Theory Could Be Correct
The MCU’s Sacred Timeline – designated as such by He Who Remains because it led to his birth and, therefore, prevents any evil variants of him from being born – is the timeline the TVA ensures happens by intervening in any event that causes it to diverge (the most well-known being Loki’s escape from 2012 New York using the Tesseract, after the Avengers traveled back there in Avengers: Endgame).
The TVA, therefore, regularly jumps into the Sacred Timeline to prevent things they deem a risk from happening. When Strange saw the one successful future and the path that led to it, there’s a strong chance he would have seen the TVA popping up to do their job.
Moreover, given the TVA’s control over time, there’s every chance Strange saw several futures in which the Avengers defeated Thanos. However, because they weren’t part of the TVA’s plans for the ultimate preservation of the Sacred Timeline, they pruned said timelines and destroyed the universe, prompting Strange to avoid them even though the Mad Titan lost the war with the Avengers.
If this theory is true, Strange may already know about Kang, his evil variants, and the Council of Kangs. Therefore, he could already prepare for the war with the villain and be the Avengers’ most crucial tool for defeating him in the upcoming events of the Multiverse Saga.
Of course, this theory has some flaws – both in terms of real-world issues and in-universe MCU issues – and this piece presents both sides of the argument.
Why This Theory Could Be Wrong
There are several counterarguments to this theory, with one being the real-world argument that Marvel Studios hadn’t even conceived the idea of the TVA being introduced in the MCU when Avengers: Infinity War was written or released, so there couldn’t possibly have been an intention for Strange to have been made aware of their existence.
The easy way around that is, of course, to pretend the TVA was always planned. Marvel Studios can retcon their initial intentions and write that Strange always knew about the temporal law enforcement organization. However, that still leaves some in-universe issues that throw the theory into doubt.
The TVA exists outside of time and in a pocket universe of sorts. Therefore, when Strange looked into the future, he certainly wouldn’t have seen the TVA headquarters – and the missions they carry out on the Sacred Timeline are done quickly and covertly, so they wouldn’t have drawn attention to themselves or identified who they are enough for Strange to understand who they are or where they came from fully.
Moreover, Strange only looked at the outcomes of the battle with Thanos. He wasn’t looking to discover how that outcome affected the universe’s ultimate fate. It stands to reason, therefore, that all he was looking for was a single moment in which Thanos lost while fighting the Avengers and their allies – and when the Mad Titan turned to dust in what ended up being the Battle of Earth in Avengers: Endgame, that’s where his clairvoyant vision stopped.
Ultimately, it’s down to the creators at Marvel Studios to decide whether this theory is accurate, and fans will find flaws, whatever the outcome. However, it’s undoubtedly an intriguing debate, and the idea that Doctor Strange is aware of the TVA is quite exciting – as is the thought of the TVA interacting with the MCU’s heroes going forward in the franchise.
