Monty_Whittaker wrote:The time travel makes absolutely zero sense...
It helps when you think in terms of the Imagination Station: contained realities. Although, it seems like you understand it pretty well.
Monty_Whittaker wrote:...especially since according to the rules they established, they could have totally saved Natasha and Tony because it would create an alternate timeline.
With Natasha, she can't come back. Even with time travel, the Soul Stone would prevent her return. Notice that even though Gamora returned with 2014 Thanos, Quill couldn't find her on his scanner, so something happened to her. "It can't be undone," Clint says, and I'm inclined to believe him.
Also, those alternate, branched timelines would be destined for destruction without Natasha or Tony. Both were key players throughout Endgame, and removing them from their timelines (without returning them) would mean destruction for those timelines. Remember that all the alternate timelines were fixed, all the "branches" "clipped."
Monty_Whittaker wrote:...why didn't strange use the Time Stone to save Tony?
Tony is a genius. He singlehandedly, with slight assistance from Scott Lang, developed a time travel device. He created Jarvis, Ultron, Friday, Edith, and so on. He built the arc reactor ("In a cave! With a box of scraps!"
). One of Tony's only shortcomings is that he's impetuous. He doesn't think things through, even with the admonishment of his friends. If Tony survived the snap, there is a very high chance that he would use the time travel technology for what he would perceive as a good purpose, or, worse, use the Infinity Stones again before returning them. As we saw with Ultron, when Tony acts rashly, things go wrong. And if he survived, something going wrong is incredibly likely. Not only that, it is guaranteed.
Here's why. This applies to the explanations for Nat's and Tony's deaths as well. When Dr. Strange viewed every possible future, every scenario that plays out differently than Endgame did results in Thanos winning. So if Nat were resurrected, Thanos would eventually win. If Tony were revived, Thanos would eventually win. There are examples of how these scenarios could happen, and since Dr. Strange has already seen every "What If" and "Why Not," we know that Endgame's outcome is the only safe one. It's not blind following, since we have reasoning of the bad things happening.
Monty_Whittaker wrote:It simply makes zero sense, they could have gone traditional time travel and it would make way more sense.
Disagree. The Butterfly Effect paradoxes are ridiculous to wrap your mind around. Granted, Hulk could have explained it better, but it makes more than "zero" sense.
Monty_Whittaker wrote:Also how the heck did Cap end up in the same time that he left from? It has been established that time travel creates alternate timelines.
The directors (who have the final word [more than the poor confused screenwriters]) have said that Steve traveled back from the alternate timeline he created to get to the main one. My best explanation is that there was another functioning time travel gateway that elderly Steve used moments after young Steve vanished. Then he just walked over to the bench and took a breather.
Monty_Whittaker wrote:Also why didn't they simply steal the stones from sneak-attacking Thanos when he has them all? It could definitely work.
Not sure what you mean by that. Could you elaborate?
Monty_Whittaker wrote:I could go on, but this should suffice.
Please go on!
I want to explain more!