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In the MCU, the Time Stone allows the user to travel through and freeze time.

In Infinity War, why didn't Doctor Strange use it to go back to each stone's location before Thanos got them and take them? Or, at the very least, why didn't he go back before the failed attempt to steal the Gauntlet from Thanos and warn them that they would fail?

Napoleon Wilson
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user189728
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    We can only assume that in the 14 million possible futures he foresaw that this path is the only one that leads to the eventual victory. – Virusbomb Apr 30 '18 at 19:49
  • @Virusbomb the one portrayed in the movie or one I mentioned? Also, in light of that, the 14 million paths only included decisions made from when Doctor Strange searched for them, so any Time Travel related actions would still be possible. – user189728 Apr 30 '18 at 19:51
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    Is there any in-movie evidence that the time stone allows the user to travel through time arbitrarily? As far as I remember, it's only shown to have a quite local effect, reversing an object's state through time, or putting individuals in a time loop. – MikeFHay May 16 '18 at 15:32
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    @MikeFHay He completely halts and rewinds time over at least a large neighborhood of the Hong Kong sanctuary. It's not clear if it's halted/rewound on the whole of the earth/solar system/galaxy/universe/multiverse/whatever, though. Like most things that involve time-shenanigans, including FTL, the mechanics are played fast-and-loose with as few details provided as possible. – zibadawa timmy Jul 03 '18 at 06:34
  • If Dr. Strange is powerful enough to yield to of the stones he might be able to do actual time travel with the Time stone and power stone. – Styxsksu Dec 18 '18 at 16:50
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    Why didn't Gandalf have the eagles drop the One Ring into the chasm of Mt. Doom instead of sending two juvenile halflings walking alone into Mordor with it? – Tyler Durden Mar 04 '19 at 04:34
  • @TylerDurden what does Gandalf have to do with the Avengers? He is in Lord of the Rings. – dean1957 Mar 25 '19 at 19:27
  • @TylerDurden Same reason the Eagles in the Hobbit wouldn't go anywhere near any settlements: they are apparently easy to shoot down. – chepner Jul 10 '19 at 18:17
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    For the record, there's been no indication that the Time Stone is capable of time travel. It's only been shown manipulating time by "rewinding", "pausing", and f"ast-forwarding", plus creating time loops when in the Dark Dimension (which does not have a concept of time). – DanDoubleL Oct 29 '19 at 18:09

4 Answers4

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In universe, because Dr. Strange saw all 14+ million possible futures and there was only one that led to victory for the Avengers and co--the one he took. Presumably taking any other path, including going back to warn the others, would lead to one of the futures wherein Thanos "won" forever. He says as much to Tony near the end: "It was the only way."

Out of universe, because a movie where Dr. Strange fixed all the problems via time travel would be pretty boring and wouldn't feature the rest of the cast in any meaningful way. ;)

Kitkat
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    But couldn't it be possible that Doctor Strange was only examining paths from the present one? If he had backtracked sufficiently he could have potentially eliminated the chance for Thanos to even learn of the stones – user189728 Apr 30 '18 at 19:52
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    @user189728 Considering Dr. Strange has power over time and has used this offensively many times before, it would seem strange to me if he was only examining paths from the present one. He knows that he has the ability to alter the time stream, so I presume he was considering those possibilities as well in his 14 million options. – Kitkat Apr 30 '18 at 20:02
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    I find this answer unsatisfying. Saying "Strange foresaw that plan wouldn't work" still leaves the question of why it wouldn't work. – MikeFHay May 16 '18 at 15:33
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    @MikeFHay The only explanation given in the film is that Dr Strange foresaw one path to victory. If you don't like that explanation, you'll have to take it up with the script writers. – DoubleD Jun 12 '18 at 18:07
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    Explaining why 14+ million possibilities wouldn't have worked, would have made for a very long, very boring movie. – Elezar Jun 26 '18 at 23:28
  • @MikeFHay What Elezar said. "It's the only way" is the "It's magic, I ain't gotta explain sh*t" style of explanation. It exists specifically to tell you everything you might be thinking of as an alternative has already been conclusively ruled out, and what happens is what is required to happen, so just accept what's given. It's the only way. – zibadawa timmy Jul 03 '18 at 06:30
  • Obligatory: Infinity War HISHE – Mason Wheeler Oct 23 '18 at 15:37
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    @user189728 To be fair, once Dr. Strange found a single future in which victory was obtained for a reasonable price, there would be no reason to continue looking. I would imagine that 14 million is really a quite low number of possibly futures. – Michael Dec 24 '18 at 23:09
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My theory is that he actually DID use the time stone to go in the future where they won and gave him the future time stone while he still has the real time stone. Let me remind you that he didn't disappear and he saw over 14 million outcomes of this situation. He knew what he needed to do to win and that's exactly what he was doing. ^~^

Lily
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They explain in Endgame that time travel does not work like Back To The Future where if you change the past, the changes are reflected in your present.

Napoleon Wilson
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komodosp
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In Thor: Ragnarok Dr. Strange was expecting Thor. Meaning he did see the future.

Question is if that is the case he must have been aware of Thanos.

To your question Strange has seen only 14 million of possibilities in a short time period. Only one will give him success so perhaps he wants to avoid changing the past and wants to shape the future.

A J
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Ryuu
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