'Avengers: Endgame' Spoilers, Theory: Loki and Dr. Strange Are in Cahoots

Doctor Strange and Loki were both dead by the end of Avengers: Infinity War, but is it possible that the two Marvel magicians could be working together to beat Thanos? After noticing a few shocking similarities between how these characters act in the previous movie, we have a feeling that they might be using time travel to trick everybody.

My theory? Doctor Strange and Loki have already hatched a plan at some point in the MCU timeline. We just haven’t seen it yet.


Avengers: Infinity War offers a few very distinct visual parallels between Doctor Strange and Loki. Both magicians use a similar spell to hide the Infinity Stones from Thanos, for example. When Loki materializes the Tesseract, he does so with what looks like a specific hand gesture, and it becomes visible almost as if from some kind of wipe transition.

The way Loki lifts his hand and twists his finger seems crucial to making the Tesseract appear.Marvel Studios

Much later, when Doctor Strange summons the Time Stone, he also raises his hand palm-down before twisting it upwards with a very specific gesture with his fingers. Here, it looks like he’s plucking the Stone out of the sky, almost like he hid it as a star.

Doctor Strange hid the Time Stone in a star?Marvel Studios

Is that just because they both use magic? Or is it meant to hint at something more?

Yet another striking visual similarity between Doctor Strange and Loki is that at the end of their encounters with Thanos, the Mad Titan chokes each of them with his left hand, the Infinity Gauntlet hand.

Granted, Thanos also chokes Vision with his Gauntlet hand when taking the Mind Stone. Maybe he also chokes The Collector when taking the Reality Stone? Either way, the guy’s really into choking.

Thanos loves choking wizards.Marvel Studios

Still the similarities are hard to ignore, but what do they mean for Avengers: Endgame?

In some sense, this entire theory could involve a new and popular assumption that when Doctor Strange used the Time Stone to peer into various timelines, he was actually sending an astral projection of himself into the future, or even into the past.

Doctor Strange could have used the power of the Time Stone to contact anyone in the past or future. Which is ironic considering that during their battle Thanos references the Time Stone, saying, “You never once used your greatest weapon.”

Doctor Strange probably did, but Thanos (and the viewer) don’t know it yet.

Thanos claims the Time Stone.Marvel Studios

So what if Doctor Strange’s astral projection went back to the events of Thor: Ragnarok to ensure that Loki took the Tesseract from the Asgardian vault? Or a different point in time between then and the start of Infinity War?

This could sync up nicely with another recent theory from redditor u/fishgrey that Doctor Strange used the combined powers of the Time and Space Stones to send both Stones into the future where Tony Stark can study them and build his own version of the Infinity Gauntlet. When each Stone materializes in Loki’s and Strange’s hand, that’s the Stone returning to the point in time where they have to be.

This would also help explain why keeping Tony Stark alive was so important. In the future presented in Avengers: Endgame, he plays a majorly important role in undoing Thanos’ Decimation, but for that to happen, Doctor Strange and Loki needed to work together to make sure Tony had time figure out a plan.

Inverse is posing a few theories of its own with Inverse String Theory, ahead of the premiere of Avengers: Endgame.

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26, 2019.