Strange’s Plan was a Bit Darker Than We Thought
In Avengers: Infinity War, Dr. Strange looks through the future to see every possible combination of options, and announces that they will only win in one of them.
Now, keep in mind, Dr. Strange is always thinking about the bigger picture.
He knows that even if they succeed in keeping the stones away from Thanos right now - even if Strange were to lock the Time stone in another dimension that Thanos could never get to, and if Wanda Maximoff were to destroy the Mind stone, leaving Thanos with only four - that Thanos will simply build up his army and continue killing half of all life, one planet at a time, just like he has been doing up until this point.
The stones were always a shortcut for Thanos.
In keeping the stones form him, they’ve only slowed down his progress. They’ve done nothing to truly stop him.
Strange is not looking to delay Thanos. He’s looking to make sure that he’s stopped. Permanently.
Strange only sees one way that they can truly win against Thanos, and that is by wiping him out of existence.
That is his plan from the start.
Strange hands over the time stone to Thanos, assuring everyone that this is the way it must be in order for them to really “win” against him for good.
Now, for those who aren’t chess players:
“In chess and chess-like games, the endgame (or end game or ending) is the stage of the game when few pieces are left on the board.
The line between middlegame and endgame is often not clear, and may occur gradually or with the quick exchange of a few pairs of pieces.“
“Many people have composed endgame studies, endgame positions which are solved by finding a win for White when there is no obvious way to win, or a draw when it seems White must lose.”
“The endgame, however, tends to have different characteristics from the middlegame, and the players have correspondingly different strategic concerns. In particular, pawns become more important as endgames often revolve around attempting to promote a pawn by advancing it to the eighth rank.
Usually in the endgame, the stronger side (the one with more material using the standard piece point count system) should try to exchange pieces (knights, bishops, rooks, and queens), while avoiding the exchange of pawns. This generally makes it easier to convert a material advantage into a won game. The defending side should strive for the opposite”
So Strange calling this the “Endgame” - that was the first hint that he would be sacrificing some key pieces, and promoting pawns to gain the advantage.
Who becomes instrumental to their quantum time traveling.
Who doesn’t draw a lot of attention on first glance, but can spring into the fray unexpectedly and can entirely turn the tide of the fight.
Who set off a chain reaction that leads to the downfall of the enemy’s key pieces.
Who has been out of the picture for years but gets called back to the fight when Fury gets snapped.
Dozens of little characters who start to play big parts, because the main pieces can’t play them on their own.
And even for the end battle, it isn’t just the heroes making a final stand - it is dozens and dozens of little pawns (the armies of Wakanda and Asgard, the Ravagers and the Sorcerers and just about every background fighter the MCU has to offer) who show up as support in the final hour.
Who all Assemble at the King’s command.
But the promotion of pawns is only one aspect of the “Endgame” strategy.
This was also the first hint that Strange would be sacrificing some key pieces in order to assure the win.
Strange knew going into this that the victory would have some costs, specifically in the form of Natasha and Vision and Tony.
Natasha and Vision wouldn’t be an issue for him - they each give their lives willingly for the good of others in every future he sees, Vision to try and stop Thanos, and Natasha to retrieve the soul stone.
Tony, on the other hand, poses a problem.
Strange specifically says that if he tells Tony how they win, that it won’t happen.
If Strange tells Tony that he must die in order to save the universe, he knows for a fact that Tony won’t do it.
Out of those millions of alternate realities that Strange looked into, there was not a single ONE of them where Tony would willingly sacrifice himself at that battle, no matter what was on the line.
So Strange doesn’t tell him.
In fact, he goes so far out his way to not tell him, that he instead does just the opposite - he instills a sense of immortality in him.
He makes Tony think that - in this one situation that he has picked - they are guaranteed the win no matter what happens leading up to it.
And Tony takes that bait - hook, line, and sinker.
Tony’s ego has always been his downfall.
This holds true from the first Iron Man movie where he assumes his money and fame make him untouchable…
To Iron Man 3 where he assumes his reputation as Iron Man and a few sassy comments will be more than enough to shut his enemies down…
To Age of Ultron where he assumes that he’s going to be somehow immune to the staff’s influence despite the fact that almost all others have failed…
To Civil War where he refuses to acknowledge any new information if it means that he might have been wrong…
All the way through to Infinity War where he assumes he can take on Thanos solo and win.
Tony essentially sees himself as being untouchable, because up until this point he has been incredibly lucky, and has not had to face consequences for any situation where his ego led him astray.
He survived the Ten Rings. Pepper wasn’t hurt in Iron Man 3. Nobody that he cared about got hurt by Ultron. He had free reign under the Accords following Civil War. Everyone he cared about survived the snap, and the one person’s death he feels somewhat guilty about can be blamed on Steve and subsequently brushed off.
Tony has faced NO repercussions for anything he’s done, and therefore this is what he assumes being a hero is - doing whatever you want, kicking some Bad Guy ™ ass on occasion, and going home to relax while the world sings your praises. The end.
Thanos comes as a cold, hard reality check.
This is the first time that Tony realizes that he might not be quite as untouchable as he thought. The first time that it clicks for him that they are dealing with something that very well has the power to kill him.
The first time that he feels like he came out of a “hero” battle as the loser.
In fact, he rejects that losing status so hard that he winds up throwing a fit following his rescue.
He attacks Steve for “not being there for him” despite the fact that it was Tony refusing to use the phone Steve gave him that led to him fighting alone.
He yells about how they should have all been on board with the long-dead failed Ultron project of his, despite the fact that Vision - who was more powerful than Ultron - was still no match for Thanos.
How this was all their fault.
He grossly twists all the facts around to try and pin everything that happened on the others, regardless of how glaringly illogical it is, because he can’t physically comprehend that a situation exists where he could have made a decision that led to them losing - therefore someone else MUST have sabotaged him.
Going into Endgame, Tony still has his massive ego problems, but he’s (finally) gained a healthy fear of death and consequences.
He doesn’t want to risk disturbing his current happiness on the chance that they might be able to bring everyone back.
Thankfully, Pepper talks him into it, but he still retains the “as soon as it gets dangerous, I’m out” mentality.
This complicates Dr. Strange’s plan.
Tony has been told that there is one single ending out of millions of possibilities where they will win over Thanos.
Now keep in mind, for Tony, “we win” means that they all go home as heroes and the enemies all die.
He’s never been through a war. He doesn’t understand that there is no “clean sweep” in real life.
He doesn’t comprehend that there is always collateral, and death, and tradeoffs.
He doesn’t ever take the sacrifice play into account.
When Thanos gets the glove, Tony starts to doubt, because it seems like they might have picked the wrong ending if he’s going to have to rush Thanos by himself after Thanos wiped the floor with him PLUS Cap and Thor.
He looks at Strange, who holds up one finger. A reminder that they are in the one ending where they “win.” And that gives Tony the confidence to go for what would otherwise be a suicide run, assured that he will make it out in one piece.
Tony only grabs the stones because he is utterly assured in this moment that he can survive this - because Strange told him that this is the one ending where they WIN.
Tony would not have touched that glove if he knew that he was going to die. He would have let Thanos wipe out half the universe again, because Tony knows that at least he and everyone he cares about would make it through the snap.
He would still have Pepper. He would still have Morgan. He would still have Rhody and Happy and his cute little farm.
Tony only snaps his fingers because Strange has tricked him into thinking that he survives it and saves the day.
That he gets to be the big hero.
And Strange lets him run to his death believing that.
In the end, Strange sacrificed Tony to save the universe without an ounce of regret…..just like he said he would.
