Avengers 4 Theory: Did Doctor Strange Time Travel To Captain Marvel?

Since Infinity War's explosive end, there have been some pretty pressing questions. Chief amongst them have focused on what sort of lasting effect the snap will have; whether the victims are genuinely dead; whether Thanos can be stopped at all...

But there's another question that has already generated a lot of discussion too: the question of Doctor Strange's plan. As the Sorceror Supreme himself confirmed in the Titan-set sequence in Infinity War, he visited millions of potential futures and only one turned out well for the heroes. The fact that he then allowed Thanos to snap his fingers and wipe out half of existence - including himself - presumably means that that positive future involved a huge initial cost.

That makes the question of what he actually saw in his victorious vision all the more compelling. And even more importantly, what exactly was different about that potential future. Could it be that the Doctor himself played a more active role in shaping the future than it immediately appeared? Could the theory that Strange actually travelled back in time to the 1990s before Thanos snapped have some truth to it?

If so, why would he do that?

4. What If Strange Warned Nick Fury?

As the finale moments in Infinity War's post-credits scene revealed, Captain Marvel is going to play a key role in the fallout from Thanos' snap. She is likely to be the game-changer when it comes to open warfare with Thanos (which presumably will happen again before the end of Avengers 4) and it seems somewhat curious that Fury's first reaction to being confronted by the sight of people randomly turning to dust is to call Captain Marvel.

For that to be his natural response, you'd have to think that either he knows that her powers are perfectly suited to such an eventuality (which seems rather unlikely since the snap is unprecedented) or he knows what he's supposed to be looking out for.

What if Strange travelled back in time to visit the younger Nick Fury in the 1990s (along with Captain Marvel presumably) to warn him of a massive upcoming disaster that would require Marvel's involvement. He would presumably be reluctant to tell Fury of his own death (just as he didn't tell any of the doomed Avengers of Guardians despite seeing their demise), in order to not affect the timeline any more than he really has to, so giving him a vague warning about people turning to dust being his cue to call Captain Marvel for help.

And perhaps that was the only help Strange saw himself giving Fury in the only future that worked out well? But is there any evidence of this?