Avengers 4 Theory: How Memory, B.A.R.F. And The Quantum Realm Explain Time Travel

3. B.A.R.F.

Not so long ago, there was a major hint that Civil War's introduction of Tony Stark's B.A.R.F. technology might be important for Avengers 4. The question we've always had is how exactly would a technology that reconstructs memories as projections be used to physically travel through time? The answer, once more, might well be found in the Quantum Realm.

We know that B.A.R.F. is literally about "dealing with traumatic memories" so it's very much on brand with the surviving characters, and that could actually be the reason they were left alive in the first place. Beyond them being given a fitting farewell, the heroes' ties to memory (and their actual access to specific key memories could be key to undoing Thanos' evil).

We've already heard suggestions that the Avengers will use time travel to go back and steal the Infinity Stones from the timeline at earlier points so that Thanos cannot come into possession of them. That might not be the case, but they could certainly be going back to familiar places in their memories to find a way to defeat Thanos.

What if Tony Stark's agenda to develop a technology capable of "hijacking the hippocampus... to clear traumatic memories" could be used to literally hijack those memories and use them as a gateway to the actual past? What if B.A.R.F. is the key part of the time machine technology that Tony Stark will develop in Avengers 4 with a little help from Hank Pym and Scott Lang? Wouldn't Tony Stark literally spelling that out back in Civil War be an incredibly Marvel Studios thing to do? They do love foreshadowing, after all.

So how on Earth would that technology be used to turn memories of a time into the actual time? Maybe that's got something to do with Quantum Energy?