Avengers: Endgame - 25 WTF Moments

13. The Ancient One's "Chief Weapon" Line

When Hulk goes to visit The Ancient One in 2012 New York, she reveals that she can't possibly give up the Time Stone because removing it from her reality will mess everything up for her and everyone living in it. Banner then reassures her that he will return at exactly the same time in the timeline to replace the Stone so that doomed future reality is averted.

That's a nice little way of ensuring that everyone in the realities where the Stones were taken from (because they aren't the same reality from the second the Avengers time travel to them) doesn't suffer from the fallout of the Stones not existing in them. But there's an issue with it. How is the Time Stone anyone's chief weapon against the threats to the Universe? It's not, in short.

You could say that The Ancient One is specifically talking about when Doctor Strange uses it to save their reality, but she literally doesn't know that. She dies before it happens and explicitly says she cannot see past that point in time. She has no idea how Strange saved their reality.

And then, when you think about it, if the Time Stone is just vaguely acknowledged as the chief weapon in the battle against Darkness, the fact that Doctor Strange won't have it from Endgame onwards in the mainline reality should be a fairly worrying revelation for everyone.