Twenty-three days after Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet to disintegrate half of all life in the universe,[N 1] Carol Danvers rescues Tony Stark and Nebula from deep space and returns them to Earth. They reunite with the remaining Avengers—Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Thor, Natasha Romanoff, and James Rhodes—and Rocket before locating Thanos on an otherwise uninhabited planet. They plan to retake and use the Infinity Stones to reverse the disintegrations, but Thanos reveals he destroyed them to prevent further use. An enraged Thor decapitates Thanos.
Five years later, Scott Lang escapes from the quantum realm.[N 2] At the Avengers compound, he explains to Romanoff and Rogers that he experienced only five hours while trapped. Theorizing the quantum realm could allow time travel, the three ask Stark to help them retrieve the Stones from the past to reverse Thanos’ actions in the present. Stark refuses, thinking of his wife, Pepper Potts, and daughter, Morgan, but relents after looking at a picture of himself and the late Peter Parker. Stark and Banner, who has since merged his intelligence with the Hulk’s strength, build a time machine. Banner notes that changing the past does not affect their present; any changes instead create branched alternate realities. He and Rocket visit the Asgardian refugees’ new home in Norway—New Asgard—to recruit Thor, now overweight and drinking heavily, despondent over his failure to stop Thanos. In Tokyo, Romanoff recruits Clint Barton, now a vigilante following the disintegration of his family.
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Brolin,
