One thing they’ll never explain, and I’m Okay with it

In Endgame they explained how time travel works in the MC universe. And we have seen how it works in X-men universe 2 times (DOFP and DP2).Unlike the MCU, in X-men universe you can change future by changing past. So these two have completely different rules of explaning time travel.
Now that marvel has all the rights to the characters, we will see them as part of one big multiverse. And two universes following different rules of time travel doesn't make sense. Of course two different studios didn't know these characters are gonna share the same multiverse in the future.
I expected to see some kind of little explanation in D&W but they choose not to touch it. And I am now Okay with it. As its already confusing and general audiences don't care. I AM JUST HAPPY I WILL GET TO SEE cyclops, spidey, cap, wolverine in one movie. Maybe not in Doomsday but definitely in Secret wars.

Commentaires

Romnonaldao2026-01-12 20:03

Endgame explained how Time Travel through the Quantum Realm works. It was not the one and only explanation for all Time Travel in the MCU. The MCU has \*multiple\* versions of time travel and they all have different "rules". TVA Time Pads, Timeslipping, Time Stone, Kamalas Bangle, etc. All use time travel differently.

ChildofObama2026-01-12 20:05

Endgame time travel feels like it’s basically a simulation, in the sense you can’t make a new timeline like Flashpoint.

Romnonaldao2026-01-12 20:15

You actually do make a new timeline. You just can't change the past so that it effects the timeline you traveled from.

XL34D2026-01-12 20:17

Exactly

Christian_RULES2026-01-12 20:31

So Back to the Future's a bunch of bulls**t?

LittleBingo962026-01-12 20:52

That's a movie. Marvel is a bunch of interconnected comics, movies and TV shows where time travel happens all the time and they can't keep altering the entire universe everytime that happens, and they don't want to work around the grandfather paradox. So the rule is branching multiverse. Every time the past gets changed, it just creates a new branching timeline. It's easier that way... nobody gets hurt.

jpiro2026-01-12 20:56

Hot tub time machine?

DrManhattan_DDM2026-01-12 20:57

r/woooosh

He was quoting Scott Lang’s response to Bruce in Endgame.

Space_Pirate_Roberts2026-01-13 00:16

Back to the Future’s a bunch of bullshit even in the context of Back to the Future. It can’t make up its mind whether it’s branching multiverse time travel (how Doc explains it ) or ‘single timeline, changing the past changes the present’ time travel (Marty accidentally preventing his parents getting together threatens to erase his existence, which it wouldn’t if it’s branching multiverse because that would mean nothing he does in this new timeline can affect the one he came from).

Alseid_Temp2026-01-13 03:14

And changing the past in a way that results in his family being replaced by a more successful version of themselves would still erase him; he'd be replaced with a consequently more successful version of himself.

LittleBingo962026-01-13 05:34

As I understand it, it is a single timeline, but the effects of any changes happen very slowly. (Like the photos of his brother and sister disappearing gradually). When he returns to 1985, it's still him. He hasn't replaced anyone. But all the memories of his 'new' past are going to take a few days to catch up with him.
I know. It's not great. But it's the only thing that makes any sense. (And not even that much, but thats time travel!)

Xerxes4572026-01-12 21:31

So it’s just like going to another universe?

TheLiquor19462026-01-12 20:30

That's exactly how it works in endgame. It creates a new altered timeline.

Andy_DiMatteo2026-01-12 20:08

Feels the same with the multiverse. The travel between them in spider-verse causes glitches, but through magic like in doctor strange it doesn't

eagc72026-01-12 20:52

I mean we saw Multiverse travel in Deadpool when he used Cable's watch to go from 10005 to 616/199999, but no glitching, unless Cable's watch also protects its user like Miguel's.

But i kinda doubt glitching will factor in the MCU and will be largely ignored, unless in Doomsday the Fantastic Four and so on use magic to into each other's world or we see that they use the same devices as Miguel

Andy_DiMatteo2026-01-12 21:22

I think when technology is used to access the multiverse it also depends on the technology. We know Spider-verse exists alongside the MCU so even if the movies ignore it that's just my head canon. Better technology = a better transfer from one universe to another and thus no glitching.

ANGLVD3TH2026-01-13 03:38

I haven't seen the sequel yet, but it was implied the glitching was largely the result of Fisk cutting corners to finish the tech as soon as possible, side effects be damned. More carefully progressing his tech may or may not have mitigated this, or perhaps it was just an inherently flawed tech path fundamentally different from other versions we've seen.

Epic_J23382026-01-12 20:08

100%

Even so Bruce, Stark, etc are all humans so of course they don't know everything

justalittlebear012026-01-12 20:51

Lol in Rocket "You're only smart on Earth."

PhatOofxD2026-01-13 06:45

It was a bit arrogant though given no one else in their time had figured out time travel lol

ducks_are_round2026-01-13 09:17

And that Iron man made technology capable of going toe to toe with Thanos with some infinity stones for a while, and going on par with any top avenger against alien armies and other threats.

Stillwindows952026-01-13 13:36

I mean they had, the TVA had been making use of it for untold amounts of years, I assume the TVA stopped most instances of time travel abuse except when it was warranted, like in the case of Endgame.

Plus the universe is huge, there's got to be planets in galaxies that have superior tech and time travel sort of stuff as well as powerful individuals, however, searching the entire universe for help sounds more difficult than coming up with your own solution.

coolbones942026-01-13 15:43

Time travel with the quantum realm. Tony would have never figure it out if scott didnt accidentally do it first.

fzammetti2026-01-12 22:16

Especially so when, as I recall, Bruce flat-out says he's not an expert in this stuff when they're trying to get him to help.

RoutineCloud59932026-01-12 23:45

It's all real or none of it is!

DefNotAShark2026-01-13 02:23

I always wondered which part he didn’t feel comfortable with. He’s got something like seven PhDs I think? Banner is an expert in biology/bioengineering, probably physics, computer science and nuclear engineering. He helped design Ultron and Veronica, as well as the machine that created the Hulk.

I’m assuming he felt that theoretical physics wasn’t his area of expertise but then he built a mostly working Time Machine anyway lol. I’m guessing his bar for “expert” is way higher than ours.

MajorNoodles2026-01-13 02:51

He's not an expert in flying alien spaceships. None of his PhDs are for that.

alex4942026-01-13 04:00

Well time travel is only theoretical to begin with irl so he was likely making educated guesses. Compared to being certain about hard facts when it comes to gamma radiation or what have you.

FreshLiterature2026-01-13 04:53

I mean yeah, he's just talking about theory.

He doesn't actually have any real idea.

If he did he would already have a working time machine.

EternalMage3212026-01-16 22:26

Except for Reed. He's.... fantastic.

avahz2026-01-12 20:53

Yea definitely this. At this point, they should just say this in doomsday so it’s clear

Twindo2026-01-12 21:06

To add to this, quantum real time traveling is more like Universe hopping by using the quantum realm as a high way. You’re traveling to universes that have a timeline identical to yours but delayed by however many years

Romnonaldao2026-01-12 21:10

I see it more as an immediate variant timeline. You do go into the past, but as soon as you appear a new variant timeline is created to adjust for your sudden appearance. Somehow the TVA Timepads get around this.

ZoeFatMama692026-01-12 21:33

also different universes have different laws

so "change in the past doesn't change the future" works in 616 but not in the rest

Jubachi992026-01-12 21:43

Yeah quantum realm time travel is moving to a different timeline, this was made fairly clear. Time stone I think is only shown to manipulate time, which is actual time travel, since as far as we're aware we are still in the same timeline and universe. The time pads presumably are like quantum realm just in a separate universe, I don't think we see anyone from the Loki series.

Romnonaldao2026-01-12 21:45

TVA Time Pads can go to any timeline. If they worked like Quantum Realm then they wouldn't be able to do their job

Jubachi992026-01-12 21:46

I meant in the fact that they traverse timelines instead of universes. Quantum realm travel is just a less advanced and precise version

BanjoSpaceMan2026-01-12 21:49

Also it doesn’t go against the other movies, for all we know those timelines still happened but Wolverine caused another timeline where he’s happy while his friends all just died from metal machines

GoAgainKid2026-01-13 00:15

He can bury their bodies in the garden and hope nobody says Parmesan weirdly.

LochNessMansterLives2026-01-13 00:50

Parm-EESEAN.

Fexxvi2026-01-13 01:19

Par-mee-sian.

ExtraOrdinaryDave2026-01-12 22:10

Yes. Scott Lang stumbled across one method that Tony Stark could replicate.

hemareddit2026-01-13 00:12

You know what, if all mythologies are true, why not all sci-fi tropes as well? Welcome to comic books.

mega22222222222222222026-01-13 00:54

Thank you

Its not the act of travelling it’s what medium you use that dictates if you’ll make a branch or an active change to the timeline you’re on

Devo32902026-01-13 01:10

Oh yeah, because Loki(tv series) was started because of a time variant Loki created by time travel through the quantum realm. But in the finale, Loki has to communicate with OB in the past and that seems to alter his memory in the future. Good fucking catch!

Bigstinkyvan2026-01-13 06:49

Could something be said about Wolverine travelling back into the consciousness of his body from that time period is well? Rather than two of them running around in the past.

lightningvoid8672026-01-13 06:52

>Endgame explained how Time Travel through the Quantum Realm works

They never specify that they're just talking about the quantum realm specifically, but just time travel in general.

Romnonaldao2026-01-13 07:25

they were talking about the type of time travel they had available to them (and also the only form they knew about), which was through the quantum realm. So they were by default talking about quantum realm time travel.

also, this scene was for the writers to explain to the audience what the time travel rules for the movie were.

ChaoticKiwiNZ2026-01-13 07:19

Exactly, the timestone already showed that it's possible to directly manipulate the past to change the future. Dr. Strange used it at the end of the 1st Dr. Strange movie to undo what damage Dormammu had inflicted on earth.

People seem to forget that time travel rules in endgame were specifically for the quantum realm.

Araakne2026-01-12 20:06

Are we sure the new futures in your examples aren't just different timelines ?

EEDDDWWWAARRRD2026-01-12 20:08

That's how I always took it. They can change the future of the point that they traveled to, but when they return it will always be their original timeline.

Thybro2026-01-12 22:53

That’s is literally how they explained it in doomsday. The device they activate in their wrists is encoded with the “coordinates” of their timeline. It is so that when they go back they don’t go to the future of the timeline they just altered but to the specific line they originally came from.

For Wolverine without such coordinates and with his link to the future being cut with Kitty being killed, his mind is going back to the future of the timeline he just left, so he basically highjacks the mind of the wolverine in that timeline( kind of fucked up in its own way). The shitty timeline still exists, what Logan did was create an alternate timeline where mutants/his friends survive ( at least for bit) such line was not in existence before his trip back. Normally that would mean his trip back would cause a two Wolverine problem but being that only his mind was traveling back, it just took the road back to the one familiar body in that line.

Deadpool 2 is a weird set of different complications. Cable is tormented and it seems like he wants to go back to the future of the current timeline and being that in his universe they invented a functioning time travel device that doesn’t just send him back to the same busted timeline he came from, we can sort of assume that it doesn’t use the coordinate system. It instead just understands that by mere traveling back you create a divergent timeline and once they travel forward they land in that divergent timeline’s future (still within the framework described in doomsday). So one can theorize is that this device instead merges the traveler with his future variant once the traveling is done. But then you got the doll changing from burned to fine, as his proof. And you got Deadpool killing his own variants without merging. So the only thing I can think of is that the device itself keeps the traveler from merging with variants, and linked to the changing line until he turns it off. In other words, it’s likely a different rule set for cable.

StellarNeonJellyfish2026-01-12 23:15

> That’s is literally how they explained it in doomsday.

Spoiler bro

Thybro2026-01-13 00:34

My brain cables got crossed…. Or I’m already in the other timeline who the hell knows.

Repulsive_Grape_12402026-01-12 20:23

No. Because,
1. In days of future past when mystic and wolverine change the past we clearly see professor x, magneto, logan and kitty disappear before almost getting killed by sentinels. They change the future there.

2. In DP 2, when they stop firefist from becoming a bad guy, Cable's burnt teddy goes back to normal. They save his wife and child. That would not happen if it was an alternate timeline.

Baggiebhoy842026-01-12 20:58

Can't comment about DP2, but in DOFP they don't send anybody physically back in time, they just send Wolverine's consciousness. Maybe that's a loophole.

It's also interesting in that Logan retains his memories of the future that was erased, while nobody else does - they have lived different lives. Maybe his actions 'pruned' his timeline and sent him to a different one that branched off from the same point.

Twindo2026-01-12 21:09

Maybe his actions actually destroy their reality via incursions but at the end of secret wars, his consciousness travels to the version at the end of DOFP

SmartPilot80942026-01-13 01:53

Yeah but the reality DOFP will still go for Deadpool trilogy tho

Medical-Island-61822026-01-12 21:02

X men logic suggests their are multiple timelines or universes (between origins not lining up with anything, and little continuity errors between first class, x men 1, x and x men 3, and Logan)

But I agree that in the c men universe (s); that changing the past pretty much erases the original future except the time traveller retains their memories of both. In DOFP, Logan seems to lose his memories if the original future between 1973 and then regains them the day he wakes up in the new timeline which is the day he originally went back in time

In MCU, if you go back in time and change things, you just exist in a new timeline and your previous timeline continues without you; unless you do stuff with infinity stones

jam112492026-01-12 21:07

My interpretation is that the xmen guys just made new branches and went to those, whilst leaving the original timelines fucked. Kitty personally created and doomed a bunch of timelines.

Guillermidas2026-01-12 22:39

Fairly certain the galaxy is much bigger than Earth and is supposed to be populated beyond our planet.

I dont think she doomed any timeline, applying some non-comic logic. At most, she doomed Earth for mutants forever and perhaps humanity as well for some decades.

Caciulacdlac2026-01-12 20:08

Please fix the format of the text

idontremembermylogi_2026-01-12 20:09

They dont need to explain it because those movies were made by a different studio and they had no control over it.

Same as how the Spiderverse movies have referenced the MCU but called it 199999 instead of 616.

Repulsive_Grape_12402026-01-12 21:36

Yeah, of course I get that. I even mentioned it in the body text. I am just saying it because we see the same characters we saw in those movies now as part of the multiverse. They make no effort in saying these are different characters from the ones we grew up with. It's just a nitpick. I am just happy seeing all my fav childhood characters coming back.

Y2KGB2026-01-12 20:09

*Star Trek, Terminator, Timecop, Time After Time, Quantum Leap, A Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time, Hot Tub Time Machine, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, **NOT** Die Hard*

Dangerman13372026-01-12 23:25

Funny that Terminator is mentioned because with Terminator 2 and then Dark Fate a new timeline is effectively created (Legion replaces Skynet tho).

ChildofObama2026-01-12 20:12

Barry Allen would see Endgame time travel and joke MCU heroes have a ‘get out of jail free’ card

Gremlin3032026-01-12 20:13

If you go off Endgame’s explanation then those are just new timelines that Logan/Cable travel to, as opposed to an altered future

Repulsive_Grape_12402026-01-12 20:28

[I try to explain here. Maybe I am wrong](https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/s/qwCAmOKRUW)

juances192026-01-12 20:16

I mean days of future past is a mess on it's own. What really happened when Wolverine's consciousness returned to the present? He has no recollection of the altered timeline and seems super confused about everything, did he essentially "kill"/replace another version of himself? You can make a horror movie out of that.

Far_Combination76392026-01-12 20:20

I mean, time travel *could* work the way they originally expect, if they just travel to the timeline they create in the past and live there. For example, they could have done as Rhodes suggested and gone back to kill baby Thanos, then traveled forward in that timeline to whenever they wanted. The only problem with that is they would be gone from their old timeline, and the new timeline may play out completely differently (i.e. nobody they know from the old timeline could exist in the new timeline). Maybe earth wouldn’t even have sentient life in that timeline. Who knows.

Scholander2026-01-12 21:13

There would also be two versions of you in that timeline.

Far_Combination76392026-01-12 21:57

Maybe. If you existed in that timeline at all. Maybe you didn’t. If you do, just kill them and take their place. That was Wanda’s plan in Multiverse of Madness.

Madmonkeman2026-01-12 20:21

Marvel has inconsistent time travel and multiverse rules

Bored-of-this2026-01-12 20:21

There's more than one way to make an omelette

remerdy12026-01-12 20:22

Why did two separate, unconnected movies made by different studios not follow the same rules 😡😡😡

Repulsive_Grape_12402026-01-12 20:29

Did you even read body text?

HyruleBalverine2026-01-12 21:39

Of course they did. You answer the why of it yourself: they're different universes. They have different rules. In Multiverse of Madness we saw a universe comprised by what appears to be paint. In the Spiderverse movies, we see live action, LEGO, and various animation types, including a world of paper people. The rules of science/physics are different in different universes.

LaylaLegion2026-01-12 20:28

Banner doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He’s a radiation scientist, not a temporal physicist. That’s why you defer to the actual experts, the TVA.

ad_maru2026-01-13 00:22

Not even all the TVA knew how things truly work. Only He Who Remains and some of his folks.

AdvertisingWaste86242026-01-12 20:29

Legion has the best explanation of timelines, and the show even shows multiple variants of the main version we followed throughout the show, and I’ve always thought one of those versions is the MCU version existing in the MCU.

Wooper13022026-01-12 20:29

Isn't it just you change future, you create a branched reality where the thing you changed happened in this new timeline. Like in Loki

jjkm72026-01-12 20:33

How about the fact that cable and thanos look remarkably similar

cuckingfomputer2026-01-12 21:26

The resemblance is almost... Uncanny.

vpr0nluv2026-01-13 02:31

Astonishing, even.

Stormik2026-01-13 09:46

No they don't. One's PURPLE!

Fun-Poet53382026-01-12 20:38

Could've just written the body normally, yk, instead of whatever tf that mode is.

ItsCammyMeele2026-01-12 20:40

Xmen and Deadpool weren't part of the MCU.

There's nothing to explain.

VicRamD2026-01-12 20:43

Ms Marvel has a plot where she helps her grandma in the past. There is no control over multiverse rules in the multiverse saga.

arteriu2026-01-12 20:46

i wonder why movies not made by marvel have different time travel rules

Jertimmer2026-01-12 20:46

![gif](giphy|dCAC5bj5K3uZmhmm8v|downsized)

The only sensible explanation for time travel.

NamelessGamer_12026-01-12 22:22

"The more you mess with time, the less the rules apply to you" - Reverse Flash said something like that idk

eagc72026-01-12 20:47

Yeah they won't explain it, its just a little issue they most likely didn't cared about when bringing the X-Men into the MCU Multiverse

But if i were to come up with a reason, if 10005 its his own timestream and not a branch of 616, then maybe you can say that different universes have their own time travel rules and logic. in the 616 timestream there is no impact in the timeline when changing it, but in the 10005 timestream you can change it.

HyruleBalverine2026-01-12 21:53

Exactly. We've seen multiple different realities where the physical rules are different: worlds of anthropomorphic animals with pocket dimensions (hammerspace); worlds made entirely of paper, including the living organisms; worlds of lining plastic (LEGO); worlds made up of what appears to be paint; etc. Of course some realities will operate under different laws of physics.

Currycel78912026-01-12 20:49

Actually, they're closer than you think. In both cases, the time traveler's past isn't changed. It's just that new timelines are created.

The MCU allows the traveler to return to their original timeline, FOX seemingly does not.

Mark_Kostecki2026-01-12 20:51

I still don’t think those Fox movies are really canon. Like the Cyclops we see in Doomsday won’t be the exact one from those movies and whatnot. So I wouldn’t think too hard about the old time travel rules (now ms. Marvel is another issue)

Darth_Nykal2026-01-12 20:55

It's easy enough to hand wave away that the original timelines exist and the movies just ended in newly created timelines.

FigureArty2026-01-12 20:56

What if (just a head canon), the scene of Professor X and the Sentinels disappearing was just a visualization to signify that they were now in a new timeline?

As for Deadpool 2, that movie went crazy with the timeslider. DP traveled through multiple times and realities, even one where Ryan Reynolds didn’t make Green Lantern and the MCU (616)

Liam_Neesons_Oscar2026-01-12 21:01

If one person travels back in time and makes a change, then they travel forward to when left, it will be different for them. But from the perspective of the people that they left, nothing will change. They will just see their friend disappear.

kennyofthegulch2026-01-12 21:04

I fail to see the discrepancy. The original Deadpool still died, the Sentinels still won, and both Cable & Wolverine ended up in new universes where the bad stuff didn't happen that were spawned from their interference.

SpartanOneZeroFour2026-01-12 21:09

I believe it is HOW time travel is achieved. That method of time travel dictates the rules of changing timelines.

o_MrBombastic_o2026-01-12 21:13

There's several theories are on how time travel works and they're all equally valid. We won't know which is right till someone actually invents time travel. Until then we have to rely on guesses in science fiction and those guesses will ALWAYS serve the story not the science. If you're looking for an answer why it's different from media to media it's because none of it is real it's just fiction to serve the story

drmnez12026-01-12 21:24

Endgame used the many worlds theory to explain time travel. It didn’t change the past it created a branch timeline. That is because changing the past creates a paradox that leads you to not change the past therefore not having a need to go to the past, so you don’t, but then the original event still happens, then you need to go into the past to stop it…. Etc

GarySoneji2026-01-12 21:44

That is an important distinction constantly getting overlooked. Bruce’s explanation was to explain why they couldn’t just kill baby Thanos. It was all to avoid a paradox. The rules they state aren’t as relevant as that first principle.

AmaniZandalari2026-01-12 21:24

Please fix the format of the text

slash2die2026-01-12 21:25

Did we conveniently forget that in DS1, ancient one says she prevented countless terrible future? Meaning, she used the time stone peak into the future and knew what to do to prevent that from happening.

Doesn't that dispute what baner says?

TelenorTheGNP2026-01-12 21:42

Fox rules don't apply.

itsjustben132026-01-12 21:49

“And two universes following different rules of time travel doesn't make sense.”

It makes as much sense as a guy who turns giant and green or a guy who can stick to surfaces like a spider.

Wtygrrr2026-01-12 21:55

Incorrect.

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Earth-10005_Revised

Though for Deadpool, you probably just shouldn’t take the Deadpool movies as super serious cannon.

[deleted]2026-01-12 22:18

This\^. Deadpool 2 was never meant to be that serious and we shouldn't worry too much about their time travel logic. DP and W used a lot of ridiculous plot devices too.

fzammetti2026-01-12 22:19

It's almost like time travel in any way, shape or form is just purely nonsensical.

(get outta here, Primer boys... it's better than most, but it's still a mess)

NamelessGamer_12026-01-12 22:20

You really don't need to look that far. Within Endgame itself, they break this rule when old Steve Rogers appears on the bench, which should be impossible based on the established rules.

Hebroohammr2026-01-12 22:30

They immediately contradict their own rule by having Scott come back at different ages.

metalmankam2026-01-12 22:30

But perhaps all the time fuckery caused incursions and that's why they're in this film

StephTheLegend2026-01-12 22:34

Time travel works differently depending on the method used. The MCU has used more than one form of time travel before.

Fox and MCU aren’t the same universe, studio, etc. Even so, we can look at the application of the time travel.

Let’s focus on the different instances in MCU - Earth 199999

We have the time Dalia or the Time Monolith. It was used to send Coulson and his team to the future to learn of a way to stop the cataclysmic event caused by the Destroyer of Worlds. They were sent back in time to their present and were unable to change the events up until the final moment.

The time monolith was seemingly destroyed but it was reconstructed by Flint and used to send Shield team to the past. This warps them to a different time until they were pulled back to their actual timeline.

-

Möbius Strip. The time heist. That’s a different form of time travel. It has a different purpose and a different outcome with its effects on their time.

-

DOFP/ Fox

Changes to the events of the past in the X-Men universe can have changes to the timeline because of ripples. This form of travel is very different to the other two.

How you time travel determines what effects it has on the present. This didn’t need to be addressed in Endgame because the others don’t even know the other forms of time travel exist.

JANTlvr2026-01-12 22:36

Different methods of time travel —> different results.

eagc72026-01-13 00:15

Also i would add that different universes/timelines could have their own laws of how time works there.

Primeve_Arcana2026-01-12 22:38

Different methods of time travel have different effects.

Fares265972026-01-12 22:43

I don't care about MCU time travel/multiverse laws anymore.

In Endgame, it was clean and simple, changes in the past create new timeline branches and each timeline branch is it's own universe, and they all represent the multiverse.

I can not find a way to reconcile everything they did after endgame with the endgame rules, and even if it's possible, it's too much to even matter.

And that's fine, storytelling and entertainment is more important to me.

Affectionate-Bus9272026-01-12 23:03

good lord

BlargerJarger2026-01-12 23:19

Different universes, different rules.

statistics4life2026-01-12 23:30

Bruce and Tony programmed the time machine to work non-sequentially. They didn’t think of programming it connectively. I’m sure they did their best.

Loose_Concentrate3322026-01-13 00:04

Those are theories, nothing more. The problem is assuming that any of these quotes come from a place of perfect knowledge.

You can't accept Bruce's explanation to be perfect, it has never happened in his world, to his knowledge.

There's also the difference of what a particular consciousness would experience. Bruce's explanation was correct for his consciousness, but if there was a branch in the timeline, it would be experienced by a different consciousness/Bruce.

Same issue would apply to even the ancient one. Afaik only America Chavez or the darkhold allowed for "crossing" realities.

PaulClarkLoadletter2026-01-13 00:09

Bruce is talking about the multiverse. Changing the past doesn't change the future. It creates a whole new future. Semantics, I know.

ZoloTheLegend2026-01-13 00:16

Its really not the job of a storyteller to overexplain universe logic from inherited properties and how it relates to the logic of its own universe when that doesn’t really have any barring on whether or not the story is a good story.

It is solely the job of the storyteller to tell a good story.

drew83112026-01-13 00:22

Ok here's a simple answer

Time travel works different in different universes. X-Men you can change the current by changing the past but 616 it makes a new branch instead

Maybe X-Men was not a sacred timeline controlled by Kang so had different rules, maybe it gets pruned in the future so nothing in it matters.

Peppermynt422026-01-13 00:22

Pretty sure they proved Bruce wrong at the end of that very movie when Steve didn’t return by the most direct route.

Remarkable-Key-93352026-01-13 00:24

They don't end up changing their original timeline, they live on a new branch timeline where the effects of their reset are felt. The main timeline of that universe still exists but without those changes

m8_is_me2026-01-13 00:26

[However you formatted the text, please don't ever do it that way again ty](https://i.vgy.me/Hh8Kem.png)

Repulsive_Grape_12402026-01-13 06:30

I don't know why it's displaying like that on PC. On mobile it's fine. And for some reason, I can't edit the text if an image is attached to a post.

ReturnoftheBoat2026-01-13 00:54

DoFP contradicted itself by stating nothing would change until Wolverine woke up, and then they just teleported away when Raven didn't shoot Trask "in the past".

Speed_EG88232026-01-13 01:15

Loki's explanation will be the one used moving forward

LetItATV2026-01-13 01:21

The timeline of the X-Men movies didn’t make sense even before time travel was introduced there.
If it couldn’t even be internally consistent in isolation, of course it’s not going to work when bolted onto a completely different fiction!

AnntimCev2026-01-13 01:22

In Endgame they use the Quantum Realm and Time"GPS" that's how they can go back to their present, with no GPS or Quantum Realm they would just go the future of the new timeline branch and that's what happened with devices from X-men universe

Cga42026-01-13 01:41

And then they have old Steve at the end of the movie, which wouldn't be possible with Bruce's explanation of time travel, making him an unreliable narrator

TK5232026-01-13 01:41

Time travel in the comics is always different for each story. There are no rules. X-Men are the worst offenders with a million different timelines. Sometimes people come from the future to prevent their future and make it no longer exist, other times they succeed and their future gets better.

There are no rules.

esar242026-01-13 01:54

Different method of time travel creating a different effect, both also had different purpose.

peteofaustralia2026-01-13 01:56

It is very important to watch any X-Men Universe film as completely unrelated to any other X-Men Universe film. No rules or storylines should be seen as irrevocably connected.

Plus, you know the out-of-universe reasoning: different writers, different time, different rules and management decisions. Just gotta get TF over it.

MisterGoldiloxx2026-01-13 02:01

To be fair, DoFP and D2 aren't MCU movies...

-Aone2026-01-13 02:54

OP woke up yesterday and saw exactly 3 movies. then said "i dont understand" and went on reddit.

this is the one and only explanation I can see to make a post like that

silent_omega0672026-01-13 05:42

maybe time travel work different in each universe 😅

SilasWould2026-01-13 07:36

I've always assumed that this was because they're in the Sacred Timeline during Endgame, with the TVA still culling branches - hence why changing the past wouldn't change the future; the branches would be pruned before they could impact anything and time travellers would seemingly just return to their own present.

smakson112026-01-13 07:59

Different universe. Different universe.