How can Thanos retrieve the Soul Stone without Gamora?
I understand that Captain America returns the Infinity Stones at the end of Avengers: Endgame to allow the original MCU timeline to continue. My question is, how does Thanos retrieve the Soul Stone the second time round without Gamora?
I am making the assumption that 2014 Gamora does not not exist there anymore, as she is in 2023. So if she isn't around to be sacrificed for the Soul Stone, then how does Thanos obtain it in order to make sure the timeline is not impacted?
Best Answer
To be blunt, in that timeline Thanos doesn't get the soul stone. In that timeline Thanos is dead and the snap never happens - at least that seems to be the logic of it.
Pictures about "How can Thanos retrieve the Soul Stone without Gamora?"
How did Thanos get the soul gem?
Kept on Vormir and under the protection of Red Skull since 1945, the Soul Stone was acquired by Thanos in 2018 after he sacrificed Gamora.Would Gamora have survived the snap?
Avengers: Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely reveal that Gamora survived the snap - and could appear in Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, the writers of Avengers: Endgame have confirmed that Gamora survived Tony Stark's snap.Is there any other way to get the Soul Stone?
As revealed in Avengers: Infinity War by Red Skull (Ross Marquand), it can only be collected in exchange for a sacrifice. Thanos gave up Gamora (Zoe Saldana), and then in Endgame, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) offered her life so Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) could bring it back for the time heist.Thanos Sacrifices Gamora Scene | Avengers: Infinity War (2018) Marvel Movie Clip
More answers regarding how can Thanos retrieve the Soul Stone without Gamora?
Answer 2
2014 Thanos can't sacrifice Gamora, because he was also stolen from that timeline
Endgame established that changing the past would not change their past, it would only create a new timeline. In the new timeline where Gamora was taken to the future, Thanos was also taken and then dusted. So for that new timeline, Thanos will never complete his quest or need the soul stone. This is one change to the timeline which is unavoidable, but also manages to save a second timeline from the snap in the process.
However, for lots of other things to happen correctly in that timeline, the stones must be returned. The main one pointed to by the movie is the time stone being used by Doctor Strange to stop Dormamu. However, there are many other things they would want to happen that require returning the stones:
Without the tesseract from 1970 onwards:
- Captain Marvel doesn't get her powers
- The Kree/Skrull war isn't ended
- The Kree intelligence isn't defeated by Captain Marvel
- Any other feats in future Captain Marvel movies
- Nick Fury isn't awakened to the wider world
- The Avengers Initiative isn't started
- Loki wouldn't need to attack Earth, which also prevents the Avengers from forming.
- No staff brought to earth, which causes all of the following
Without the Mind Stone being returned:
- Age Of Ultron doesn't happen
- Vision is never created
Without the Power Stone being returned:
- The Guardians of the Galaxy never form
Without the Reality Stone being returned
- Whatever happened in the end of Thor: The Dark World wouldn't come to pass?
I think for the sake of that/those timelines they had to return them, or risk sacrificing another universe for their own.
Answer 3
Thanos is dead in the timeline.
For that timeline, Thanos, Gamora and Nebula have all gone through a portal and never come back. We actually know they jumped into our dimension and died/remained there.
The Soul Stone from that timeline will remain in its place, assuming Captain puts it back there.
Answer 4
Cap will return the stones to their places and times, that means before Thanos and Gamora went to the futur, so Thanos and Gamora will be there, nothing changes
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Mikhail Nilov, Harry Cooke, John Diez, John Diez