Not all heroes wear capes. Marvel fans believe one non-super character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Erik Selvig, may hold the key to defeating Thanos in Avengers 4, and the release of a new tie-in novel may prove them right.
On Tuesday, Marvel published Avengers: Infinity War: The Cosmic Quest Volume Two: Aftermath, the third tie-in novel to Avengers: Infinity War and the second penned by Brandon T. Snider. Set after Thanos’ “snap,” the novel follows Erik Selvig, the disgraced professor of astrophysics (Stellan Skarsgård in the films), and his assistant, Darcy (Kat Dennings) as they seek answers to the horrible phenomenon that they, and billions more, narrowly survived.
So yeah, that’s two more survivors of “the snap” in the MCU.
Thing is, fans believe Erik Selvig is more important than just an eccentric old guy with a big brain. In 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, Selvig had written out a bunch scientific mumbo-jumbo on a blackboard that, at first glance, seemed like nonsense. At second glance, it’s just Easter eggs, such as “616” (referring to the primary Marvel continuity, Earth-616) and “Kyle + Yost = X,” a reference to writers Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, the latter of whom wrote the screenplay of The Dark World.
At a more careful third glance, however, one fan on Reddit noticed that Elvig made some startling predictions about what was yet to come in the Marvel timeline.
On Selvig’s board, there is mention of “phase transition,” which was an idea introduced in 2018’s Ant-Man and The Wasp. A “cosmic eclipse” suggests Selvig somehow knew about Vormir, where Thanos obtained the Soul Stone. Selvig also teased Muspelheim, the netherworld realm ruled by Sultur who destroyed Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok.
Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) in 'Thor: The Dark World' (2013).
What does Erik know that hasn’t happened yet in the MCU? There’s a compelling reference to “Simonson’s Theory of Relativity.” (Before any of you nerds get mad that there’s no such thing, “Simonson” is an Easter egg to Walt Simonson, one of the most renowned writers of Marvel’s Thor whose comics were a direct influence on all the Thor movies.)
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, however, is real, which introduced the concept of spacetime that is popular in science-fiction stories involving time travel. And fans believe Avengers 4 in 2019 will have a serious plot involving time travel. In that case, Erik could be the key to any plan the Avengers come up with to undo Thanos’s damage.
Even if none of this pans out, it’s good to know there are still some good guys alive in the MCU. The Avengers will really need all the help they can get.
Avengers 4 is out in theaters on May 3, 2019.
Related video: Re-experience the Snap from the end of ‘Infinity War’ now that you know two more characters survived.
