'Avengers: Endgame' Spoilers: A Surprising Reason the Quantum Realm Is Key

Everyone’s focusing on how the Quantum Realm could be the key to time travel or to migrating into an alternate reality, but what if the vital role Ant-Man plays in Avengers: Endgame has much more to do with Quantum Healing Particles shown in Ant-Man and the Wasp?

The Tesseract reduced Red Skull to a floating phantom. The Power Stone nearly destroyed the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Aether almost consumed Jane Foster. Even mighty Thanos, with the full power of the Infinity Gauntlet, probably crippled his left arm performing the Decimation that wiped out half of all living things. In most cases, you can’t wield the power of the Infinity Stones without harming yourself.

Maybe that’s where Quantum Healing Particles could become crucial in Avengers: Endgame, helping someone like Tony Stark wield all six Infinity Stones in a new Infinity Gauntlet to undo Thanos’ Decimation.

This is just one Inverse String Theory, but it could be true. So consider yourself warned about potential Avengers: Endgame spoilers.

We all know that Scott Lang’s return from the Quantum Realm factors into Endgame in some way, and his involvement in the story having close ties to the Ant-Man and the Wasp post-credits scene feels pretty obvious.

That scene already overlaps with the events of Avengers: Infinity War, depicting the deaths of Hank Pym, Hope Van Dyne, and Janet Van Dyne. Scott Lang heads into the Quantum Realm via the Quantum Tunnel to retrieve Quantum Healing Particles for Ghost. (Yeah, they really do “just put the word ‘quantum’ in front of everything.”) Radiation from the Quantum Realm causes the cells of Ghost’s body to constantly separate and reunite, and it causes her excruciating pain. By harnessing the power of the Quantum Realm, they’re able to heal her.

If the Quantum Realm can do that, then surely it can prevent the Infinity Stones from destroying someone’s body, right?

When Inverse spoke with Ant-Man and the Wasp director Peyton Reed in July 2018, shortly after the film’s release, he hinted that these healing particles could have a wider impact on the MCU in the future.

“When it comes to this Quantum Healing research, it’s safe to assume that it might have a wider application,” Reed said, adding that for the time being, it was focused on Ghost. What if that “wider application” is some kind of redundant healing mechanism that Tony Stark develops using quantum energy?

One Endgame toy leak in April seemingly confirmed the popular theory that Tony Stark would create his own Infinity Gauntlet that can wield the power of the Infinity Stones. It’s red, silver, and gold (just like most Iron Man suits), and the toy’s box just says “Electronic Gauntlet.” Stark doesn’t have any magical Dwarven space metal to use on his gauntlet, so maybe incorporating Quantum Healing Particles is the next best thing.

A February fan theory from redditor u/fishgrey argues a similar theory about Iron Man’s Infinity Gauntlet incorporating Quantum Healing Particles.

“I think the healing particles Ant-Man collects are crucial in helping Tony wield the Stones, or they are integrated into Tony’s creation to help reverse the snap,” they write. Their theory also relies on Doctor Strange sending the Space and Time Stones forward in time to Tony Stark during Endgame, which seems a little too farfetched, but we like the incorporation of Quantum Healing Particles.

Maybe the white Quantum Realm suits have a way of harnessing Quantum Healing Particles, giving the team extra defense when fighting Thanos? Even if he just incorporated it as an additional power source in his Iron Man suit, that could be a huge boon in the battle to come.

Other supposed leaks and theories, like one from redditor u/flinteastwood, say that Hulk will use Stark’s gauntlet to bring back everyone Thanos erased, but it will destroy his arm in the process. If something like that does happen, maybe Quantum Healing Particles are just the thing Stark needs to fix the Hulk?

In one way or another, Endgame will explore the implications that the Quantum Realm has on the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, and hopefully, Tony Stark has the sense to use those healing particles to give the Avengers an added advantage.

In the final lead-up to Avengers: Endgame’s release, Inverse is unleashing a few fan theories of our own. Read all of them here and check back for weekly theories from some journalists who spend way too much time thinking about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26, 2019.

Have any strong thoughts about this theory or want to pitch your own? Email the author at corey@inverse.com.