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Does What If...? Confirm Two Absolute Points In Time?

"What If...?" is one of the most ambitious projects taken on by Marvel Studios thus far. The series reexamines the MCU as we know it by altering different moments, which results in entirely different storylines. In Episode 4 ("What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?"), the Ancient One explains to Doctor Strange that Christine's death is an Absolute Point in time.

No matter what Stephen does, he cannot stop Christine from dying. Using the Eye of Agamatto, he travels back in time repeatedly to change events of the past to save her, but to no avail. He can never change this Absolute Point in time, and we learn that Christine will always die. In "Doctor Strange," Christine is alive and well, and it's the destruction of Stephen's hands that causes him to seek answers for healing at the Kamar-Taj. These are two different universes where these events happen separately and are unrelated. However, some other events in "What If...?" have caused us to wonder if the series confirms two different Absolute Points in time within the MCU.

Tony Stark and Vision can't catch a break

By Episode 6, Tony Stark has died three times in the series. The first was by Hank Pym in Episode 3, the second was by zombies in Episode 5, and finally by Killmonger in the recent installment. Of course, we know Tony dies in "Avengers: Endgame" and saves the universe in the process, but does his recurring death in "What If...?" mean anything? Perhaps Tony's death across all universes and realities is an Absolute Point in time.

Additionally, someone else whose life always seems to be cut short in the MCU is Vision (Paul Bettany). The synthezoid dies twice in "Avengers: Infinity War," and kinda-sorta again in "WandaVision." Granted, this Vision is actually just a projection of Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), which she created through chaos magic. It's not the real Vision that we know — but we did have to watch him perish a third time. In the zombie episode of "What If...?" Vision dies, again, after sacrificing himself by removing the Mind Stone from his forehead. Is this another Absolute Point across all MCU realities? It sure seems like it, which doesn't give much hope for White Vision moving forward. Technically, he's not a true Vision, so maybe his life will be spared — we hope.