So one of the most hotly debated plot points in Avengers: Endgame among fans is the science and general sense behind what's come to be known as "The Time Heist."
Taking up pretty much all of the second act of the movie, these scenes involve the remaining Avengers traveling back through time via the Quantum Realm to re-collect the Infinity Stones so that they can undo Thanos' snap, which decimated half of all living things.
The scenes were controversial because they created their OWN rules, making a point to ignore traditional time travel lore — such as not speaking to your past self — even going so far as to name-drop and lovingly mock the likes of several films on the subject, ranging from Back to the Future to Hot Tub Time Machine.
Well now we know what helped to influence writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely thanks to an interview with Comicbook.com...and it may surprise you just HOW MUCH pop culture research went into the rules of their version of time travel.
"We went back and watched both Back to the Future and Back to the Future 2 specifically," McFeely said. "Everyone thinks that's how time travel works because that's a great movie, maybe the best of its subject — but if we were to [follow those rules], to do something in the past it's gonna screw up your future, we're going to do that six times..."
And that's when McFeely mentioned an unexpected influence from another GIGANTIC franchise: Harry Potter.
For the uninitiated (and unsorted) among us, time travel plays a significant role in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when you find out that Hermione Granger has been using a device known as a "Time Turner" to move through time and take a billion extra classes.
"I do love that third Harry Potter movie, where [we see] a stone break a vase. You don't know why, but the scene's fine and it doesn't take you out of it," McFeely said. "Then when you come back around [during the time travel] and you realize that THEY had thrown it at THEMSELVES, I do love that."
And — while the rules of Endgame's time travel are definitely singular to THEIR universe — you can certainly see that influence in the scenes, especially those in 2012 New York where the characters are faced with themselves.
So there ya have it! Relive the Time Heist and all of its glory yourself when Avengers: Endgame comes to digital download on July 30 and blu-ray on August 13. In the meantime, watch the full interview with the writers here!
