Warning: This post contains potential spoilers for both Infinity War and Avengers 4.

You know how Benedict Cumberbatch became Tom Holland’s personal spoiler-sitter before Infinity War? Well, Marvel should ask him to use Doctor Strange’s multiple persona trick so he can keep an eye on every other actor in the MCU. Unfortunately, without the Time Stone, there’s nothing he can do about the major Pepper Potts/Tony Stark theory that Gwyneth Paltrow just confirmed, which also points to when Avengers 4 takes place.

In a story we came across at CBR, Twitter user @ashley__renae noticed a seemingly gigantic spoiler dropped by Paltrow in Marvel’s Official Avengers: Infinity War magazine. Pepper’s only scene in Infinity War involved her reassuring Tony she wasn’t pregnant after he told her he’d had a very vivid dream in which the two had a child together—the whole sequence certainly felt like a classic case of Chekhov’s baby.

Pepper makes one more “appearance” later on, in the form of a phone call when she begs Tony not to board Ebony Maw’s ship leaving Earth. The call cuts out, and one of the few phrases we hear Pepper say is “…going to be…”, lead many to theorize she was trying to tell Tony that he is in fact was “going to be” a father. Well, about that…

https://twitter.com/ashley__renae/status/992156763721027585

“And now this decade later they’re married, and they have a child.”

But more important than confirming the pregnancy, this points to there being a time jump from Infinity War to Avengers 4. In Infinity War, Tony and Pepper weren’t married yet (“Wong, you’re invited to my wedding.”), and if she was pregnant she wasn’t showing at all. That clearly points to a passage of time between films, which means when we next meet those left behind they have been dealing not only with their failure, but with loss on an almost unimaginable scale.

And for Tony it also means whatever plan the remaining Avengers come up with, when he enters battle this time he’ll be doing so with a child at home. How will that change his willingness to fight? Will it make him more reckless or less? Either way it will add another layer of depth to his story, which is likely to end one way or another.

As far as spoilers go, this is a biggie. Maybe he can’t be everywhere at all times, but Marvel could at least hire Benedict Cumberbatch to edit the official magazine for Avengers 4.

What do you make of this news? What does it mean for the next Avengers movie? Tell us in the comments below.

Featured Image: Marvel

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