'Avengers 4': Two More Supporting Marvel Characters Confirmed to Have Survived Thanos Snap

You can add two more characters to the list of those confirmed to have survived Thanos' snap in Avengers: Infinity War.

Brandon T. Snider, author of the new book Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War: The Cosmic Quest, Volume 2: Aftermath, shared photos of the book's front and back covers to celebrate its release and if you look carefully at the plot summary, it confirms that Dr. Erik Selvig and his associate Darcy Lewis survived the snap. They're the lead characters of the book.

"A deadly threat emerged from the cosmos -- and it was fulfilled. In the wake of Thanos' horrifying success, the people of Earth are left reeling in despair and confusion. Without any logical explanation for the blip-out event, those remaining must pick up the pieces.

Doctor Erik Selvig and his associate Darcy Lewis are determined to find and understand the cause of the devastation. With a team of friends both old and new, they embark on a pursuit of knowledge, eager to discover the links between their own pasts and the stones that decimated half of humanity -- the Infinity Stones. Little do they know that a new foe who threatens to destroy them all is looming...."

While it's highly unlikely that this new book will have any serious spoilers for Avengers 4, it is interesting that it centers around Selvig as a new fan theory that cropped up on the MarvelStudios subreddit this week posits that Selvig is the key to defeating Thanos (Josh Brolin).

According to Reddit user mushbert, Thor supporting star Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) holds to key to defeating Thanos. The theory starts off with attempting to prove all of Selvig's jumbled notes from his chalkboard in Thor: The Dark World. As the theory points out, Selvig has predicted several events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe coming true since his apparent mental breakdown, all of which can be read on the full Reddit post.

The theory states that since Selvig was under the sway of the Mind Stone as it was still contained in Loki's Scepter, it gave the scientist all of the necessary information about the events that were about to unfold. This hints that Selvig knew about "The Snap " causing half of the universe to disappear, and although they aren't necessarily dead, they aren't really alive either creating a Schrodinger's cat scenario.

It goes on to share that Selvig's notes from Thor: The Dark World can be deciphered into hinting at traveling across both space and time — thanks to the "Fractal Gateways Connecting Mutipal Branes" section of the chalkboard. As the theory points out, the verbiage relates to quantum mechanics, a plot point that carries a decent amount of clout in a post-Ant-Man and the Wasp world.

Essentially the theory states that Selvig knows The Snap was going to happen and create a fault in which the multiverse crashes in on itself. Because of the unnatural occasion, the theory states that the larger-than-life Cosmic entities — think the Living Tribunal or Master Order and Lord Chaos — are the threats bigger than Thanos in Avengers 4.

That lines up pretty well with the book's plot summary, interestingly enough.

The theory then goes on to explain how, feeling guilty about murdering Gamora, Thanos will try another snap to reverse his horrific damage to the universe only to create an even larger rip in the space-time continuum -- on that could bring the arrival of the Fantastic Four and mutants.

While the theory's accuracy is something that fans will have to wait until Avengers 4 hits theaters next to find out, it's nice to be able to add two more survivors to the list. While there are still several MCU characters whose fates remain a mystery, Selvig and Darcy join Aunt May, Howard the Duck, and the survivors we saw on screen as those unharmed by Thanos' snap.

Avengers 4 is in theaters on May 3, 2019.