'Agents of SHIELD': Does Season 7 contradict 'Avengers: Endgame' time travel rules?
'Avengers: Endgame' went to a lot of trouble to establish the rules of time travel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but when 'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 comes along, things may get a little more complicated. Over the years, we've had a number of sci-fi shows and movies that have established Hollywood's idea of how time-travel works, which does appear to be what is in play in 'Agents of SHIELD', but that would make it a direct contradiction of 'Avengers: Endgame'.
Technically, 'Agents of SHIELD' has already meddled with time travel in Season 5 and brought changes into the present to avoid the future but that's different from what the show will be dealing with in Season 7. The upcoming final season will see the team take a trip to the past to prevent a bunch of aliens from invading the Earth that would retroactively allow them to rule it in the present.
But here's the problem, as simply as we can put it. According to the rules established in 'Endgame' you can't travel back in time, you can only travel to a parallel universe that's exactly the same as this one except that you showed up in its past. That may be a bit hard to wrap your head around but it is based in real-life science and it's important for this next bit.
If the aliens are invading in the past, then they're invading a different Earth and not the one the main Marvel Cinematic Universe. That means even if they were to succeed, it won't affect the present in any way. Plus, (and this is where things get even weirder) if they do find a way to go to the past of the main universe and the team is travel back in time to stop them, they would only arrive in a universe similar to the one where the aliens invaded and defeating them there won't change a thing in the present.
The only possible explanation is that 'Agents of SHIELD' follows a different set of time-travel rules than the ones set in 'Endgame'. But while that's definitely a headache for physicists and hardcore MCU fans, it doesn't have to take away from the joy of watching this epic show take its final lap.
'Agents of SHIELD' Season 7 will premiere on ABC on May 27.