Ms. Marvel brought many new concepts to the MCU, from heroic ghosts to mutants, but also touched on a familiar concept: time travel. Avengers: Endgame was the first MCU project to delve into time travel and established the rule that the adventure in the story does not change the past, but instead creates a new timeline – this concept was further reinforced in Loki.
During Kamala’s battle with the clandestines, her arm ended up sending her back in time to The Divide, in which she crossed paths with her grandmother as a child and reunited with her father just in time to catch a train. Many were quick at the time to share their belief that this goes against the MCU’s existing time travel rules since Kamala directly affected the existing timeline.
Now, a writer who was involved with both Loki AND Ms. Marvel has offered their thoughts on whether the MCU’s time travel rules have already been broken.
MCU writer explains Ms. Marvel
In a recent interview with Cinema Blend, Loki writer and Ms. Marvel creator Bisha K. Ali responded to criticism of how time travel was handled in Kamala Khan’s MCU debut.
The MCU writer explained this Ms. MarvelTime travel would not create a Nexus event “because of its inevitability” that makes it “a closed loop:”
“Yes, we had Avengers: Endgame [rules] that you cannot return as a consequence [way]. … However, between Endgame and [Ms. Marvel], there was another little show called Loki where I was very much a part of figuring out how time could work. And I would say that I think it wouldn’t have caused a Nexus event because of its inevitability. So it was a closed loop. This is what is done. … And there was also the fact that a Nexus event is triggered by… You know what? Someone will yell at me, either from a fan or from Marvel. I can’t say which one. But I will say this, that to me, it made perfect sense and it fit into the logic of what was set at TVA, which seemed like the final decision at the time, I think.”
Ms. Marvel was met with heavy criticism from fans at the time of its release due to its potential change Avengers: Endgame AND LokiEstablished rules of time travel.
@darthwebhead asked if the episode “[broke] default rules of time travel” in MCU:
“I hate to be that guy, but doesn’t the last episode of “Ms. Marvel’s ‘default rules of time travel within the MCU’
@droid254 pointed out how “the rules [of time travel] keep changing” and have confused many people:
“Marvel people have messed us up on time travel… The rules keep changing in some shows like in Ms Marvel when Kamala goes back in time she didn’t create a new timeline like we’ve seen from the movies and Loki.”
@TheGamingMag stated that Phase 4 is “A mess so far,” criticizing Ms. Marvel ABOUT “[throwing] away any time travel rules that The end of the game founded:”
“Ms. Marvel just created a time loop? Doesn’t this technically throw away the time travel rules that Endgame set up? Idk whatever man. Phase 4 of Marvel is a mess so far”
@Yourtwelve shared a more canon-based explanation than the series instead “Bruce Banner’s time travel theory debunked:”
“Ms. Marvel has officially destroyed Bruce Banner’s time travel theory “If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future and your past present becomes your past, which now cannot be changed by your new future”.
Marvel’s time travel rules are still confusing
The MCU may have made a mistake by setting up some of the most confusing time travel rules ever. These complicated rules were mainly created to make the story easier The end of the game AND Lokibut now they have become confusing when it comes to other projects led by different teams.
In the special case of Ms. Marvel, has an excuse to say that Kamala saving her grandmother might not break the rules. During Loki’s original TVA hearing, Judge Renslayer told the God of Sorrow that stealing the Avengers’ time was “supposed to happen” but his escape was not:
“We’re not here to talk about the Avengers. What they did had to happen. There was no escaping it.”
Of course, this was all according to the Timekeepers, who actually turned out to be the One That Remains. But this still created the idea that along the Holy timeline, there are things related to time travel “is supposed to happen”, and maybe Kamala saving her grandmother was one of them.
After all, Ms. Marvel had always said that Sana had reunited with her father just before the train came during Partition, but no one ever knew that that person was Kamala. So there may be some cases of time travel that do not create new universes, but only if they fulfill this confusing and vague concept of a closed loop such as time-stealing travel and Kamala’s travel.
Who knows if Marvel Studios will one day further clarify the time travel rules or perhaps simplify them? Time travel is a confusing concept, perhaps even the smartest MCU geniuses don’t really understand how it works as is the case in the real world.
Ms. Marvel, LokiAND Avengers: Endgame are all streaming now on Disney+.
