Avengers: Infinity War: What can Iron Man do for Doctor Strange?

There are few heroes who are concerned with such opposing things as Iron Man and Doctor Strange, so why are they together in Avengers: Infinity War?

For all their similar traits — snarky, have a love interest that makes sure to keep them slightly grounded, dark-haired and having a wealthy background — Tony Stark and Stephen Strange deal with very different things as the heroes Iron Man and Doctor Strange. Okay, in the comics Tony has occasionally taken up Stephen’s mantle as Sorcerer Supreme, but in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they haven’t had quite that level of crossover yet. . . . at least not until Avengers: Infinity War, which in case you’ve forgotten is out this Friday, April 27.

But rather than Tony finding his way into the Sanctum Sanctorum to pay Stephen a visit, Stephen rather just. . . . shows up out of nowhere in a clip found by CBR.

Naturally, we get nothing in the way of helpful context or anything beyond Stephen intoning “Tony Stark, I need your help,” with a portal flashing behind him. (Is it just us, or does Benedict Cumberbatch’s accent sound a bit more convincingly American? It’s not that it was bad in Doctor Strange, but it’s been sounding better in all the promos for Infinity War. Practice does make perfect, right?)

So why does he need help from Tony in the first place? While there could be any number of answers, it’s not as though Tony’s really an unknown quantity in the MCU. Perhaps Strange just wants a little help keeping an eye on New York while he ventures off to do something else? We really can’t see him saying he wants to join the Avengers in the same way a certain young Spider-Man does, and it doesn’t fit with the idea of Stephen needing something from Tony.

Besides, it’s not like Tony is the final arbiter of Avengers membership.

Could it be something like Stephen wanting help in hiding the Time Stone. . . . so long as it’s not in a garbage disposal, as Tony apparently suggests in this other clip? CBR doesn’t have a good guess either, merely saying that Stephen’s goal is to “enlist … Tony Stark to confront the looming threat of Thanos.”

That’s pretty general — and obvious. It could be just that simple, but there’s something urgent about showing up through a portal instead of using more conventional means. If Kamar-Taj has internet access, then we’re pretty sure the Sanctum Sanctorum does, too.

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This all could have been so much easier if everyone could just send emails, but it would be less dramatic.