Warning: Massive Avengers: Endgame spoilers ahead so if you haven't seen the film, what have you been doing and don't read anymore if you don't want the film ruined.
Now that you've all been exhilarated and left emotionally devastated by Avengers: Endgame and then spent the following days dissecting everything that happened you'll probably think that there is nothing left to talk about.
However, one line in the film did leave fans with a few questions...
After being rescued from space by Captain Marvel and returning to Earth, Tony Stark decides to leave the superhero life behind, settle down and start a family with Pepper Potts.
In the five years after Thanos's snap and the moment where Ant-Man returns from the quantum realm and convinces the Avengers that time-travel is the best way to stop half of life from dying, Tony and Pepper have a daughter called Morgan.
Rather than say "I love you," Tony displays his unique brand of wit by repeatedly telling her "I love you 3000," which on the surface appeared to be a cute line that demonstrated his intellectual connection to Morgan, that would culminate in an emotional pay-off.
However, was there something else to this line that Marvel's producers were hiding right under our noses?
A theory has begun to circulate between Marvel fans that suggests that if you add all the minutes of the movies up, including the forthcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home, then the total run time is 3000 minutes.
Look at the total run time for all the MCU movies. “I love you 3000”. Can’t cope... #AvengersEndgame https://t.co/A6nj6bGaNd— Apparently Ash (@Apparently Ash) 1556786690
@AshBoio https://t.co/zWBGVQCpcd— Skyonite (@Skyonite) 1556791913
If this is true it's pretty unbelievable that Marvel would make 22 films to run to a specific line just to fit it in with one line for one movie.
Some have contested this claim, with the official run time of a handful being slightly longer than what has been suggested.
In addition, the run time for Far From Home hasn't been released yet, so that would appear to be a stab-in-the-dark but fun nonetheless.
@AshBoio The running times are incorrect and the FFH running time hasn’t been released. What’s the point of this?— Gabe Piscione (@Gabe Piscione) 1556909597
@GabePiscione Speculation is half of the fun. Plus Feige has hinted that running times maybe play a role in the story.— Apparently Ash (@Apparently Ash) 1556909890
@AshBoio Prob should call it speculation in the original tweet— Gabe Piscione (@Gabe Piscione) 1556911680
@AshBoio 181 minutes =/= 3 hours and 2 minutes https://t.co/Ldeo2QszRi— Diary of Will 🐻 (@Diary of Will 🐻) 1556908288
However, the explanation behind the line appears to be even simpler.
In a recent press conference featuring the Endgame screenwriters, Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely, the duo revealed that 'I love you 3000' is actually something that Robert Downey Jr's real-life children say to him.
Once they learnt that they decided to add it into the movie's script, changing the original line from "I love you tons" with it also serving as a nice little nod to the actor who appears to have bowed out of the franchise for good.
Either way, we love you 3000 Robert Downey Jr.
HT Daily Dot