New Avengers 4 set photos further back up theories that Marvel’s forthcoming ensemble flick will revisit the Battle of New York from 2012’s The Avengers. Time travel will be essential in the much-anticipated Phase 3-capper, and evidence mounts that the big action set piece from the Joss Whedon-directed movie will be one of the points in history that the Avengers will have to come back to.

It’s been established that Battle of New York will play a pivotal role in the remaining heroes plan to defeat Thanos, thanks to a handful of leaked photos from the set of Avengers 4. Based on the images, it appears that Tony and Thor will attempt to meddle with Loki’s arrest at the end of the movie, with Stark possibly disguising himself as one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who handled the God of Mischief’s capture by the end of the flick.

The new piece of information comes from Atlanta Magazine (via CBR), which spotted a specific set from Avengers 4 that looks very similar to the one from the Battle of New York. The specific backdrop can be seen after Tony was knocked down by one of the Chitauri ships he blew up and just before Nick Fury informed him that a nuclear missile has been deported to the city. While it’s not necessarily an exact replica with the seeming addition of a Southwest Airline ad stuck on what looks like a clear shed (source says it’s shown in The Avengers, but it’s quite difficult to confirm considering the shot’s angle) and the slight misalignment of some garbage bins, the set notably features the same path of destruction that Tony trod when he was thrown off of the alien vessel.

The sedan in the set photo is also noticeably the same color and model with the same damage as the one behind Tony when he hit the ground, further fueling time traveling rumors. Meanwhile, other snaps from the Atlanta set also feature military Humvees, an NYPD police car, and an ambulance, all of which were all present during the Battle of New York.

It makes sense that the Battle of New York will be a pivotal point in history that the Avengers would re-visit considering that it’s the first time where Thanos’ presence in the MCU was really felt. While his existence has been teased as early as the first Thor movie, it wasn’t until The Avengers that he attempted to make a move against Earth with the help of Loki, not to mention that the movie’s post-credit scene marked his on-screen debut. Traveling back in time to the Chitauri invasion would allow the remaining heroes to do some things differently that could ultimately foil Thanos’ plans of galactic genocide.

However, it’s interesting why Avengers 4 will recreate specifically that scene of Tony finding out about the nuclear bomb which he death-defyingly hauled outside of Earth straight to Thanos’ ship at the other end of the portal opened by the Tesseract/Space Stone. Theories have swirled around online that the reason why the Mad Titan seems to know who the MCU’s pioneering hero was because of this. Perhaps if the missile wasn’t deployed in the first place and Black Widow just closed the portal without Tony having to launch a  bomb to space, the intergalactic villain won’t have as much knowledge about what he’s up against when he’s face to face with the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. This gives the Avengers the advantage of knowing more about their most dangerous adversary yet before even meeting him.

MORE: How Time Travel Could Work In Avengers 4

Source: Atlanta Magazine (via CBR)

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