Avengers: Endgame Spoilers

[John Venus]

Thoughts on the future of the MCU:

-All these branched timelines are going to attract the attention of somebody. :P Most likely his name rhymes with Tang. This is probably what Mr. Doctor 2 is going to be dealing with. Unless it has an original plot.

-I think I have a good idea of what Guardians of the Galaxy 3: The Search For Gamora is going to be about. Also, with Warlock being in this flick, I think it will shed further light on the soul stone and what exactly it is that it does. Despite being the center of so much controversy for two movies, we know the least about this stone.

-So all of Peter's classmates got dusted too, including Ned, MJ and Flash. I hope we see them dealing with some of their other classmates being 5 years older than them. Though, apparently Feige is claiming that Far From Home takes place before IW?

[kmeyers]

The Loki that escaped with the space gem didn't remove the space gem from the timeline, he simply created an alternate reality in which he had the gem.

And all things considered, it's probably not a bad one. It's unlikely Thanos could run down Loki, who with the gem can teleport anywhere and is smart enough not to get boxed in by Thanos

It removed it from where it originally was, just like the Ancient One warned about all of the stones.

[AJBopp]

That's not what I got from the Ancient Ones dialogue at all. Putting the stones back don't eliminate the alternate timelines, it simply means that they are no longer defenseless against the likes of Dormammu.

When The Ancient One drew a representation of the timeline in the air, and showed an alternate timeline created when a stone was removed from it, how many timelines are displayed when the stone was returned from where it had been taken?

[numberthirty]

A change is a change. The presence of the time traveler is a big change, no matter what he does or says.

Said that, Cap is returning the stones because those realities need them in order to get their events (good or bad) played out. He's returing them to the branched realities, not the MCU prime timeline past. That past is fixed, you cannot change it.

People keep not getting some concepts straight.

Some of the dialogue was messed up, plain and simple.

The Russos:

But then …he doesn’t come back. At least, not as we know him. He finds Peggy Carter and stays with her.
So, has Cap been living in the past this whole time — or did he go and live in another dimension?
The directors say it’s the latter.
“If Cap were to go back into the past and live there, he would create a branched reality,” Joe explained. “The question then becomes, how is he back in this reality to give the shield away?”
The brothers smile.
“Interesting question, right?” Joe said. “Maybe there’s a story there. There’s a lot of layers built into this movie and we spent three years thinking through it, so it’s fun to talk about it and hopefully fill in holes for people so they understand what we’re thinking.”
There are other questions in this sequence that set up this future story…

"Dimension" is a different concept than "Alternate Timeline".

There is no way that someone just brought up dimension for no reason, out of the blue.

[AJBopp]

"Dimension" is a different concept than "Alternate Timeline".

There is no way that someone just brought up dimension for no reason, out of the blue.

I think reasonable people could disagree about that, since neither is actually a factual, real thing in the sense that the terms are used in science fiction (which is wildly inconsistent depending on what you're reading/watching)

[AJBopp]

THE ANCIENT ONE (drawing a golden line in the air with the Infinity Stones represented at one point in the line):

The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one of the stones...

(flicks the time stone out of the line)

...and that flow splits.

(A black line splits off from the golden line curving away into the distance)

That may benefit your reality, but my new one, not so much. In this new branched reality, without the chief weapon against the the forces of darkness, our world will be overrun, millions will suffer. Tell me doctor, can your science prevent all that?

BRUCE BANNER:

No, but we can erase it. Because once we've got the stones, we can return it...

(puts the time stone back into the same place in the golden line, and the black line fades to nothing)

...to it's own timeline. So chronologically, in that reality, it never left.

------------------------

BRUCE BANNER:

You have to return the stones to the exact moment you got them, or you're gonna add to the deflection of the alternate realities.

STEVE ROGERS:

Don worry Bruce. I'll clip all the branches.

[AJBopp]

Notice a couple of things about these lines of dialog:

The Ancient One doesn't say that removing the time stone creates a new reality, she says removing any of them does, but uses the time stone as an example.

Bruce and The Ancient One specifically agree that returning removed stones erases an alternate reality before it can be created in the chronology.

Bruce specifically reminds Steve that he has to return the stones to an exact time, and Steve assures him that he will erase all alternate timelines.

Loki makes off with the Tesseract, creating an alternate timeline that never gets erased and is presumably the basis for his Disney+ show.

My conjecture: Steve returns all the stones but the time stone, then goes to 1945, lives a full, happy life with Peggy, and after she's gone returns the time stone to its original time. Thus old Steve ends up in the current reality, having gotten his happy ending with Peggy, and all alternate realities are erased except for Loki's.

[John Venus]

When The Ancient One drew a representation of the timeline in the air, and showed an alternate timeline created when a stone was removed from it, how many timelines are displayed when the stone was returned from where it had been taken?

THE ANCIENT ONE (drawing a golden line in the air with the Infinity Stones represented at one point in the line):

The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one of the stones...

(flicks the time stone out of the line)

...and that flow splits.

(A black line splits off from the golden line curving away into the distance)

That may benefit your reality, but my new one, not so much. In this new branched reality, without the chief weapon against the the forces of darkness, our world will be overrun, millions will suffer. Tell me doctor, can your science prevent all that?

BRUCE BANNER:

No, but we can erase it. Because once we've got the stones, we can return it...

(puts the time stone back into the same place in the golden line, and the black line fades to nothing)

...to it's own timeline. So chronologically, in that reality, it never left.

------------------------

BRUCE BANNER:

You have to return the stones to the exact moment you got them, or you're gonna add to the deflection of the alternate realities.

STEVE ROGERS:

Don worry Bruce. I'll clip all the branches.

Ummm, yeah. It says right there. Taking the stones out of the time line creates a new branched reality. That branched timeline is now in danger because they don't have the stones to defend themselves from the forces of darkness like Dormammu for instance. Returning the stones to their actual place, moments before they were taken, lessens the deviation. It gave the good guys of that universe a fighting chance. However, they still created major changes to branched realities since there is now a timeline where Loki escaped with the Tessarect and a timeline where Thanos army just outright disappeared one day.

[Divine Spark]

Fun fact: Endgame takes place the same year as Days of Future Past.

[AJBopp]

Returning the stones to their actual place, moments before they were taken, lessens the deviation.

Erases the deviation.

However, they still created major changes to branched realities since there is now a timeline where Loki escaped with the Tessarect and a timeline where Thanos army just outright disappeared one day.

Thanos' army disappearing doesn't involve the displacement of a stone, so it doesn't create a new timeline.

I don't make the rules, I just accept them.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

As I understand it, there were already an infinite number of possible timelines, which is what Doctor Strange was investigating with the Time Stone in Infinity War. They only managed to defeat Thanos in only one of the millions he saw.

All the Avengers did is create a handful more alternate timelines on top of those already infinite timelines while making sure to put back everything they'd taken in order to not doom them to some horrible disaster without their Infinity Stones, or, in Thor's case, without his hammer.

The 2012 timeline has been altered by Loki escaping with the Space Stone, and Hydra now thinking Cap is working for them, or, at the very least, knowing he's on to them. It's also likely that OG Cap gave this timeline a head's up about Hydra when he came back to return the Time Stone and Mind Stone.

The 2013 timeline has been slightly altered by Natalie Portman being mysteriously zapped by talking rabbit, and Thor momentarily not being able to summon his hammer, but otherwise remains the same.

The 2014 timeline has been radically altered by the sudden disappearance of Thanos and his army, (and Cap no doubt dropkicking Red Skull over that cliff when he returned the Soul Stone)

The 1970 timeline has been altered ever so slightly by Tony's fatherly advice to his dad.

And, finally, the 1945 timeline has been radically altered by Steve being reunited with Peggy, saving himself from the ice, rescuing Bucky, so they can all team up to wipe out Hydra before they can infiltrate SHIELD and live happily ever after.

[Jokerz79]

As I understand it, there were already an infinite number of possible timelines, which is what Doctor Strange was investigating with the Time Stone in Infinity War. They only managed to defeat Thanos in only one of the millions he saw.

All the Avengers did is create a handful more alternate timelines on top of those already infinite timelines while making sure to put back everything they'd taken in order to not doom them to some horrible disaster without their Infinity Stones, or, in Thor's case, without his hammer.

The 2012 timeline has been altered by Loki escaping with the Space Stone, and Hydra now thinking Cap is working for them, or, at the very least, knowing he's on to them. It's also likely that OG Cap gave this timeline a head's up about Hydra when he came back to return the Time Stone and Mind Stone.

The 2013 timeline has been slightly altered by Natalie Portman being mysteriously zapped by talking rabbit, and Thor momentarily not being able to summon his hammer, but otherwise remains the same.

The 2014 timeline has been radically altered by the sudden disappearance of Thanos and his army, (and Cap no doubt dropkicking Red Skull over that cliff when he returned the Soul Stone)

The 1970 timeline has been altered ever so slightly by Tony's fatherly advice to his dad.

And, finally, the 1945 timeline has been radically altered by Steve being reunited with Peggy, saving himself from the ice, rescuing Bucky, so they can all team up to wipe out Hydra before they can infiltrate SHIELD and live happily ever after.

Pretty much expect I do think the people in the 2012 alternate timeline will assume a lot of the Captain America stuff was Loki I could see strike thinking Loki tricked them to get the scepter back.

[Arsenal]

As I understand it, there were already an infinite number of possible timelines, which is what Doctor Strange was investigating with the Time Stone in Infinity War. They only managed to defeat Thanos in only one of the millions he saw.

All the Avengers did is create a handful more alternate timelines on top of those already infinite timelines while making sure to put back everything they'd taken in order to not doom them to some horrible disaster without their Infinity Stones, or, in Thor's case, without his hammer.

The 2012 timeline has been altered by Loki escaping with the Space Stone, and Hydra now thinking Cap is working for them, or, at the very least, knowing he's on to them. It's also likely that OG Cap gave this timeline a head's up about Hydra when he came back to return the Time Stone and Mind Stone.

The 2013 timeline has been slightly altered by Natalie Portman being mysteriously zapped by talking rabbit, and Thor momentarily not being able to summon his hammer, but otherwise remains the same.

The 2014 timeline has been radically altered by the sudden disappearance of Thanos and his army, (and Cap no doubt dropkicking Red Skull over that cliff when he returned the Soul Stone)

The 1970 timeline has been altered ever so slightly by Tony's fatherly advice to his dad.

And, finally, the 1945 timeline has been radically altered by Steve being reunited with Peggy, saving himself from the ice, rescuing Bucky, so they can all team up to wipe out Hydra before they can infiltrate SHIELD and live happily ever after.

I don’t know if Steve would save himself from the ice or Bucky. Steve knows the future will still need a Captain America & the only person capable of truly saving Bucky hasn’t even been born yet. I don’t think SHIELD has the tech needed to ever really rescue Bucky.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Thanos' army disappearing doesn't involve the displacement of a stone, so it doesn't create a new timeline.

I don't make the rules, I just accept them.

You are being too strict with them.

Removing the stones isn't the only way to create an alternate timeline. That's why Bruce dismissed killing baby Thanos, and why Tony was able to kill Thanos and his entire army without creating a paradox. So there is now an entire timeline that is Thanos free

[Keyotheseasons]