Russo brothers debunk popular Avengers Endgame theory about Steve Rogers

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo have debunked an Avengers: Endgame theory that was seemingly confirmed by the film's own writers previously. The point of contention is whether or not Steve Rogers created an alternate reality when he travelled back in time to restore the Infinity Stones.

In Avengers: Endgame, the superheroes attempt to reverse the effects of the villainous Thanos' snap, which they do by collecting all the Infinity Stones by travelling to pivotal moments from the past. At the end of the film, Steve Rogers offers to go back into the past to restore the stones. In doing so, he lives out a happy life with Peggy Carter, returning to the main timeline only as an adult.

In an appearance on the Lights Camera Barstool podcast, Joe Russo said, "Based on everything that happened, he would have been in a branch reality and then had to have shifted over to this, so jumped from one to the other and handed the shield off… One thing that's clear that Anthony and I have discussed, I don't know that we've discussed this publicly at all, Cap would have had to have traveled back to the main timeline. That's something that, yes, he would have been in a branch reality, but he would have to travel back to the main timeline to give that shield to Sam Wilson."

Previously, co-writer Christopher Markus had said that he rejects the 'alternate reality' theory. Markus, who co-wrote the movie with Stephen McFeely, said in an interaction, "That is our theory. We are not experts on time travel, but the Ancient One specifically states that when you take an Infinity Stone out of a timeline it creates a new timeline. So Steve going back and just being there would not create a new timeline. So I reject the 'Steve is in an alternate reality' theory. I do believe that there is simply a period in world history from about '48 to now where there are two Steve Rogers. And anyway, for a large chunk of that one of them is frozen in ice. So it's not like they'd be running into each other.

Avengers: Endgame became the highest grossing film of all time, unadjusted for inflation, and culminated more than a decade of storytelling in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The franchise's Phase Three was concluded with Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Phase Four recently kicked off with the streaming series WandaVision. The Russos are preparing for the release of their new movie, Cherry, starring Tom Holland.