The Steve Rogers Paradox

SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME

You have been warned

As far as movies go, Avengers: Endgame is a massive one. Not just in its own established Cinematic Universe, but in the realm of film itself. With groundbreaking numbers, Endgame has revealed its tear-jerking and crowd-pleasing moments to the world. Among them is the whole idea of Time Travel. Yes, Time Travel. The events of the infamous Decimation in which the Mad Titan Thanos snapped his fingers and by the power of the six infinity stones, left the universe in shambles. In Avengers: Endgame, the remaining Avengers must reverse the effects of the snap and bring back the lost members of the team (and the other trillions of lives). Inside the world of fiction, what better way to ‘fix’ things than going back in time to change the way things are.

To the past, and beyond

At the beginning of the movie, Thanos destroys all six of the legendary Infinity Stones which presents a problem. Our heroes cannot just fix things right away, they have to wait five years! So Tony Stark, Steve Rodgers, Bruce Banner, Thor, Scott Lang, and the whole gang come together to enter (and exit) the Quantum Realm in order to perform the so-named ‘Time Heist'.

There are Six stones that must be collected in order to bring back the fallen. In the film, they break down where (and when) each of the stones is to find the perfect time to grab each one.

Time is not what you think it is….

In the film, the secret is revealed that time does not act as it does in traditional time travel movies. There is no Grandfather Paradox. I.E. if you kill your grandfather in the past, you would continue to exist. This is explained by what I will call the Banner Theory. The Banner Theory states that time does not exist on one scale alone. So basically when you Quantum Leap to the past, it then becomes the present and the future you left behind becomes your past. In layman's terms, "The past becomes the present, and the future becomes your past". Whatever you do in the past DOES NOT affect the time you just came from. This is important to know because of the events of the film.

The Ancient One then explains to Banner that if the Time Stone was removed from any reality then it will split from the reality it came from, and thus create a new timeline that will then suffer. Because as we know in Doctor Strange, Dormammu will take over and consume that universe because there would be no time stone to stop him. This rule I will dub the "Ancient Rule". Now, this is not a fact, but it can be assumed that the Ancient Rule can be applied to every Infinity Stone. So if the Soul Stone is removed from its place in reality, then some other being could come and destroy that alternate reality that was created when that timeline was then split from the true existence of time. Banner tells the Ancient One that the Avengers will bring back the stones to their proper place in time so that no split will occur.

Important Side Note: Keep in mind that I call it the Banner Theory. A Theory and not a Rule, Fact, or Law. This is because I do not think the Banner Theory to be entirely true. I think that the film at certain points breaks this. However, I think the Ancient Rule to be true.

This is heavy Doc.

That is a lot. I understand. The Ancient Rule and the Banner Theory are the best ways to explain how time travel works in the MCU at this current time. But now, let's use our brains to analyze how the movie deals with the fact that the 2023 Avengers take Infinity Stones from other timelines.

There are 6 stones in the film and 3 different times visited (ok more like 5 but I will get back to that later). The three different times and places are as follows.

2012: The Battle of New York as seen in The Avengers. Here, the Space, Mind, and Time Stones are present.

2013: Asgard as seen in Thor: The Dark World. Here, the Reality ‘stone’ is present.

2014: Morag and Vormir. Here, the Power and Soul Stones are present.

Ok! So now we have our times and locations. Let's briefly go over what happens in these realities.

In 2012, Tony Stark, Scott Lang, Captain America, and the Hulk all split up to get some stones. Hulk goes to the Bleeker Street Sanctum Sanctorum. Tony and Scott go to Stark Tower to get the Space Stone. And Cap also goes to Stark Tower to get the Mind Stone.

Hulk is given the Time Stone by the Ancient One.

Cap successfully grabs the scepter containing the Mind Stone.

and ….uh oh, Tony and Scott fail to get the Space Stone! Loki picks up the Tesseract and teleports away. This is problematic and causes a lot of issues but we will get to this later.

In 2013, Rocket and Thor on Asgard are focused on getting the Reality Stone out of Jane Foster. They are successful. However, there is a slight issue here. Thor takes Mjolnir from this time and brings it back to the Main MCU 2023 time. But for the most part, things are good.

In 2014, Rhodey, Nebula, Natasha, and Clint go to the Planet Morag. Nat and Clint split off to go to Vormir.

Rhodey and Nebula grab the Power Stone (after knocking out Star-Lord which would cause Korath the Accuser to get the Power Stone before him once the stone was returned and thus to the hands of Ronin but hey we will get to that) and then sync back to 2023...well sorta. 2023 Nebula links up to the network that 2014 Nebula is connected to and accidentally spills the beans about what is going on to 2014 Thanos. We will get back to this.

Now on Vormir, Nat and Clint must get the Soul Stone by sacrificing what they love. This scene is very similar to what we see occur in Infinity War. Nat dies and Clint gets the Soul Stone and syncs back to 2023.

Back in 2012, Stark and Cap decide they need to jump to a point where both Pym Particles and the Tesseract is present so that they can successfully return to the main 2023. They decide to Quantum Leap to 1970 in New Jersey at Camp Lehigh. They grab more Pym Particles and the Tesseract and sync back to 2023.

Every Avenger syncs back to 2023 successfully except for Nebula. 2023 Nebula was taken by 2014 Thanos and is held captive. 2014 Nebula is then sent to 2023 in order to bring 2014’s Thanos to 2023. Make sense? Good.

Now, because of the Ancient Rule, we can assume that each time the 6 stones were taken from their respective spots, a new timeline was created where there was no stone. But this will be fixed….sort of…

Part of the journey is the end.

With half of all life in the universe restored by Bruce Banner snapping and Thanos' army destroyed by Tony's snap, all is well. Mostly. The stones need to be returned to their proper place in time to prevent alternate timelines from continuing onwards. This is done by Captain America doing a reverse time heist in order to solve this. The movie, however, doesn't just end in an easy, nicely-tied up bow. The film ends with Steve Rogers going through the Quantum realm to certain points in time to return the stones(and Mjolnir) and he doesn't come back through. The film ends with Steve Rogers old and happy. Instead of returning through the quantum realm, he lived his life out until the point in 2023 where he Quantum leaped.

This makes absolutely NO sense. But let's ignore it for a moment while we address certain other issues first.

The Loki Problem

Loki getting the Tesseract is not as big of a deal as I initially thought. This can be fixed or explained in a few ways.

Option 1. Cap stops Loki from actually getting the Space Stone and returns the Tesseract back to 1970. Timeline is fixed and is not an issue.

Option 2. Returning the stone to 1970 closes the loose strand timeline and is fixed. No issue.

The Quill/Thanos Problem

This one's a bit more tricky. The Alternate 2014 is a bit messy currently. So Quill doesn't get the Power Stone which would cause Ronin the Accuser to get the stone for his own gain. AND since Thanos then Quantum leaps to 2023, Ronin would not give the stone to him and would probably do his own thing accusing planet after planet. Knocking out Quill ruins the new 2014 timeline even IF the stone was returned properly. It is hard to believe that Cap would be able to stop Nebula from knocking Quill out. Also, Thanos no longer being present in that 2014 has its own effects, good and bad.

The Steve Rogers Paradox

The big one

Ok, I am gonna be real with you all right now. This one completely ruins the movie for me. This paradox breaks each rule set forth by the movie. By Steve returning the stones but not to the main 2023, he would cause a new timeline to split from the main. So him living his life with Peggy exists in a separate reality. UNLESS both the Ancient Rule and Banner Theory are not true. There are possible explanations past this, however, we have to break two rules.

If the Ancient Rule is not true, then Cap would still be in the main timeline...but twice.

In order for the ending of Endgame to make sense, the two Steve Rogers would exist simultaneously in the main timeline. We don't know what point Steve goes to in order to live with Peggy, but it can be assumed that since he is still alive in 2023 it would have to be the late 40s. So from the 1920s when Steve is born up to 2023 when he is young then sent, back to 1940s then lived his life until 2023, he would have to have done that IN COMPLETE SECRET. I DO NOT BUY FOR A SECOND THAT STEVE WOULD BE ABLE TO DO THIS. Let me repeat. From 1940-2023 there are 2 Steve Rogers living simultaneously. This shouldn't even be possible within the rules of the movie. EVEN IF the Ancient Rule was true, there would still be two Steve Rogers existing at the same time. Until there is an explanation to this or a retcon, this will continue to bother me.

Really, the only explanation that even begins to make sense is that the 1940s+ timeline with Steve going back to be with Peggy is an alternate timeline, and that sometime before 2023 Steve goes back to the Main 2023 after living his life in an alternate timeline. Keep in mind too, Peggy dies in 2016 so Cap would have to be doing something up until 2023. What exactly that is is has yet to be decided or determined but even my own headcannon can't save this paradox.

Perfect Imperfection

At the end of the day, Avengers: Endgame is just a movie, and every movie has its flaws. However, with how grounded the world in the MCU feels, it can be very bothersome that inconsistencies and plot holes taint that grounded feeling. I certainly look forward to the future of the MCU and enjoyed the amazing emotional moments Endgame delivered.