The Russo Brothers “Toyed” With Showing Captain America Return the Infinity Stones in AVENGERS: ENDGAME

One of the biggest unanswered questions left hanging after Avengers: Endgameinvolves Chris Evans’ Captain America and his final trip through time. Steve Rogers went off to return the Infinity Stones, but the movie skipped the entire adventure and jumped straight to his surprise appearance as an old man.

Apparently, we came pretty close to seeing at least some of what happened. Directors Joe Russo and Anthony Russo have revealed that they spent quite a bit of time considering whether Endgame should show Steve returning the Stones. One possibility was a montage following Cap as he restored everything to its proper place in the timeline.

Joe explained: "We did have that conversation. There might have even been... I think we toyed around with an idea of like, ‘Is there a montage where he puts the stones back?’ We felt like it just played past the ending. We were like, 'It seems like much more complicated than a montage could sustain.' And so we didn't do it."

Anthony added: "We did circle it for a long time, that idea."

Of course, the idea was tempting! Endgame sees Earth’s Mightiest Heroes travel through time to retrieve the Infinity Stones and reverse Thanos’ destruction of half the universe. After Thanos is finally defeated, Steve takes responsibility for putting the Stones back where they belong.

Instead of returning to the present, however, he stays in the past and finally gets the life with Peggy Carter that he missed the first time around.

Showing Steve’s mission would have opened up a whole new collection of questions and potentially awesome encounters. The biggest is his trip to Vormir, where he would have encountered the Red Skull, the villain responsible for transforming Steve into Captain America’s greatest World War II enemy.

How exactly does that reunion go? Does Red Skull recognize him? Does Steve have anything to say to the guy after discovering he’s now essentially the creepy cosmic keeper of the Soul Stone? There’s an entire scene worth exploring right there.

MCU fans have wanted to see this missing Captain America adventure for years, and there was even chatter at one point about the story potentially becoming a Disney+ series.

The Russos still sound interested in the concept. When CBR suggested that Steve returning the Infinity Stones could work as a standalone story with Evans back as Captain America, Joe responded: "I think that's a great idea. How about a movie?"

Yeah, I’d watch that! Whether Marvel Studios would actually make it is another question. Avengers: Doomsdayis expected to deal with the consequences of Steve’s decision to remain in the past, which could finally shed more light on what his actions meant for the MCU timeline.

After that comesAvengers: Secret Wars, and any potential Captain America project would likely depend on whether Evans has any interest in continuing Steve Rogers’ story and what Marvel plans to do with the shield in the next Saga.

There’s also the possibility that the window for this particular story has passed. Still, Steve’s Infinity Stones mission remains one of Endgame’s most interesting and exciting unseen adventures.

A montage probably wouldn’t have been enough. A Captain America movie about Steve hopping through the MCU timeline, returning the Infinity Stones and eventually choosing his life with Peggy? That could be awesome!