Haha. Yeah, that whole part was left vague and directionless. Honestly, they made it seem as though it was simple, easy stuff returning these stones. I don't get how he could do it. I don't think he could stop fellow team members before taking the stones. Pretty sure that would wind up causing a paradox and it was never mentioned as an option. And yes, I would have LOVED to have been a fly on the wall during his reunion with Red Skull. Haha. (that dude seems a lot more mellow now he's on Vormir, though).
Biggest gripe I have was with old Cap showing up on that bench. How is that possible? He didn't return to that timeline using the machine, so how the hell did him marrying Peggy mess with the proper timeline? I thought that wasn't possible. Whatever anyone says, we are meant to believe the main timeline that we've been following has been changed and Steve and Peggy lived happily ever after for real, in the main timeline. But this does seem to break the rules the movie creates.
I adored, ADORED this movie, but quite a few times, from the battle with Thanos to these couple of ending scenes the film does seem to lose its way in the logic stakes.
Yes they clearly broke their own rule of time travel. I don't blame the movie though, its pretty much impossible not to break the rules of time travel. That's why its so hard to make a great movie that involves.
Along those same lines, there is no rule about not seeing his former self or former teammates, so we should have seen him returning the stone at the same time the other Avengers were collecting it. That would have greatly changed the Hulk and Sorceress supreme's conversation if Captain showed up ready to hand the stone back.
Can't stress it enough, this was an awesome movie, time travel just makes the story telling almost impossible.
Bruce says Cap "blew past" the entry point, which is why he didn't appear on the platform
But he still has the beacon, so he can come back whenever and wherever he wants
Remember, Cap & Tony went to the 1970's without a platform, using just their beacons
I figure when Cap "blew past" the platform, he actually "aged" past it in his parallel time line
Whenever it was he'd had enough of his normal life and became the old man we see, THAT's when he popped BACKWARDS to the bench
What's especially interesting to me is Bucky's reaction to the whole thing - he knew what Cap was going to do, maybe even discussed it with him beforehand, including handing the shield to Sam
Steve and Tonny did jump back to 1970 without a platform, but they jump back at their CURRENT timeline, which essentially means a simple jump back through time. What you're describing is jumping ACROSS timelines.
The way Hulk described they would be returned right after they were taken. Red Skull being the keeper of the soul stone would've been freed after it was obtained by Hawkeye. If it was returned after that, Captain America wouldn't have ran into him.
Then how does Cap go about returning it? Also, when the stone is returned, Red Skull would reappear and he'd seen him then. Anyway, maybe I missed it but I didn't even hear anything about Red Skull getting freed. Was that mentioned in Infinity War?
I'm pretty sure it was, but I'd have to rewatch for a definite answer. It might have also been something said by the Russo brothers in interviews after Infinity War. If Cap returning the soul stone brought Red Skull back, I honestly don't think they'd have any quarrel because as long as it's there, Red Skull can't leave and by that point Cap was ready to hang up the shield.
The soul stone is really the only one I'm curious about Cap returning since it's the only one that can't just be taken like the rest.
Easy. He would sleep on the water while holding the stone in his hand. And then he would wake up on the edge of the cliff, standing, without the stone anymore.
If he met Red Skull, he would just casually say "Heil, Hydra!" while strolling along. He's pretty cool with that.
Replying to myself here, but I just remembered how time travel worked in "The Man Who Folded Himself" by David Gerrold.
If you want to "correct" the past, you have to catch your earlier self before that earlier self makes any change, then talk that earlier self OUT of making the change
I could see Cap arriving just after each Endgame team arrives, handing them HIS stones (so they can immediately return to their Endgame present), thus preventing each of the respective thefts while still preserving the "master" time line
So he didn't return Mjolnir to Asgard per se (that'd leave TWO hammers in 2013 Asgard). He gave it to fat Thor along with the reality stone, before Rocket could extract it from Jane.