'We Did Circle It For a Long Time, That Idea': Avengers Directors Discuss Plans to Show Steve Rogers Returning the Infinity Stones

Avengers: Endgame and Doomsday directors Joe and Anthony Russo wanted to show Steve Rogers' journey to replace the Infinity Stones "for a long time."

Rogers agrees to return the Infinity Stones to their places across the MCU timeline in the finale of Avengers: Endgame, before settling back in time to live out a happy life with Peggy Carter. (A life that will now be interrupted by the events of Avengers: Doomsday, it has been confirmed.)

While this journey hasn't yet been shown on screen, fans have long called for a Disney+ series featuring Chris Evans as he adventures across the Marvel timeline, dropping off various stones back where the Avengers found them. There's some fertile ground for exploration here too, as Evans could reunite with younger versions of his former team as well as former foes. It would be great to see Rogers bid a final goodbye to Black Widow before her later death, or face off once again with Red Skull.

Clearly, the Russos also thought similar. Speaking to CBR, Joe Russo said that he and his brother Anthony Russo "did have that conversation," around showing Rogers' journey, before suggesting it would have been too difficult to show within a single film just as a montage.

"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," he explained. "We were like, 'It seems like much more complicated than a montage could sustain.' And so we didn't do it."

"We did circle it for a long time, that idea," Anthony Russo added, before seemingly discounting the idea of a Disney+ series. "I think that's a great idea," he continued. "How about a movie?"

This discussion is interesting as it appears to dovetail with comments made in the past by Evans himself, who said he had received numerous pitches to return to the MCU that he ultimately did not move forward with, as he waited for an idea big enough that justified going back.

While Marvel rarely discusses its discarded project ideas, it's not difficult to imagine a movie showing Steve's journey being pitched to Evans at some point. However, at present, there's no sign that this is a journey we'll ever actually get to see, as the Russos are busy enough still tinkering with Avengers: Doomsday, and entering pre-production on Avengers Secret Wars.

As for Doomsday, we know that it will pick up Steve's story after his Infinity Stone mission, as his life with Peggy Carter is disturbed by a visit from Loki. This is a moment that viewers have now seen play out in the extended version of Avengers: Endgame now playing in theaters. Exactly what happens after that, however, we'll need to wait a few months to see — when Avengers: Doomsday arrives December 18.