Thread:Elledy92/@comment-26838855-20190425183005/@comment-25521424-20190725092237

Elledy92 wrote: Technically, traveling in the timeline will simply alter the course of the timeline itself, preventing to fall into caos without a Stone. The problem with that interpretation is that it doesn't match up with the visual presentation given by the Ancient One.

She shows the flow of time and then removes one of the stones to create a branch timeline. Bruce then puts the stone back and erases that timeline.

The impression I got from that scene (which is kinda supported by what Markus & McFeely said on the Empire Podcast) is that the return of the stones at the exact moments that they were taken erases those timelines. Basically, I got the impression that, when Steve returned any of the stones and then left, the timeline he left ceased to exist. The "timeline erased" explanation doesn't work either way, because in order for the Time Heist to happen in the fabric of existence, the timeline must still exists in order for the event to took place. If the 2012/1970/2014 timeline ceased to exist after returning the Stone back, than it can't exist for the Avengers to travel through in the first place (since there is no "before" and "after" in a time travel scenario). It's a paradox, and contradict what Banner's says about time travel physics. That's way connecting the idea of time travel to the Stones was a bad idea from the start (since it clearly not the case, as time can be just altered simply by a traveler with any other action, as Banner mentioned when explaining the "kill Baby Thanos" scenario).