If Cap Returned the Mind Stone, Shouldn’t That Have Prevented the Timeline From Branching and Loki’s Escape? Or Was Loki’s Escape a Branch of an Already Branched Timeline?

In Avengers: Endgame, when the Avengers go back to 2012 to retrieve the Mind Stone, Loki escapes with the Tesseract.
In Loki, we are told that this escape created a branched timeline which was immediately pruned by the Time Variance Authority.

Here is the inconsistency which I feel:

At the end of Endgame, Captain America goes back in time to return all the Infinity Stones, including the Mind Stone in the scepter, to their original timelines to prevent branches.
If the 2012 timeline where Loki escaped was already pruned by the TVA, then:

How could Steve return the Mind Stone to that timeline at all?
If he did return it successfully, then that timeline should have been stabilized, meaning Loki should not have escaped.

If the timeline was pruned before Steve arrived, then where exactly did he return the scepter?

So which is it?

Either Steve never actually returned the Mind Stone to that specific 2012 branch, which contradicts Endgame’s premise, or returning the stones does not prevent TVA pruning, which undermines the whole “fixing the timeline” logic.

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Commentaires

Gorguf622026-01-18 17:21

Steve returns the Mind Stone to the exact moment they left, then the TVA prunes it afterwards.

Browsing_unrelated2026-01-18 17:22

Yea but if he did returned it, then that timeline shouldn't have happened? So tva pruned which branch, which never existed at all when steve returned the stone?

Delicious-Explorer582026-01-18 17:25

Nope. That’s not how the TVA works.

Nilmor2026-01-18 17:25

Loki escaping with the tesseract is what caused the timeline to be pruned. Steve returning the scepter in the same moment he took it wouldn’t impact that outcome. We don’t know how it played out but I’d assume he went in, placed it and left before it was pruned

Hugh-Jass242026-01-18 17:30

[deleted]

Nilmor2026-01-18 17:32

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the film but didn’t Steve succeed at getting the mind stone by beating himself while they lost the space stone due to Loki escaping? They didn’t need to get the mind stone in the army base, they already had it

Steve then returns the space stone to the base, which is years before Loki would have escaped with it and the mind stone to New York

theRubbingDub2026-01-18 17:37

You are not wrong don't worry. Tony failed in 2012 NYC, not Steve. Steve succeeded in getting the sceptor (mind stone) and Tony failed in getting the tesseract (space stone). Loki took the tesseract not the sceptor and fled. THAT (like you said) is what caused the TVA to prune. Cap and Tony went to the army base ONLY to receive the tesseract and more pym particles.

riegspsych3252026-01-18 17:22

this is one of those scenarios where you just remind yourself to quote Mark Hamill quoting Harrison Ford

SaggyGuy842026-01-18 17:24

What the fuck is pruning ?

Hugh-Jass242026-01-18 19:00

Trimming branches.

RyanRev7272026-01-18 17:42

“Hey, it’s not that kind of movie kid”

garbage19952026-01-18 17:27

What does the mind stone have to do with Loki?

Carpyet2026-01-18 21:15

Not with Loki the character, but it involves his show which features the time variance authority

garbage19952026-01-19 16:54

I know. What does the mind stone have to do with it?

Carpyet2026-01-19 18:04

When Steve goes to returns the mind stone back in vormir, he can’t just exchange it for black widow/gamora since that is an irreversible ritual. So whatever solution he find will alter the timeline and create a branch the tva had to prune

garbage19952026-01-20 11:15

That's the soul stone.

Romnonaldao2026-01-18 17:32

Lokis escape caused a branch off a branch

Wooden-Radish-90082026-01-18 17:34

Okay, so try to hang on, I'm going to explain this as best I can. So, as they mention in Endgame, the flow of time splits (branches) when an Infinity Stone is taken from its place in the timeline. So the branch from taking the stone doesn't occur until Scott and Hulk leave 2012 with the mind and time stones.

Everything that happens in 2012 is "supposed to happen" EXCEPT Loki picking up the Tesseract. It's also stated that events that deviate from "what is supposed to happen" also creates branches. I'm not sure what Loki is "supposed to do" when the Tesseract is kicked to his feet, but we're told that it *isn't* pick it up and leave.

So when Loki escapes, a branch is created because he deviated from the ordained series of events. That branch is pruned and THEN, in the OG 2012, *another* branch is created when Scott and Hulk return to 2023 with the stones. That's the branch point that Steve returns the stones to.

xRyuzakii2026-01-18 17:37

You can’t prevent something that already happened

UkuleleSteven2026-01-18 17:48

While we’re at it, the 2012 Loki that escaped left his Tesseract at the TVA, right? So it was no longer in that time line.

Carpyet2026-01-18 21:16

That’s is true. So that would be an example of another branch

eagc72026-01-18 20:16

Steve bringing back the Time and Mind stone wasn't gonna do undo the branch, the timeline was done for the moment Loki grabbed the tesseract, if Loki hadn't picked it up, then no pruning and Steve would've done the TVA job for them

Carpyet2026-01-18 21:14

The best explanation I can think of is that the TVA will allow certain branches. Like the one Steve created when he settled down with Peggy. In doomsday, they may come for Steve bc they actually do want to prune his branch, which triggers the incursions. But that’s just a theory.

When endgame was written, they did not have the tva in mind.. whenever McU implemented the tva, the didn’t think through all the implications. So no matter how you look at it, there will be some plot hole.

FerrusManlyManus2026-01-21 05:26

Ok do you want Endgame to actually make sense?

Then the whole movie is branching timelines, returning the stones doesn’t eliminate branches, if it did the Avengers killed more people than Thanos. No, retuning the stones gives those timelines a chance and doesn’t screw them over: