10 Twisted Timelines Created By Avengers: Endgame

However, by this point Rogers has already caused yet another change to the new 2012 timeline, creating yet another branched timeline.

Rogers knows he has to return the Stones moments after they are taken by the Avengers. Since the Mind Stone was taken first, before he can return the Time Stone and request the Ancient One’s help he has to infiltrate Stark Tower alone and return that stolen Sceptre.

That means returning it to S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that he knows are Hydra spies… spies who he’s just fast talked into thinking he’s undercover Hydra too.

That sly ‘Hail Hydra’ gag now has ramifications. He got away with it the first time, but there will be more questions when he reappears - questions he doesn’t have time to answer, because a) there’s an unconscious, mind-controlled 2012 Captain America and a whole lot of broken glass in the atrium of the building, b) he still has to get four miles across town to Greenwich Village and c) he’s carrying a magical hammer and five more Infinity Stones that can’t fall into Hydra’s hands.

There’s no way to do it without arousing suspicion, and after he’s left Sitwell and Rumlow will confirm it for sure: Captain America isn’t Hydra.

Since Hydra don’t know anything about the time-displaced doppelgangers, there’s only one conclusion they can reach: the Avengers know about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s infiltration. Their plans, decades in the making, will need bringing forward a full two years. The Hydra Uprising has begun… in 2012.