Avengers Endgame Thanos Infinity Stones MAJOR plot hole: What do the Russos say?

The movie opens with the surviving heroes discovering Thanos has used the Stones again in an immense explosion of power, which lets them locate him and attack. The Mad Titan shocks everyone by revealing he used the stones to actually destroy themselves so that nobody could ever reverse his actions. This is the main reason why all the heroes have to go back in time to retrieve the Stones before they are snapped out of existence. During one of these scenes, the utter impossibility of what Thanos has done is explained by The Ancient One to Bruce Banner. Surely this is the biggest plot hole in the entire MCU?

She explains that giving away the Time Stone will put her own present reality in peril and create a branched reality, which is precisely why Captain America has to restore all the Stones to their original times at the end of the movie.

Confusing? Maybe, but this isn’t the plot hole. 

The Sorcerer Supreme also reveals that taking just one, let alone more, of the Stones out of their reality has the catastrophic effect of stopping time itself. And yet the Avengers merrily take all six out of their timelines.

Joe and Anthony Russo have attempted to explain why Thanos destroying the Infinity Stones didn’t immediately end time and all existence.

This actually makes sense.

The stones were the manifestation of the key aspects of reality and existence. To utterly erase them would be impossible and mean the end of everything. Not even Thanos wanted that.

Now, if the Russos could just sit down with the writers and resolve whether Steve Rogers went back in time or actually created a whole new branched reality, please…

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