Ross Marquand, the actor who voiced the Red Skull in "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame," has revealed he has been actively pitching a project focused on Captain America's mission to return the Infinity Stones to their original timelines. Marquand, who also voices Professor X and Apocalypse in "X-Men ‘97," has been advocating for this concept to Marvel for approximately eight years, envisioning it as a potential series.
During a pivotal scene in "Avengers: Endgame," Bruce Banner, as future-self, persuades the Ancient One to lend him the Time Stone, promising the return of all stones after their mission. Captain America, Steve Rogers, fulfills this promise by traveling back through time to return each stone to its proper place in the past. The narrative concludes with Rogers choosing to remain in the past to live a life with Peggy Carter, eventually returning as an elderly man to pass his shield to Sam Wilson.
Fans and Marquand alike have expressed interest in exploring what transpired during Captain America's stone return mission, especially his encounter with the Red Skull, his original adversary, on Vormir for the Soul Stone. Marquand believes a series format, potentially with seven to eight episodes, would be ideal to explore this narrative.
He proposes dedicating individual episodes to the return of each Infinity Stone, with additional episodes for setup and resolution. Marquand specifically imagines an episode detailing the awkward reunion between Captain America and the Red Skull. The Red Skull, who believed himself cursed to guard the Soul Stone for decades after his encounter with the Tesseract, might experience a shift upon being freed from this burden.
"I would imagine awkwardness, then I would imagine a shift of like, ‘Oh, I've been Atlas holding up the world for the last 80 years and now you have released me from this curse. Now it's on.’ And we already know he can fly. We know he's cursed with infinite knowledge. What else can he do? I feel like, once he's free of the Soul Stone, there could be some really interesting stuff there," Marquand told Polygon.
Marquand suggests a final episode could tie up loose ends and perhaps offer a glimpse of future threats. While "Avengers: Doomsday" may already touch upon some of these events, Marquand did not confirm his involvement. The persistent interest from fans and Marquand himself suggests the idea of a Captain America stone return narrative remains a compelling prospect for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.