Marvel has confirmed that the Infinity Stones have been destroyed in the main MCU timeline, busting a fan theory about the possibility of their return in future movies. As Digital Spy noted, Marvel posted on Instagram that each stone was destroyed in a series of videos. Find out below: Fan theories are unlikely to persist that the stones still exist, paving the way for their potential return across the board. At the beginning of Avengers: Endgame, Thanos explains that he destroyed the Infinity Stones, to prevent the superhero team from reversing their act of wiping out half of all life in the universe. This fan theory existed because the directors of Avengers: Endgame, the Russo brothers, said that the Infinity Stones were only 'atomically shrunk' at an event in 2019, according to a Reddit story. Marvel's main timeline have been destroyed, the ones from the multiple timelines where the Avengers acquired the stones in Endgame are still intact. Steve Rogers returned each stone to their respective timelines at the end of this movie. So, assuming someone else finds a way to travel between timelines or realities, it's a way for the Infinity Stones to find their way into the hands of a villain in the future.