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The idea of "returning Primarchs" is, yeah, better suited for a fairy tale in the Grimdarkness, something that keeps people moving onward, but having no actual bearing on reality.

The only other option is that these missing Primarchs do all, eventually, return... and are utterly incapable of stopping the collapse of Mankind at all.

It is some hint in the necron codex or somewhere that Vulcan is in stasis, imprisoned by a Necron lord Trazyn. The goose hunt for artifacts in order to get him back, might very well have been put out by Trazyn in order for the Salamanders to increase his collection.

Khan might be imprisoned by the Dark Eldars...

Russ however is probably dead and so is Corax. If they were still alive and kicking in the warp of eye of terror, they would have been spoken about in encounters with the CSM of the current 40k.