There is also that verse that says the nations will try to make war on the Christ when he returns so Im not sure how any of this could happen if the physical world was destroyed right away.
Its likely things will not be happening in the version of time we now live in though.
Well “when he returns” seems inaccurate, rather it would be before he returns.
The Catholic teaching is that Christ will return to the Kingdom of Heaven, the New Jerusalem. We already have the Kingdom of heaven on earth.
Lumen Gentium (1964) Excerpt
To carry out the will of the Father, Christ inaugurated the Kingdom of heaven on earth and revealed to us the mystery of that kingdom. By His obedience He brought about redemption. The Church, or, in other words, the kingdom of Christ now present in mystery, grows visibly through the power of God in the world. This inauguration and this growth are both symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of a crucified Jesus,(5) and are foretold in the words of the Lord referring to His death on the Cross: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself”.(6)
Catechism on destiny of the material world and man.
1046 For the cosmos, Revelation affirms the profound common destiny of the material world and man:
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God . . . in hope because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay. . . . We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.639
1047 The visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed, “so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles, should be at the service of the just,” sharing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ.640