If you’ve seen Avengers: Endgame (which I’m assuming you have, because why else would you be reading this?), then one of the burning questions it probably left you with is how Captain America’s storyline even makes sense. Many consider his travel back in time to live a life with Peggy Carter a giant plot hole. Of course, the creative team behind Endgame denies that and claims there is an explanation to the logic.
The thing is the members who make up that creative team seem to have different understandings of said explanation. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo directly contradict what writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have to say about Cap’s ending.
(Who Could Be Marvel’s Next Big Villain After Avengers: Endgame?)
As Endgame comes to a close we see Steve Rogers go on his last (known) mission to return the Infinity Stones. Like previously mentioned, he never makes it back but instead stays in the past with Peggy. Fans have been wondering what this means for the logical timeline.
The Russo brothers say he lives this life out in an alternate timeline:
If Cap were to go back into the past and live there, he would create a branched reality. The question then becomes, how is he back in this reality to give the shield away?
Interesting question, right? Maybe there’s a story there. There’s a lot of layers built into this movie and we spent three years thinking through it, so it’s fun to talk about it and hopefully fill in holes for people so they understand what we’re thinking.
They clear this up by explaining:
For example, the old Cap at the end movie, he lived his married life in a different universe from the main one. He had to make another jump back to the main universe at the end to give the shield to Sam.”
(Robert Downey Jr. Gave Chris Evans This Captain America-Inspired Gift After Filming Avengers)
But the writers push that this happens in the main timeline:
We are not experts on time travel, but the Ancient One specifically states that when you take an Infinity Stone out of a timeline it creates a new timeline. So Steve going back and just being there would not create a new timeline. So I reject the ‘Steve is in an alternate reality’ theory.
I do believe that there is simply a period in world history from about ’48 to now where there are two Steve Rogers. And anyway, for a large chunk of that one of them is frozen in ice. So it’s not like they’d be running into each other.
(‘Avengers: Endgame’ is the perfect love letter to the last 10 years of the MCU)
It’s funny that the creative team would have varied answers on what feels like a rather large chunk of the ending. Especially because they claim to have developed this arc over a number of years. Hopefully, they decide to clear this up in-universe, maybe with an episode of Marvel’s new What If television series?
What answer do you think makes more sense?
