At the end of Avengers: Endgame, we find out that Captain America has gone back in time to live out his days with the love of his life, Peggy Carter.
However, that happy ending has created a lot of confusion for people when it comes to the whole time travel part of it – even the film’s writers and directors can’t really agree on how it all works.
Anthony and Joe Russo, co-directors of the film, believe that when Steve Rogers went back in time he’s living in a similar but different timeline. The film’s writers, Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, however, believe Cap was always Peggy’s husband and there were two Steve’s living at the same time.
But one thing that fans are questioning now, is if Steve went back in time, how did he leave history as is and not change a few things?
If Steve lived through the MCU twice, the second time as an observer, how did he not, for example, stop his best friend Bucky Barnes from being tortured and used as a weapon for Hydra. It also means he allowed Bucky to kill people like Howard and Maria Stark.
He allowed every horrible thing he already knew happened to happen again and didn’t try to change it.
Many fans find it difficult to believe Steve would be able to resist helping, because it’s just in his character to do so.
Well, we now have an answer.
According to ScreenRant, Christopher Markus revealed during a panel at SDCC 2019, that Cap was retired and the idea that he would want to change everything he knew was going to happen isn’t what they wanted for him.
“Stephen and I are just so taken with the idea that Steve went back and somehow, therefore, has always been back. And he got to live his life. Because you get Captain America loyalists who say that if Cap goes back in time, he is honour-bound to fix everything he knows is going to happen. So he has to go save Bucky, he has to prevent the Kennedy assassination… he’s a very busy man.
“But that’s not why we sent him back. We sent him back so that he could become a whole person, and finally come home from the war. We didn’t want him to go back and just keep adventuring, we wanted him to rest. And the only way we could come to that solution is if there are two Caps. Which I’m okay with.”
Also, Steve was told by Bruce Banner that he could not change the past when they first went back in time. So, it’s likely he lived his life without the burden of having to change history.
Plus, everything did work out in the end, and while some tragedies did occur, they were necessary sacrifices.