BIG SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO HAVE YET TO WATCH AVENGERS: ENDGAME!
YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Avengers: Endgame represented the end of an era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and there have been several attempts to unpack what exactly unfolded in the film, such as the possible hiding of a new generation of Avengers and who that random teenager at Tony Stark’s funeral is.
But the one thing that remains something of a sticking point is the conclusion of Steve Rogers’ story in Endgame.
Let’s break it down: Steve fixes all the timelines at the end of the film by returning all the infinity stones and Thor’s hammer to their respective times. However, he then decided to stay with Peggy Carter in the past and eventually shows up at the present in the main timeline as an old man to pass on the Captain America mantle and shield to Sam Wilson.
If we go by Endgame‘s time travel logic, then this simply isn’t possible because he would’ve branched off a new timeline by staying with Peggy and thus couldn’t have possibly showed up in the main timeline as a wrinkly old fart. And then there’s the issue with his shield because it was destroyed by Thanos and yet there he is at the end of Endgame with a new one. So what is going on here? How does all this make sense?
Well we finally have an answer to all those questions from the directors of Endgame themselves but you probably won’t like all the answers.
Speaking to EW, Anthony and Joe Russo confirm that Steve is indeed living in another dimension but when asked about how he is able to come back to the main timeline with his trusty shield in tow, the brothers annoyingly kept their cards close to their chest.
“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.”
Oh come on. The duo just pulled the “that’s another story for another day” card, which is not an answer.
That being said, the Russos did throw everyone a frigging bone by confirming that Bucky knew Steve would stay in the past and said, “He says, ‘I’ll miss you.’ Clearly he knows something.”
Interestingly, they said that Sam “doesn’t” know something, which is why Bucky urged Falcon to talk to old man Steve at the end of Endgame as he already knew the answers.
Huh. Considering all the Marvel shows in the works for Disney+, they had better answer these questions in the upcoming Falcon and Winter Soldier or What If limited series.
