The question of how exactly Cap’s last trip through time worked at the close of Avengers: Endgame has been one of the most-discussed plot points of the movie since it arrived. What’s fueled the mystery is that the makers of the film believe conflicting explanations for it.
The Russos have clarified that the act of Steve Rogers going back to live happily with Peggy Carter would create a new timeline. However, writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus have argued that he’s been in the prime MCU timeline all along. He’s apparently even the father of Peggy’s kids.
Now, once again, the Russos have maintained that they believe Cap would’ve created a different timeline. While speaking with Fox 5 DC, the brothers went over their interpretation of how it works.
“The way that it would work is that when Captain America goes back, he would create a branch reality,” said Joe. “Now he would exist in that branch reality with a second Captain America who was frozen in ice.”
Anthony then added:
“Peggy understood that he was dead at that point in the storytelling because Cap went back to a point in time where nobody knew he still was alive, frozen in ice.”
As per previous teases they’ve made that there’s potentially more of Cap to come, Joe went on to say that he thinks the question of how Steve returned to the prime timeline is “a story for another time.”
“Now what’s also a story for another time is, of course, if he created a branch reality, he would then have to use a Pym Particle to come back to this reality to hand that shield off.”
Markus and McFeely have previously been asked about their version of Cap’s ending conflicting with the Russos and have said that it’s designed to be open to interpretation, so whatever your personal understanding of it is it’s equally valid. Until a future installment of the franchise provides a definitive answer, that is. For instance, if Cap and Peggy’s super-powered kids eventually appear, as the writers have suggested could happen.
Tell us, though, do you agree with the Russos that Cap created a new timeline at the end of Avengers: Endgame? Let us know in the comments section below.
