Avengers: Endgame concluded with a tragic fate for Tony Stark, but a happy, fulfilling one for Steve Rogers. After returning the Infinity Stones to their rightful places in history, Captain America elected to remain in the past with his one true love Peggy Carter, spending many contended decades with her before handing his shield over to Sam Wilson as an old man. This marked a hugely moving and surprising final scene to the cinematic event of the year. And now you can relive it with a new still. Warning: it’ll bring on the waterworks!
The image captures Steve and Peggy staring lovingly into each other’s eyes as they finally get to enjoy their dance, which was originally cruelly denied to them when Cap crashed into the ice and was frozen in time. But, thanks to Quantum Realm tech, Steve was able to take up the retirement he so richly deserved after helping save the universe and got to marry the future co-founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. And, according to writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, the couple had some kids, too.
As beautiful an ending as this is for Steve’s character arc, it’s created a lot of confusion and questioning from fans about the mechanics of Cap changing the past. Does this manifest a new timeline? If so, how did Old Man Steve attend Tony’s funeral in the main timeline? If he’s simply been in this timeline all along, then how does that gel with the established rules of time travel and where’s he been hiding all these years? Apart from his apparent cameo at Peggy’s funeral in Captain America: Civil War, that is.
Whatever the answers, this is a fitting swansong for both of these characters, as Chris Evans has said he doesn’t foresee a cameo in Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Hayley Atwell expects to be done as Peggy as well, following her appearance in Avengers: Endgame.
