Spoilers to follow.
In the lead-up to Avengers: Endgame, everything we had heard about the film strongly suggested that it would end with a stars and stripes patterned vacancy within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After all, with Chris Evans saying goodbye to the role late last year, it didn’t take long for fans to start speculating on who’d take over as Captain America once Steve Rogers dropped out of the franchise.
With Endgame now here, we can confirm that Cap does indeed make his exit, but instead of dying a heroic death, he actually gets a peaceful goodbye. Without going into too much detail, the end of the movie sees Steve use the Quantum Realm to go back to the 1940s and live out his life with his one true love: Peggy Carter.
It’s a beautiful, heartwarming way to send the character off, but what comes next is particularly interesting. You see, in the present day, we get to catch up with Rogers as an old man. It’s here that Sam Wilson aka the Falcon shares a sweet moment with him where he tells his old friend that he doesn’t want to live in a world without Captain America. Thankfully, Sam doesn’t have to, as Cap gives him his old shield, effectively passing the torch and paving the way for Falcon to become the next Star Spangled Avenger.
To date, Marvel hasn’t actually confirmed whether or not Mr. Wilson will be taking Steve up on his offer and if we’ll be seeing him don the shield in a future movie, but the implication here is pretty clear. Avengers: Endgame has said goodbye to one Captain America and planted the seed for the next one to step into the spotlight, and we can’t wait to see where the franchise goes from here.
