Avengers: Endgame Writers Say There Were Always Two Caps In The MCU

Though Avengers: Endgame left us with quite a few loose ends that future projects may or may not address, perhaps none have inspired more debate than the conclusion to Steve Rogers’ journey.

On the one hand, you’ve got those who’ll argue that Cap’s retirement plan saw him settle down with Peggy Carter in the main timeline, meaning that there’s secretly been two Steves living in the MCU since the 1940s. On the other hand, there are those who’ll tell you that this theory goes against the rules of time travel laid out by the Avengers: Infinity War sequel, and that the First Avenger actually married Peggy in an alternate timeline.

Even the creative team behind Endgame can’t seem to agree on what exactly happened to Steve after Hulk sent him back. While co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo have made their case for the alternate timeline explanation, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have repeatedly argued in favor of the two Caps theory. And going by their recent comments to Backstory Magazine, it seems the scribes are sticking to their guns.

When asked about the consequences of Steve’s decision to settle down with Peggy, McFeely offered the following clarification:

“Here’s how we reconcile it. We think there have always been two Caps from 1945 to, say, now, and we just didn’t know that. That’s the loop, right?”

He then elaborated further on his answer, before referencing a popular Captain America: Civil War theory:

“We think Steve went back, put all the stones back, clipped those branches. Those are fine. And after he did the last one, he jumped to 1948 and decided to stay. So, his younger self is on ice somewhere and it’s only in 2011 that there are technically two Steves running around — to the point where if you were to look closely at Peggy’s funeral, there’d be an old man in the back named Roger Stevens.”

When asked if the older Steve can really be spotted at Peggy’s funeral, McFeely replied:

“No, no, no, no, no.”

Well, that settles that debate. But going back to McFeely’s two Caps answer, the Russo Brothers have yet to budge on their own contradictory stance, and even the writers of Avengers: Endgame have previously admitted that the story is open to interpretation. With that in mind, perhaps it’s best left to the fans to pick whichever explanation makes the most sense to them.