Avengers: Endgame did everything that was expected of it: busting box office records (and still in with a chance of besting Avatar as the all-time number one film) and providing a satisfying conclusion to over a decade of MCU plotlines. It also provided endings for the two central pillars of the first era of the franchise, with (spoilers, but c’mon, who hasn’t seen this by now?) Robert Downey Jr’.s Tony Stark/Iron Man sacrificing himself to stop Thanos and Steve Rogers traveling back in time to finally romance Peggy Carter. The last we see of Rogers is him as an elderly man, with the fact that he’s literally passing on the shield to Sam Wilson a symbol of him leaving the franchise.
But now Sebastian Stan, who was at one point expected to take up the name Captain America for himself, has cast doubt on Steve Rogers being gone from the MCU for good. On a panel at the Italian Convention Jus in Bello, he addressed the conclusion of Rogers’ story, saying:
“You see when we were filming the movie, I didn’t know I was going to be apparently filming it for the last time with them. … I think it’s difficult to…I don’t know if it’s goodbye to Steve yet. I don’t know, you know? I wonder about that.”
It’s an intriguing statement. My bet is that while we won’t see Evans taking a lead role in any future MCU movies, we may well see him pop up in cameos. Think his brief and hilarious appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming as an example. After all, in the wake of the events of Endgame, Captain America should be considered an international idol and hero.
Someone who, judging from the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer, is definitely set to be deified after Endgame though is Tony Stark, whose sacrifice saved the universe. Stan spoke about watching his final scenes being filmed as well, saying:
“It was definitely very sad to watch the scene with Robert, it was just kind of unreal. It’s been ten years since we’ve been with his character and it’s just weird to think how anything could be without him. They’re pretty amazing, that’s for sure.”
I can’t argue with that. They are pretty amazing and it’s been a pretty amazing decade, which was capped off perfectly with the incredible achievement that was Avengers: Endgame.