Going into Avengers: Endgame, we were fully expecting to witness the end of both Iron Man and Captain America’s stories in the MCU. Sure enough, following Tony Stark’s death, Steve Rogers went back in time to live out the life he should have had married to Peggy Carter if he hadn’t been on ice for 70 years. It was a moving final chapter for the Sentinel of Liberty, but the act of Steve electing to change the timeline has caused some consternation with fans.
So, why did Cap decide he’d had enough of the hero work and opted to retire and get hitched? Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were asked this by Variety and were on hand to explain where Rogers’ head is at in the movie. First of all, Markus said that Steve’s feeling his age in Endgame and battling himself during the Time Heist might’ve brought home some hard truths.
“Steve Rogers has … boy, he has done all you can do. He’s well over 100 … I think he’s over 100 years old. He has fought World War II and Civil War and an Infinity War. He’s been through three wars. And he has come to a place, I think, where he’s realizing to be a fully rounded human, which is all of our goals, he needs to take a little time and be a little healthier. I think when he … in a way I think when he encounters his old self back in Avengers Tower, there is a processing going on in his head that well, that’s a really intense and maybe not 100% healthy guy. So I think it is time.”
McFeely then elaborated by saying that it’d been the plan for a few movies now to have Tony and Steve switch destinies, with Stark ultimately making the self-sacrifice and Steve realizing he needed something else in his life other than war.
“We figured out pretty early that … and we’ve been helping do this for a few years now, that Tony and Steve were sort of on crisscrossing arcs. That Tony movie by movie was becoming … was having a more a macro view, becoming more selfless. And Steve was becoming a bit more self-interested. Civil War is a good example of that. So, we had put up on the wall at one point, Tony becomes a complete person when he loses his life and Steve becomes a complete person when he gets one. We drove toward that.”
What the writers don’t mention is that Tony also indirectly encourages Steve’s actions in Endgame. After the five-year time jump, Iron Man has got himself a wife and a young daughter, Morgan Stark. When he sees Steve again, he suggests he should also move on and find similar happiness. Following his friend’s heroic death, Rogers clearly decides to take his words on board, leading to his permanent vacation in the past.
Tell us, though, were you a fan of Cap’s story in Avengers: Endgame? Or do you wish it had ended differently for the super-soldier? Join the conversation in the comments section down below.
