One of the longest-running debates about Avengers: Endgame has been about Cap’s final act. The film did end up satisfying everyone with the way that it ended, but that doesn’t mean that people didn’t leave the theatres confused. Captain America went back to the past to meet his former flame, the one true love Peggy and he stayed. According to the rules of time travel that Avengers: Endgame established, Captain America going back and staying should have created an alternate timeline, but seeing Oldman Cap return to the original timeline did confuse everyone.
The debate stood asking whether Captain America ended up in an alternate branched timeline or did he somehow manage to end up in the same timeline where everything in the MCU happened. According to the writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, they always intended Steve to be Peggy’s husband that was revealed in The Winter Soldier. The rules of time travel that were originally supposed to be in Endgame would have allowed this but they were changed as the production went on. So, they knew that if this were to be the case then a massive plot hole would be created.
And now the Directors have come out again, and they’ve solved the Captain America time travel conundrum once and for all! While speaking to Fox 5 DC, Joe & Anthony Russo told us everything about Cap being in an alternate timeline and not the prime timeline. They said:
“Joe – The way that it would work is that when Captain America goes back, he would create a branch reality. Now he would exist in that branch reality with a second Captain America who was frozen in ice.
Anthony – Peggy understood that he was dead at that point in the storytelling because Cap went back to a point in time where nobody knew he still was alive, frozen in ice.
Joe – Now what’s also a story for another time is, of course, if he created a branch reality, he would then have to use a Pym Particle to come back to this reality to hand that shield off.”
So yes, Oldman Captain America used Pym Particles to come and pass on the mantle. Now when he came to the original timeline is a whole different story. Apparently, Marvel could easily make another Captain America movie involving the adventures of Captain America through time in order to restore the timeline to the way it was. Then we could be shown what all Cap was up to when he was leading a happy peaceful life with Peggy Carter.
But then again, we’ve been told to assume that Cap ended up returning the stones and Mjolnir to where they belonged and then laid low in the second timeline he created. So, there won’t really be much need to have an extra movie showing that to us. So, it’s okay for Cap to be retired and MCU moving on towards establishing new characters.
Directed by Joe & Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Vin Diesel as Groot, Dave Bautista as Drax, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, William Hurt as General Ross, Tilda Swinton as Ancient One and Josh Brolin as Thanos.
Here’s the official synopsis of Avengers: Endgame:
“Adrift in space with no food or water, Tony Stark sends a message to Pepper Potts as his oxygen supply starts to dwindle. Meanwhile, the remaining Avengers — Thor, Black Widow, Captain America and Bruce Banner — must figure out a way to bring back their vanquished allies for an epic showdown with Thanos — the evil demigod who decimated the planet and the universe.”
