As one of the most popular and main characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America aka Steve Rogers, needed an ending narrative that would work well. However, trying to wrap up a character arc that was multiple films in the making, and involved a character people didn’t want to see go, wasn't an easy thing to do.
In the end, Steve Roger’s ending was one of the most controversial and most talked-about of any from Avengers: Endgame. While some fans loved the idea of him living in the past with Peggy, other fans thought it was out of character and also raised a lot of questions the film may not have answered.
Makes No Sense: It doesn’t make him seem heroic, only selfish
Steve is known as being one of the most morally upstanding heroes, and while he does make mistakes, he sticks very strong to his convictions. He’s known for never giving up and being willing to do hard things to help others.
Yet, in the end, he abandons a world recovering post-Blip and seems to sort of give in. It makes him seem less heroic than ever before, and it could be interpreted as selfish and him only caring about himself.
Fitting: They needed a way to end his narrative in the MCU
With both Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. leaving the franchise, the people in charge at Disney had some big decisions to make. Having their two biggest characters and leaders of the Avengers leave the narrative meant they needed to wrap up their storylines, and both of these signs needed to be distinct.
And, since it seemed unlikely that he wouldn’t come back in the future if he was still in the present day, sending him to the past fixed this problem.
Makes No Sense: It erased his character development from previous movies
Steve was one of the characters who got his own trilogy, and in those films, he goes through a fair amount of character development. A big part of his story is learning how to adjust to being a man out of time, and he has to cope with the trauma of losing so many people he cares about. But, in these movies, he does make new friends and connections, like Sam Wilson, and he adjusts to life. He says goodbye to Peggy in a meaningful way, too.
Yet, in Endgame, all of this development is forgetten. In fact, he even starts dressing more as he did in the first Avengers movie.
Fitting: Killing both Iron Man and Captain America would have been too much
There’s a good argument to be made that the endings of these two characters should have been swapped. This way, Tony could have remained with Pepper and Morgan, and Steve could have died. Killing them both probably wouldn’t have gone over well with audiences.
However, there is some logic to the choice because it got rid of them both for good. If Tony had been the one to live, people would have wanted him to appear in other movies. This way, there was a good reason why neither hero would show up again.
Makes No Sense: He broke the rules of time travel that were set up
The rules of time travel set up in the film might be a bit hard to follow as time travel is often a hard thing to understand. Yet, what made sense was the fact that the heroes needed to do their best to not impact the past and to keep other timelines from being created.
Yet, after all this, Serve goes back on these rules that were set up just so he can be back with Peggy. The creators also didn’t explain if this meant Steve had always been with Peggy in the timeline or if it created a new one entirely.
Fitting: He returns the Infinity Stones first
While a lot of Steve’s actions at the end of this movie can be seen as selfish, there is at least one thing that makes some sense. It’s the fact that Steve makes sure to return all the Infinity Stones back in time and in the right locations.
Someone was going to need to do this, and it would make sense for Steve to ensure the job was done right.
Makes No Sense: He didn’t take into consideration Peggy’s life and autonomy
One thing that really needs to be talked about more is the message sent about Peggy when Steve decides to go to the past to be with her. It is rather strange that this happens given that Peggy had her own show, Agent Carter, in which she falls in love with another man, Daniel Sousa, and even moves on from Steve. Of course, she still cares about him, but viewers see in Captain America: Civil War that they get closure over what happened.
The way the narrative is set up makes it seem like Peggy is Steve’s “prize” for enduring so much over the years. He makes the decision to go back to the past, and fans don’t know how much he tells her.
Fitting: Steve had always cared for and missed Peggy
The relationship between Steve and Peggy is loved by many fans, but, while there are some things that don’t make sense about it, they do care about each other.
They might not have even officially dated before Steve went under the ice, but they respected each other and had crushes on one another. Steve also saw this relationship as what might have been, and it was something he focused on that he had lost.
Makes No Sense: It doesn’t seem in character for him to leave behind his found family
Another big issue with Steve going to the past was that he abandoned everyone else he cared about. In fact, fans don’t even see him have conversations with friends like Sam and Bucky. He spends many movies trying to get Bucky back and then doesn’t even care to help him adjust or be around him.
On top of that, he doesn’t stick around to help everyone else he loves rebuild the world. The fact he doesn’t even tell Sam what he planned to do was strange, and it just overall gives the vibe that he was being sneaky. Not to mention, the idea that he would want to live back in a time like the '50s is a bit strange, and that he would also have to sit back and do nothing while people he knew were captured, tortured, and even killed.
Fitting: He got to have the dance with Peggy
While in many ways, Captain America’s ending undoes a lot of the narrative and character development, it did provide for one full-circle moment that many fans wanted to see.
Peggy and Steve are finally able to get the dance that was taken from them when Steve had to sacrifice himself. This is a nice thought, but some fans feel it would have been better if he had gone back for the dance and then came back to the present.
