Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame Encore follow.
While the main hook of Avengers: Doomsday is seeing Robert Downey Jr. return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as villain Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom instead of Tony Stark/Iron Man, his co-star Chris Evans is reprising his usual MCU role in the film. Deadpool & Wolverine already subverted expectations in hilarious fashion by having Evans reprise his earlier Marvel character, the Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm/Human Torch, so his role in Doomsday is a more straightforward, serious comeback as former Captain America Steve Rogers. Evans returning as Steve, along with Hayley Atwell as his love interest Peggy Carter, has raised a lot of questions after the couple seemingly received a well-deserved happy ending courtesy of time travel back in Avengers: Endgame. Arguably the most pressing of these questions asks how Steve being brought back to modern times relates to the old man version of the character who appears in the final present-day scene of Endgame. Whatever the answer winds up being, it will likely change how viewers interpret Steve’s arc from Endgame, but there’s a chance we won’t even get those answers until next year’s Avengers: Secret Wars, which Evans is also confirmed to appear in, concludes the Multiverse Saga.
In Endgame, following Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) defeat and Tony and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow’s (Scarlett Johansson) deaths, Steve takes it upon himself to return the Infinity Stones and Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) hammer Mjolnir to their proper places in time to prevent the creation of alternate timelines. After he doesn’t reappear atop the Avengers’ time machine in 2023 as he’d said he would James “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) notice that a much older Steve has arrived at a nearby bench. This Steve wears a wedding ring and turns the Captain America shield and mantle over to Sam before a flashback confirms that he returned to and married Peggy sometime in the 1940s after his earlier self was presumed dead, and subsequently lived a presumably happy life with her for the intervening decades. The announcement that Evans would be reprising the role in Doomsday led to a resurgence in speculation from fans about the details of Steve’s time traveling journey, and many have come to suspect that the old man version of the character shown in that final scene in 2023 has already experienced the events of the upcoming films.
The altered ending scene from Endgame’s Encore rerelease, in which Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) visits Steve and Peggy’s 1940s house to offer them help seemed to confirm that the versions of the couple appearing in Doomsday will be the ones from the main universe and timeline. This supports the suspicion that the old man Steve is the same version, which in turn suggests that he should remember the later films, unless one of their plot points affects his memory. If this is indeed the case, it could have both compelling and problematic implications for the films’ portrayal of Steve’s character. A related theory argues that Steve reuniting with Sam in Doomsday and the latter’s actions in that film and Secret Wars will be shown to have helped cement the older Steve’s choice of Sam as his replacement as Captain America. That would be a heartwarming way to progress the friendship between the characters, and would hopefully assuage concerns that Steve’s return will undermine Sam’s importance as the new Cap.
On the other hand, old Steve knowing what happens in Doomsday and Secret Wars could alter how viewers feel about his and Peggy’s Endgame storyline too drastically. The main versions of the characters returning at all does, of course, make their Endgame arc less conclusive, which is itself divisive. And many fans are concerned that, with some losses and other tragedies seeming inevitable given the apocalyptic stakes in Doomsday and, presumably Secret Wars, it would be hard to accept that Steve and Peggy simply return to their time and continue living as happily as they had been once the conflict is over. This could easily make the pair come across as uncharacteristically selfish, as would old Steve knowing about the upcoming threats in Endgame but not warning his friends.
Some viewers have always remained adamant that Steve would use his knowledge of the future to prevent some of the real, historical tragedies that occur between the end of World War II and his original awakening in modern times. But given how Endgame portrays any significant changes to the timeline as having potentially destructive consequences, it was at least somewhat convincing that he would choose to live a quiet life with Peggy to keep history mostly intact. However, the Multiverse Saga has subsequently emphasized that alternate timelines and universes aren’t always dangerous, so bringing the character back also brings these moral questions back to the front of viewers’ minds and could make his inaction to prevent both historic and upcoming tragedies seem even more egregiously out of character.
Another more positive interpretation of old Steve having experienced the new films points out that he still tells Sam that the life he lived with Peggy “was beautiful,” which would now demonstrate that whatever hardships they do endure after Loki alters their ending aren’t too tragic. But this is also problematic in its own ways, as it risks undermining much of the stakes for Doomsday and Secret Wars. Clearly, Steve and Peggy’s storyline is going to be one of the most challenging for the new films to execute in a way that’s both emotionally satisfying and not too confusing. And, again, given how important Steve in particular seems to be to the conflict with Doom, we’re probably not going to know if the filmmakers completely pull it off until Secret Wars is out.
Do you think old Steve Rogers already lived through Doomsday and Secret Wars? Discuss in the comments.
