It's been two years since Avengers: Endgame took the world by storm and yet it still remains to be a regular topic of conversation among Marvel fans. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo are largely responsible for keeping the conversation alive with the insight they've provided on social media since Endgame debuted in theaters. In their most recent tell-all, the brothers addressed the longstanding confusion revolving around Captain America's timeline.
To recap, Steve Rogers' story in the MCU ended with him traveling back to the 1940s, where he met with Peggy Carter and gave her the dance he had promised her in Captain America: The First Avenger. After apparently living a full life with her off-screen, a much older Rogers is then shown in the present-day handing off the Captain America shield to Sam Wilson. While this may seem like a relatively straightforward timeline, especially given Endgame's "rules" of time travel and the series of events that occurred in the six MCU films prior to Endgame, many fans started to question whether or not the whole "travel to the past" narrative actually made sense in the grand scheme of the films.
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The first time the Russos tried to clarify their creative decisions was a few weeks after Endgame was released. Their explanation was based on time travel logic that had never been established in the films and also contradicted the film's writers. In an attempt to kill the debate, filmmakers simply told fans to stop focusing on the details and just take their word that Steve Rogers' timeline did make sense. However, fans were naturally unsatisfied with that answer and the issue was left up in the air. Now, two years later, Joe Russo offered new insight in a podcast interview with Lights, Camera, Barstool, saying that Steve Rogers would have traveled back to the main timeline, returning from a branch reality, to give the shield to Sam Wilson. He also claimed that this internal logic, which was not made known to the audiences, was decided "in the room" as the movie was made.
There are a few issues with those statements. Firstly, the whole purpose of Steve Rogers going back in time to replace the Infinity Stones was to ensure that branched realities would never be created, so the idea that a Steve Rogers from a branched reality traveled back to the main timeline doesn't really line up. Besides, the technology he brought with him should have prevented him from being able to hop between different timelines anyway.
Additionally, the writers who were "in the room" when such internal logic was apparently decided gave post-release interviews that do not match Russo's claim. The writers explained that instead of creating an alternate reality, there were simply two different Steve Rogers existing for a certain period of time in the main version of the timeline—the one that viewers have already experienced in past MCU movies.
At this point, fans aren't sure who to believe. Though, none of this will matter in the long run, as it's almost certain that Chris Evans will not be returning to the MCU in the future, no matter what the rumors say. The follow-up series, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, unlikely to address what happened. The Russo brothers may just have to accept that every person who follows Captain America's MCU journey will have a different interpretation of it.
Avengers: Endgame is now streaming on Disney Plus.
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Source: Lights, Camera, Barstool