In the run-up to the release of Avengers: Endgame, fans were preparing themselves for the loss of some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most popular characters, with the marketing making it look almost inevitable that Captain America wouldn’t survive to the end of the movie. Instead of getting decapitated by Thanos though, Steve Rogers got a happy ending and traveled back in time to return the Infinity Stones before deciding to stay there, with Endgame concluding on a positive note as Cap finally got his dance with Peggy Carter.
Endgame co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo were recently asked how they imagined Captain America spent his retirement, and the duo were certainly full of interesting answers, with Anthony theorizing about a more straightforward family life for the leader of the Avengers:
“So yeah, after Steve finally got his long-awaited dance with Peggy… it’s a good question, perhaps he and Peggy tried to make a baby, I don’t know.”
When the multiverse theory was brought up, which has had fans dissecting the minutiae of all Captain America’s possible timelines ever since Endgame was released, Joe could only respond with an exasperated “Don’t go there!” before Anthony answered the question in a lot more detail:
“I mean, if you think about it in terms of the sort of alternate reality question – I know there’s many different theories about how this stacks up, and I know Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were talking about some of them. Depending on where you go with the alternate realities, he could go rescue Bucky from HYDRA, he could route HYDRA out of S.H.I.E.L.D., he could go find himself in the ice and figure out a sort of rotation where the two Steves can take turns and he can spend more time at home with Peggy. I don’t know, lots of stories.”
While Chris Evans appears to be done playing the character, Old Cap popping up for a cameo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier hasn’t been completely ruled out just yet, while upcoming Disney Plus animated series Marvel’s What If…? could easily bring back Evans for a voice-only role to track Captain America through one of the many possible alternate realities.
After the events of Avengers: Endgame, one reality that we’d love to see would be the look on the Red Skull’s face when his mortal nemesis shows up on Vormir and gives him back the Soul Stone.