Two after Avengers Endgame hit theaters, this theory regarding Captain America’s time travel at the end of the film has fans panicking.
Chris Evans could return to the MCU at any moment
Before starting, and even though the film was released more than two years ago, we prefer to warn you: the following contains spoilers for Avengers Endgame regarding the character played by the mischievous Chris Evans (who recently made a big gaffe on Instagram).
So let’s dive into the past to discover a hidden detail of the film. Because if you still doubted it, the secrets of the MCU are far from all being discovered. Chris Evans was supposed to be done with the MCU, but rumors indicate that he could return!
Captain America goes back in time
At the end of the film, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, decides to go back in time to get the Infinity Stones back to safety. For their part, the Avengers have remained in the present waiting for his return, in vain.
It’s only later that they find an old man sitting on a bench. It is in fact Steve Rogers, far from his athletic physique of yesteryear, who will have lived his life in the past before returning to the present to donate his famous shield to Samuel Wilson (Falcon).
An alternate timeline
The two directors talked about this scene. Joe Russo comments on this time travel: “Going back to the past, Captain America created an alternate branch. It now exists in this reality with a second Captain America, still trapped in ice”. Anthony Russo continues: “Peggy thought he was dead at that point in the story, because Captain America came back when no one knew he was still alive, frozen in ice.”
In the same interview, Joe Russo opens the door to a return of Steve Rogers in the MCU: “if he created an alternate reality, Captain America will have to use a Pym particle to return to his reality and transmit his shield”stating that “this is a story for another time”. Perhaps this character could then step in to Avengers 5 to “mentor” the new team?
Another shield forged for Falcon
Recently, it is the ScreenRant site that has gone further in this theory. In fact, since the Captain has aged, that means he hasn’t been frozen, another Captain is trapped in ice, and old Steve Rogers may never have been Captain America, or even fought Thanos (since the shield is intact) in this alternate reality, just spending his life with Peggy.
But it could be that Steve Rogers asked the scientists of Wakanda, or Howard Stark, to forge a specific shield for Sam Wilson in this alternate reality. A plausible explanation after the final dialogue between the old Captain and Falcon. The latter tells him that he is under the impression that this shield belongs to someone else, to which Steve replies: “No it does not”.
