The Final Scene of Avengers: Endgame Is More Than Worthy
This article contains major spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.
Steve Rogers had a date. In 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, his introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Chris Evans’s titular supersoldier promised to take Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) dancing. It’s a promise he couldn’t keep: To save the world, he crashed into the Arctic and stayed frozen for nearly 70 years. When he woke up and learned of his new reality, he wasn’t relieved to be alive; he was regretful. There in the middle of 21st-century Times Square, his first thought wasn’t of this modern world; it was of that missed date.
It should come as no surprise, then, that in his final scenes in Avengers: Endgame—spoilers incoming—Cap seeks out Peggy. After spending most of the film leading the reassembled Avengers in search of the Infinity Stones to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin), Cap wraps up his last mission—by taking some personal time. He travels back to the ’40s, goes on that date, builds the relationship both of them had been denied, and lives the married life. When he appears again in the present, he’s an old man who offers Sam (Anthony Mackie) a self-deprecating explanation involving Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.): “I thought, ‘Maybe I should try some of that life Tony was telling me to get.’”
Maybe that was it. Or maybe he was only following Peggy’s orders. When Steve met the aging Peggy in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, she left him with a piece of advice. “All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best that we can do is to start over.”
Yet, that Endgame finale—with its heart-stoppingly romantic last shot, of Steve and Peggy dancing in their living room, reunited sometime in the past—has made Captain America a target of some less-than-Cap-friendly commentary since the film’s release. His final scene, one critic argued, “makes no sense.” On Twitter, he’s #notmysteve and #notmycaptain, with the word “selfish” brought up the most.
To many, apparently, starting over is the worst way for Steve Rogers’s story to come to an end. For one thing, the time-travel mechanics are too tricky: Does Cap’s return to the past mean he erased Peggy’s original one, which included—as shown in Winter Soldier—a family? Isn’t that morally wrong? (Not if you buy directors Joe and Anthony Russo’s explanation: They say that Cap created an alternate reality and found Peggy there.) For another, the choice feels out of character: Didn’t Cap promise his friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) he’d be with him until the end of the line? (Yes—and he’s already kept that promise more than enough times, through three different films. And again, according to the Russos, Bucky knew what Cap was about to do.) Most importantly, shouldn’t Cap, the righteous soldier, have gone out swinging in a battle, any battle, instead of solemnly sitting on a bench?
It’s a good thing Cap’s weapon of choice is a shield.
Not that he should need it. His decision should be celebrated for how satisfying it is; it’s Endgame’s most human exit compared to all the epic, sacrificial, and even otherworldly losses. Of the original Avengers, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) launches herself off a distant planet’s cliff for the Soul Stone (which can only be retrieved in exchange for, well, a soul). Iron Man dies on an apocalyptic battlefield to destroy Thanos. But those legendary finales happened because of their character evolutions: Black Widow, though her arc is never explored as deeply as those of her teammates, felt she had prior acts to atone for, while Iron Man had his transformation from playboy billionaire to chivalrous hero to complete.
Cap, though? As the paragon of duty, honor, and loyalty since his days as a frail army reject, he’s been a superhero long enough—so in his last moments, he returns to being just a kid from Brooklyn. His choice isn’t about being a quitter; it’s about finally getting to quit.
Besides, superheroes don’t usually get such tidy closure. Comic-book characters, Uncle Ben and the Waynes excepted, aren’t supposed to ever really die. It’s a classic trope: They get reborn as higher beings, resurrected as clones, experimented on and rebuilt, time-traveled into the present, moved from alternate Earths or realities into the one dominating the story. Endings are never endings, especially on screen; they’re open-ended teasers. Superman perishes in the DC Extended Universe, then promptly re-enters the narrative a few short scenes later. Jean Grey dies, only to come back with a vengeance—a feat she’s about to accomplish in theaters again. Thanos dusts off half of all species, yet here they are, right back where they left off.
How remarkable, then, that Avengers audiences get to watch a hero wrap up his story the way he wants to, by being as loyal as he’s always been and fulfilling a promise he once couldn’t keep. How refreshing that we get to have him be human, out of costume and out of action. How marvelous to see him retire, no post-credits sting necessary, having lived a full life with someone he’d missed ever since he woke up from those decades frozen in ice.
But if he’s still #notyourcaptain? Well, it’s not like Captain America’s going anywhere. That shield’s been bequeathed to Sam, who with Bucky toplines the Disney+ series, Falcon and Winter Soldier. The Cap of Endgame, though, the one worthy enough to have wielded Mjolnir? This one got the ending he deserved. Yes, Cap could do this all day. But in the end, isn’t it simply nice that he doesn’t have to?