Avengers: Endgame opened up a whole can of worms when it introduced the concept of time travel and various timelines, showing the Earth’s most powerful heroes who could possibly create dozens of dozens of branch realities in their quest to get the Infinity Stones out of the past. And one of these branch realities was too enticing for Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who would decide to retire and live with his true love, Peggy Carter () to old age (Hayley Atwell).
But has he changed the past? Or does he travel back to the main line to finally reunite with Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and Sam (Anthony Mackie) as an old man? Directors the Russo brothers finally solved the longest mystery around the country Avengers: Endgame timeline.
In an interview with the Lights Camera Barstool podcast (via CinemaBlend), Joe Russo reveals that he and his brother Anthony Russo devised an ‘internal logic we defined in the room’ with regard to some of the more confusing concepts of time travel Avengers Endgame. The most complicated: the timeline of Steve Rogers, or the question of whether he changed the past or simply skipped an alternative timeline. For the Russo brothers, it was the latter.
“Based on everything that happened, he would have been in a branching reality, and then he should have moved on after that, so jumped from one to the other and dropped the shield,” Joe Russo said, explaining:
One thing is clear that Anthony and I discussed. I do not know that we have discussed it in public at all. Cap would have to travel back to the main timeline. This is something he, yes, would have been in a branch reality, but he would have to travel to the main timeline to give the shield to Sam Wilson. ”
It seems that there have been internal differences of opinion on this subject before, with the Russians and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely disagreeing on whether Cap was in a branch reality. But the brothers are digging their heels in and doubling their interpretation, which is in line with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s slow teasing of the multiverse: we see its beginning in WandaVision, and it will be further investigated in Spider-Man 3 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And that doesn’t let the Russo brothers deal with the intricate jumble of time travel logic, and whether Steve’s reunion with his lost love in the past might have sent ripples into the future. He only lived in retirement in an alternative reality before deciding it was time to hand over the Captain America cloak to Sam.
While this revelation is funny enough, although Steve Rogers’ storyline is a neat haircut, it does open the door to a whole new story of Cap’s adventures in this alternate timeline – a possibility considering the whispers Chris Evans may or may not represent his role as Steve Rogers at some point in the future. This is probably not something that was involved, as the actor wanted to put the MCU behind him, but anything is possible, right?
Cool messages from around the internet: