the praise and problems with Steve Rogers 'ending'
... an Avengers Endgame (2019) analysis + Doomsday rant
I gotta start this off by saying Steve is by far my favourite avenger and so this will probably be biased asf. However, as much as there are some parts of how his story ended in Endgame that I will defend with my life, there are just aspects to it that I believe are so unrealistic for Steve's character. Spent absolutely WAYYYY to much time on this its insane I am just not normal about my man Steve Rogers so waffle warning ahead.
the good in Steve's 'ending':
Steve's inability to move on:
People hate and shit on Steve's ending claiming that Steve has "moved on" from his past life. However I counter this with "you all stink of poo". No but like seriously, Steve never, and I mean NEVER actually truly managed to move on from Peggy, not only is this obvious in practically all his movies, but even highlighted throughout Endgame itself.
"I went in the ice in '45 right after I met the love of my life. Woke up 70 years later. You got to move on."
"Got to move on."
I have see people use this quote to critique Steve going back to Peggy, and I am sorry but like did we watch the same fucking scene lmao?? The repetition of "Got to move on" is clearly Steve trying to tell himself, convince himself to move on, but that is the thing about Steve, he just can't, he is a man who is stuck in the past. This is made even more obvious in the film when Steve is fighting his 2012 self and drops his picture of Peggy showing he still has it after like practically a century at this point. In case you still don't get it (tut tut) when Steve and Tony go back to the 70's and we see him look at Peggy, do you really think that man moved on?!?!?
Thus Steve's inability to move on from Peggy make him going back so much more powerful as he finally got the closure and ending he waited decade for. He literally yearned and I mean yearned for Peggy, he deserved her.
2. The outcome Steve honestly deserved
"Family, Stability, I think someone who wanted all that went in the ice 75 years ago, someone else came out"
Steve sacrificed everything and I mean EVERYTHING he had constantly for the sake of helping others. HE sacrificed himself getting the serum for the sake of others. He sacrificed himself on HYDRA aircraft to save others. He sacrificed his freedoms refusing to sign the accords to save others. I mean the man was ready to fight Thanos and his army all by himself TO SAVE OTHERS. No wonder he is worthy all he ever does is give himself up for other people. Steve truly deserved to, for the first time in his life, actually make a choice for him and his own happiness. Yes there are some major issues with the recklessness of his choice (more on that later heh) but god damn it let the man live.
"Well, after I put the stones back, I thought, maybe I'll try some of that life Tony was telling me to get."
This quote very much highlights how before going back in time Steve was never actually living. The man sacrificed so much, all of the time he spent his life giving other pleasure instead of himself. "It was beautiful." That is how Steve described the life he got to live with Peggy as. Simply "Beautiful". And I think that is why I can never truly hate Steve's choice as he finally was able to find the beauty and enjoyment in the life he dreamed of.
3. Passing the sheild to Sam
Steve passing on the sheild to Sam, while focused slightly less on his ending of choosing Peggy, well its still an outcome of his choice and I want to talk about it so I will. You can't stop me.
"How does it feel?"
"Like it's someone else's."
"It isn't".
This whole exchange between Old Steve and Sam, alongside it being one of the closing scenes of the movie highlights the utter importance of Steve passing on the role of Captain America to Sam as he acknowledges that the future no longer belongs to him. For his entire life, Steve carried the shield because he believed there was always more work to do. He sacrificed his own happiness, his own time, and his chance at a normal life because he believed the world needed Captain America. However, this ending allows Steve to finally understand that his responsibility was never to carry the shield forever. His responsibility was to make sure someone worthy could carry it after him. Steve didn't "abandon his duties" when he returned to Peggy but instead shows that Captain America's ideals are bigger than just one man.
the bad in Steve's 'ending':
Ok so I waffled on for a fair bit about how Steve hadn't moved on which is true, but here's the thing, Peggy had moved on. In Agent Carter she doesn't remain frozen in time waiting for his return but rather she series she pursues her own career, forms new friendships, and gradually opens herself up to new relationships (as she should queen💋). In fact I mean just look at Peggy and Daniel ok. Even if we look at The Winter Soldier (goated movie), we see Steve visit Peggy as an elderly woman. She has lived a full life, built a family, and had experiences completely separate from him. Something that makes their reunion so emotional precisely because both understand that time moved on, Peggy moved on without Steve.
"The world has changed, and none of us can go back. Sometimes the best we can do is to start over."
C'mon this quote she says in The Winter Soldier this clearly connotes Peggy expressing how the world changed, she lived her life without Steve and that they both simply need to make peace with that - starting over with the time they have left.
Therefore, part of me that doesn't enjoy Steve's ending is because it wipes out so much of Peggy's character that we watched her build, all for her just to end up with Steve. Like yes Steve we get it you are still in love with your ex gf but she moved on bro.
2. Contradicts the life he fought for (friends etc)
This next point is a real big one for me. I just can't comprehend that Steve would ever leave his timeline multiverse thingy (ok the time travel aspect confused me so ignore my incorrect terms). Steve despite moving had a world surrounded by friends, friends he considered his family.
"Did she have any family?"
"Yeah. Us."
Like Steve are you serious?!?! I just feel like after everything they went through together, the love and loss, the grief and victories that they experienced TOGETHER, that Steve just wouldn't leave them. When he first woke up from the ice, he was completely alone. Everyone he knew was gone. Peggy had lived an entire life without him, Bucky was missing, literally most of his friends were like dead. However the avengers gave Steve friendship, family, community and I can't see him blowing that all away just to see Peggy again. Together hey watched friends die. They saved each other's lives. They lost everything and fought to get it back. Steve cared for all of them more than anything yk.
So the fact that I am just supposed to believe that Steve would leave behind the family he spent years rebuilding I think is stupid. Not because I think he didn't deserve happiness, but because I think those people were part of his happiness. Steve choice to go back wasn't choosing between loneliness and Peggy anymore. He was choosing between Peggy and the family he had spent an entire decade building - and I simply believe that Steve would (and should) choose his new family very time. But according to the MCU he didnt so like it's fine guess ill go die now lmao
However, the biggest issue by far I have with Steve's ending is what it implies about Bucky. Like we had multiple movies dedicated to Steve proving that he would never abandon Bucky. In The First Avenger he literally crossed continents to rescue Bucky during World War II, in The Winter Soldier he spent years searching for him after discovering he was the Winter Soldier, and in Civil War was willing to stand against governments AND heroes to protect him.
"Cause I'm with you 'til the end of the line."
Ok Steve you cheeky liar your just not "with him 'til the end of the line" though are you. Steve left Bucky. Steve returned to the past knowing exactly what was happening to Bucky - the whole being captured by Hydra, the torture, the brainwashing, the assassinations, and the loss of his identity that caused Bucky sosososo much suffering. The idea that Steve would sit back and allow all of that to happen so he could preserve his life with Peggy feels completely at stupid and completely out of character the MCU spent years establishing. Seriously at this point why even bother watching The Winter Soldier (jokes its a fab movie everyone should always watch it). It is difficult to comprehend that the Steve who risked everything to save Bucky would also knowingly allow decades of pain and abuse to occur to Bucky without intervention. Bucky was a piece of Steves past he was lucky enough to have in the present, Steve just wouldn't give him up knowing the absolute fucking hell he would go through.
whatever the fuck is going on with Doomsday:
Probably noticed I have been saying 'ending' in quotation marks cuz marvel decided to bring Steve back again. To make this short and sweet. I love Steve Rogers while part me is glad he is back because YAY MORE STEVE mainly iIm just annoyed. Bringing him back again to fight not only heavily diminishes Sam's role of being the new Captain America but also just makes most defences and good reasons for Steve's ending in Endgame completely redundant. It kinda just feels super gimicky with Chris Evans returning as Steve and RDJ being Doom yk. They better do Steve right this film. 😾😾
Ok so what is my actual verdict on Steve's ending??!?! (I am choosing to blatantly ignore Doomsday) Well, I think that Steve 100% deserved the ending he got, I just simply don't think the Steve was knew and saw in the avengers movies would ever go through with it yk?? Yes Steve loved Peggy more than everything. Yes Steve was never truly able to move on from her. But no, I just don't think in actuality he would sacrifice the friends, relationship, life, memories he had built without his 'happily ever after' with Peggy - especially while idly sitting by why Bucky gets fucking abused by HYDRA
feel free to disagree with me guys 💋luv u all xxx
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