Hot Take on Why Steve Rogers’ Ending Doesn’t Make Sense
Me: hey you want to read my 1,000+ word essay on why Steve Rogers’ Endgame ending makes 0 sense?????
Now, to preference, I am a Stucky stan, I have been since I first started watching Marvel. However, this is not written from a fandom, shipper perspective, but rather only canon and facts, from the perspective of a person who has a best friend they would do anything for and who’s entire life and therapy/mental health history revolves around moving on and not living in the past. Also, I love Peggy, she is probably my favorite female MCU character, and she has been for a long time, Peggy/Steve is also my favorite of the main romance relationships in the MCUl (Tony/Pepper, Thor/Jane, Bruce/Betty, Peter Q/Gamora, etc). Now, onto the essay.
Steve’s story revolves around Bucky. A statement that might take a bit looking into to fully convince you is accurate, so let’s look at the movies.
The First Avenger. Let’s be honest, Steve is a stubborn bastard, rather Bucky was there or not, Steve would have found a way to enlist, Bucky wasn’t apart of this part. Yet, even after the serum, Steve wasn’t in the battle, he was traveling and being a ‘show monkey’. He hated it, yet didn’t have the ability and/or motivation to change this and finally prove himself. What got him on the front lines? Learning Bucky’s unit was captured, Bucky included, and going against all orders to save Bucky and the other soldiers. Bucky was the driving force that got Steve to prove he was able to serve, if Steve hadn’t gone after the 107, he likely wouldn’t have reach the front lines until much later if at all. Now, after Bucky dies Steve says something interesting: “I won’t stop until all of HYDRA is either dead or captured”, a very stark difference from his original “I don’t want to kill anybody.” Bucky’s death was a trigger for Steve, who changed from “killing isn’t the only option” to “I will kill them all.”
Winter Soldier. I don’t need to explain this one to say the title is literally Steve Rogers: Bucky Barnes. From the unmasking, to just the sight of Steve allowing Bucky to break some of HYDRA’s conditioning, to Steve refusing to fight Bucky, it’s easy to see how much Steve and Bucky mean to one another, how important they are to each other, and how intertwined their stories are.
Civil War. It was shown Bucky was Steve’s weakness before hand, but Civil War really nailed it in. From the beginning scene with Steve freezing after Bucky being mentioned to Steve bringing Bucky to Wakanda to heal, Civil War is constantly showing us how Steve does everything he can to keep Bucky safe, even from his friends and allies. Now, one could argue Bucky was the cause of the Civil War, though it was indirectly. Steve freezing following Rumlow mentioning Bucky caused Steve to not be able to contain him, which gave Rumlow enough time to blow himself up in which Wanda threw him into the building which caused the deaths that began the Accords. Once again we are met with Bucky, though this one is Zemo pretending to be Bucky in order to put the blame of the UN explosion on him. After being told Bucky’s location, Steve goes to protect him from T’Challa and the authorities, which leads to a fight where Steve fights by Bucky’s side. Following the arrest of Steve, Bucky, Sam, and T’Challa, Zemo poses as a psychiatrist and sends Bucky on a rampage, where Steve manages to sneak Bucky away with Sam’s help. From there we see Steve form a team after no one believes them about Bucky’s innocence, and then the two of them going after Zemo, where they are met by Tony and form a temporary truce until it’s revealed Bucky, while under HYDRA’s control, killed Tony’s parents. From there we enter a fight, where Steve didn’t hesitate to fight against Tony, his friend and teammate, in order to protect Bucky. In addition, you can see how much harder Steve fights after Tony blows off Bucky’s arm. Once the fight is over, Steve leaves with Bucky, dropping the shield and with it the Captain America mantle. No matter how much it must have hurt, Steve supports Bucky in his decision to go into cryogenic sleep until a cure is found for his brainwashing.
Steve spends most of the MCU losing Bucky and then chasing Bucky, so why, after so many years of this, would he leave the moment he finally has Bucky again? And this time for good?
Steve’s entire story theme is moving on. It’s seen in nearly every movie he’s in, including Endgame, where one of our first scenes with him is him leading a therapy group about moving on and not living in the past. Does this rule just not apply to Steve? To live in the present instead of the past because the past can only hurt our future? The entire message of Steve’s character is focus on the present, don’t live in the past, and instead look towards the future, it has been built up since his entrance to the MCU, why would he erase all of it to return to the past? Going against the entire point of his journey?
Now, if anyone deserves to be a bit selfish, it’s Steve; who always seems to put someone else above himself. Yet, he knew Peggy had gotten married, had kids, and lived a very happy life. He knew Peggy, despite Steve’s ‘death’, had moved on and lived without allowing it to bring her back. Instead of accepting this, he instead went back to the past and built a life with Peggy, ignoring her husband and children and how happy she was with her life. It’s not like it’s impossible for Steve to be happy in the future, with Bucky, Sam, and the Avengers. He could have gotten married and had children with anyone, continued the life he’d been building since waking up from the ice, yet he didn’t, as if he believed the only way to have a happy life was with Peggy and no one else, even if it meant leaving behind everything he’d done and everyone he had met during his years in the 21st century, including his best friends Bucky and Sam. Obviously he didn’t leave forever, but the Steve that came back was very different, both in body and mind.
Speaking from experience, I couldn’t imagine leaving my best friend, everything I’ve done, for the chance to redo a past I messed up, to have a different chance at happiness with a person I once loved. My entire life revolves around the idea of moving on, looking towards the future, focusing on the present, and not living in the past, much like Steve’s does.
The future built up for Steve, of moving on and living in the present instead of the past, was a major theme of the MCU for many characters. Everyone else managed to do it, Wanda after Pietro and Vision, Pepper after Tony, Clint after Natasha, Bruce after Betty and the Hulk, Bucky after his time as the Winter Soldier, Thor after losing everyone and his home, but Steve, who reinforced the idea constantly, instead of following through, took the first opportunity he had and ignored every part of what he’s told everyone else to do, leaving the present, forgetting the future, and living back in the past without thought.
