I’m with you. I found the ending regressive and the message it sends was just... so hurtful to me personally. I’ve always viewed Steve as a message of hope that you can overcome insurmountable loss and grief and make a life for yourself. Moving on is a huge part of the character. I hear that it’s MCU, not 616, but I will always find that aspect of the character 10x more loving narratively than what we got. There’s a reason this is the only time we’ve seen him make this choice in a canon...
Pleased to hear that you feel similarly about the ending. You’re someone in the fandom whose opinions and thoughts I’ve always enjoyed reading and respected : )
it just makes a lot of steve’s arc in the MCU feel kind of pointless, tbh. Like in the Winter Soldier, we see Steve learning to come to terms with the present and accept it and find some good in it through the people. Does none of that matter to him anymore? What was if he’s just going to give up on what he learned and the people that he fought for, aka Bucky, in that movie?
I’m trying to let the MCU be it’s own thing and not be like “blah blah, 616 did this, and AA did that” but it’s just like you said, there’s a reason this is the only time we’ve seen this idea come to fruition, despite the theme presenting itself in other verses. The only Steve I could legitimately see with and maybe agree with making this choice is Ults!Steve with Gail, but even then, only in like the first half of his canon. He also was REALLY in love with her -- he was going to marry her! MCU Steve never really got the chance to explore his love for Peggy, so I get why he’d be tempted. But I still find it disheartening that he’d give up everything to chase an idea of a what could be.