rant time cus I finally got around to watching avengers endgame and the ending with steve SUCKS
from what I know I think they needed a reason to not have Steve/Captain America v1 show up again cus of contract shit which sure, but there are much better IN CHARACTER ways to do that
first of all: Peggy is great and all but that whole plot line is at most a 'I dated her in highschool' level of relationship. he kissed like 1 time
second: he loves bucky way to much for that. just no. even if u somehow, trhough and enormous amount of homophobia and heteronormativity think that they aren't in love and don't at any point think about marrying eachother when they find out thats legal, their bond is far to strong to be sacrificed by steve for peggy. no.
third: remember all of age of ultron? that part where it's essentially implied that steve can't age? whered that go marvel??
fourth: same movie, different aspect: "God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war." -Ultron. He deserves to retire yes but 1) theres no way he actually would (this is the kid from brooklyn who fought when he could barely breathe) 2) he would want to be around just in case (remember half of the reason he took issue with the accords? "What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us?" -Steve) he would stay in his time just in case he's needed 3) he should retire with bucky, the only person whose been there for almost every part of his life, or at least somewhere where bucky is involved
so, my solution?
he comes back, gives the sheild to sam, finds a place to have a home where bucky would also live whenever he wasnt busy with his stuff, and ignores the outside world except for major updates (think he has a single phone with numbers to all the important people but otherwise he can just live his artist life inside his house and get updates from bucky on when he'll be home next)
the closest to in character that I think we would ever see of Steve "fighting bullies since I couldn't breathe right and running into war to save my best friend against orders twice" Rogers retiring and not showing up again
and this is only really an option cus I understand that actors cannot stay with one movie franchise for their whole career and everyone would notice if you switched out chris evans
sorry if there are and spelling errors I needed to get this typed put before I forgot it all lol
if the infinity stones can make people who were already alive dead and they can make people who were previously dead alive and the TVA has a giant stack of infinity stone just sitting there and its established that the stones can control if someone lives or dies then technically marvel could easily bring the dead heros who are ‘for good’ dead back to life without complications in this essay i will-
I know many people are hyping up Steve/Peggy’s relationship to give credibility to the ending of Endgame and Steve’s decision to go back, and even some Stucky shippers are saying that it was understandable and warranted because Steve had such a hard life. And Steve never fully moved on after being frozen and waking up 70 years later, so he was never able to be happy and stop fighting and enjoy his new reality.
But....
Bucky had a horrible life, in the 70 years HE lost, he was actually going through horrendous things, unspeakable acts, torture, utter loneliness, loss of his entire mind to the control of others.
And yet....he somehow moved on? Or is expected to in the post-Endgame aftermath? Like everyone just says ‘Well he’ll move on and find happiness.”
WHY ISN’T STEVE HELD TO THAT? Everyone in the Avengers has lost something and someone, and yet Steve gets to go back to the past and change the entire past of a woman who DID move on, and who had an entire show dedicated to her learning to move on and stop being defined by Steve, and yet he gets to go back in time and pull her from it? Erase all that growth and take away the family and husband she had after she finally got over Steve, and live out his own dreams?
Why are Peggy and Bucky so defined by Steve in these movies? Peggy finally became her own person apart from Steve and then they said SIKE and sent him back to change that????
Bucky was literally forced into growth and moving on after Steve left him behind, and yet even still he’s relegated to ‘Steve’s best friend’ and then “Capain Americas sidekick” even in TFATWS!
Why WHY does Steve get to “not move on” for all his years outside of the ice, but everyone else needs to?? Peggy was praised for moving on in Agent Carter, but Steve doesn’t need to do the same? Part of growth is living in reality, and living in reality means accepting reality and accepting the fact that life is what it is, and if you want it to change you have to do something about it, not run back to the past where things were easier, and you didn’t have to face the pain of moving on.
It KILLS ME that Bucky is here fighting his demons and moving on through therapy, and making amends and giving closure to things he wasn’t even guilty of consciously doing, and basically getting told by everyone that he needs to “make up” for all his wrongdoings as a brainwashed asset, meanwhile Steve gets to pull the “I had a hard life and never moved on so everyone should be happy for me getting to go back in the past and not have to every fully move on and accept my new life”.
I honestly feel like the speech Sam gave to Bucky while they were practicing with the shield is a speech he should’ve given to Steve x1000000.
Anyways, kudos to Bucky for fighting through those demons on a daily basis, and still STILL fighting his ass off for the country, even after everything he’s been through, and choosing to move on even though so much of his life was stolen. I will never understand the double standard between Bucky vs. Steve.
Steve's ending is,,,,, questionable I can't deny. But I have not ever seen a single person bring up the fact that no-one could know he was alive
Presuming this is the actual Canon past, only like Peggy could know about it obviously, so what the fuck did they do???
'aye Peggy when am I gonna meet ur husband'
'work, life balance is incredibly important, Howard, so never. '
(it's only when she gets pregnant that they realise that he actually does in fact exist)
Alternatively, we have a Jane Eyre situation.
where we got Peggy with house guests and there's just a thump in the cellar and everyone is like?????? What was that????? And Peggy has to just go WE HAVE A POLTERGEIST but don't worry he's harmless
The ghost becomes common legend amongst S. H. I. E. L. D
In conclusion I'd watch the shit out of romantic comedy of steve and Peggy navigating keeping Steve secret from literally everyone.
Peggy Carter in Agent Carter: metaphorically lets Steve go by dropping his blood sample
Peggy Carter in Agent Carter, season 2: "I've learned that dwelling on what might have been... it's no way to live."
Peggy Carter in CATWS: "The world has changed and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best that we can do is to start over."
Steve Rogers in AAOU: "Family, stability. The guy who wanted all that went in the ice seventy-five years ago. I think someone else came out. [...] I'm home."
What if Sebastian Stan is done filming the Falcon & Winter Soldier TV show and he’s like “welp, nothing they can do about it now” and found the first anti-endgame ending post to share somewhere else so we could all know how he actually felt about it? 🤔
Or maybe there was something about it said on set and he acted impulsively. 😂
Description: An alternative Endgame ending with Steve Rogers and female reader. Originally written for my friend @marmariavel .
His actual ending makes no sense without the build-up that was necessary for it and I wanted to fix it.
Pairing: Steve Rogers x female!reader
M A S T E R L I S T
Hurt, bleeding, angry and 100% willpower.
Words describing Steve after Thanos had just fought him for the second time ever and this time he's not gonna back up.
His angry face went to you for a second and you could see the giant split in the skin on his arm.
"Fasten it!" you yelled. He saw you look down to his arm and did as you said.
The pain on his face when he fastened the shield on his arm hurt you from just watching. His face was on Thanos and Thor that were fighting.
With a look at you and a tone that was so silent and serious that he was creepy to you, he said, "Whatever it takes!"
He held his hand out and seconds later Mjölnir flew into it with shock on your face, that you tried to play off before running to Thor, while Steve was fighting with Thanos.
______
He looked at you & then the army on the horizon.
"Whatever it takes, Steve." you looked at him, knowing this was probably your last calm moment together forever.
"Whatever it takes." he got a strand of hair out of your face.
"I lo-" he started but you were interrupted by your earpieces.
"Cap? Captain? Do you copy?" light was building behind you and you slowly turned around "On your left!"
You looked at each other in awe and then saw more and more portals open up. Armies, multiple armies, just filling up this side of the horizon.
Tears built up in your eyes as you looked back at Steve which made you hold them back. There was a battle to be fought.
"AVENGERS!" everyone around you went into fighting positions.
"Assemble." he almost growled and with a gigantic scream, the army clashed towards the little valley between the hills of rubble.
"Y/N!" Shuri screamed and threw you some tech you've been trying out 5 years ago before she went missing.
"Don't disappoint me, sister." she smiled while shooting an alien before running towards the next.
Fire started going off shortly after and you were jumped and pushed to the ground next to a big piece of metal from the collapsed compound.
"Today isn't a day to die, Mini-Steve." Bucky said into your ear. He was back, he was here. You needed to hold back a squeal of happiness.
The fire started to shoot at the sky all of a sudden.
"What-" he mumbled but saw the flying person.
Your heart eyes towards the sky were what he saw next.
"Carol, you fucking badass." a grin appeared on your face.
Everyone watched the ship go down in less than a minute.
"Danvers, we need an assist here." you both heard Steve and stood up.
Right in front of you was a pretty beat up Peter.
"Hey...I'm Peter...Parker."
"Hey, Peter Parker. I heard you got something for me."
You stood up when he said he didn't know how she would be able to get through the whole battlefield.
"Don't worry."
"She's got help," Okoye said with her usual powerful stance.
A group of women built around Peter and Carol and you joined in.
_____
You stood there with Shuri when an absolute silence was laid upon the battlefield.
"Tony..." your eyes were not able to hold back the tears after that whisper.
Clint went on his knee, T'Challa did the same, so did Shuri, Bucky, Sam, you fell to your knees and saw Steve do the same.
You both just lost another person that was part of your family.
_____
After he was all healed up, the heart-shattering funeral was over and Bruce had recovered, Steve needed to bring back the stones.
"How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you." Bucky said and then Steve went to hug you.
"I love you," you whispered the one thing you wanted him to know for the last 4 years. You knew the chances of him maybe staying back in time. You hated that idea and his eyes were so uncertain when you saw him go up the stage.
5 seconds later & he didn't come back. With Sam mildly freaking out at Bruce and Bucky turning away you stood there with silent tears running down your face. He left. You didn't know what to feel, all you felt was making you lose a sob.
1 minute. It took one damn minute for him to come back to the stage. You sat on the floor in pieces, Bruce and Sam were looking at the tech and Bucky had taken a walk down the path they came from.
The suit came off and a "Y/N?" came out.
You looked up and your eyes widened.
"Sorry, took longer than I thought." he smiled and pulled you up into his arms.
"Fuck you for scaring me." you boxed his arms in the hug.
"Thank you for ruining my plans and saving them at the same time." a kiss landed in your hair.
"What do you mean?" you looked up.
A sound came from the stage behind him.
"A soul for a soul. Soulstone against the soul of my partner in crime." he smiled and the helmet went off of the person behind him.
"NAT!" you almost pushed Steve away to hug her as tight as you could.
"You missed me?" she had her usual smirk across her face.
"So much. Especially when all women teamed up against our purple asshole." now you had tears of joy.
"Wow. Can't believe you left me out of that." she joked.
"You made it possible." you hugged her even tighter before letting her go to let Sam and Bruce hug her.
Bucky noticed what happened and made his way back.
"That was not the plan you told me, punk." he boxed him and hugged him.
"Sam?" Steve said serious and made him turn to him.
"Steve?" he smiled.
"There is a shield waiting for you in Wakanda. I lost too many people to continue this with a good feeling and there is no person I'd rather see take my job." he smiled at him and Sam’s jaw was on the floor.
"You- I can't. What?" he got out.
"What do we do now, Cap?" you smiled at Sam and a flustered smiled made its way onto his face.
"We take a break and help Pepper and the government after." he shrugged.
"I really could go for one of Pepper's sandwiches right now," Nat said.
"You can scare the shit out of everyone in that house right now." you smiled at her.
"I'll just walk into the kitchen and see." she giggled.
_____
A scream came from the kitchen of the house shortly after. You and the men giggled like school children at Pepper having a mild meltdown at Nat.
"You can't just do that!" she had quickly calmed down.
You all came in totally chill and greeted them normally.
"Shit. You're gonna give me a heart attack someday." Pepper held onto the counter.
"Clint will be scared out of his mind." an evil chuckle came from Nat as she bit down on the sandwich. The following hours were spent catching Natasha up on everything that happened. Tears made their way over her face, a rare occurrence before the snap but Steve and you were used to it a bit by now.
_____
You were sitting at the little lake with Steve, Bucky & Morgan. She was a mild but curious child and honestly fitting the group very well.
Your feet were in the water and Morgan was switching from lap to lap every few minutes.
She sat in yours when she asked, "Will my daddy ever come back?"
The two men tensed up at the question and you needed to hold back tears but you could answer.
"He's never completely gone. He's all around you. He made this whole world save for you and you always have a piece of him with you. Inside of your heart." you pointed at her chest and she smiled up.
"You sound like him and mommy, Auntie Y/N." she giggled and a big smile came across your face.
"Gonna get some more drinks," Bucky said and left.
You knew exactly what he was doing here but you didn't mind.
"Do you think Auntie Y/N should have a baby that you can play with someday?" you asked her softly.
"Yes." she had one of those entire body smiles.
"A boy or a girl?" you asked back and saw Steve smile at you both in your peripheral vision.
"A girl." she smiled before climbing to Steve's lap again.
"What hair color would she have, Morgan?" you continued asking and she pointed up at Steve's hair.
You didn't miss the tiny hint of blush creeping up onto his face.
"And which eye color?" you asked.
"Blue." she giggled.
"And would she a princess or a superhero?" you asked with a content smile.
"A princess superhero." she clapped.
"And what would be her power?"
"She could do the things you can do and the things Uncle Steve can do and the things Uncle Sam can do and everything Aunt Nat can do," she said with a concentrated face. Steve and you looked at each other with a shy smile.
"I wanna go to mommy." she quickly got up and started running.
"Slowly, Morgan. You don't wanna fall!" you loudly said but she was already close enough to the house.
"She's the sweetest kid ever." he smiled and shook his head.
"You're good with her." you smiled.
A blush crept up again "I guess. But you're a natural."
"Steve?"
"Hm?"
"Just say it." your soft, knowing and encouraging smile made his heart jump.
"I love you." he smiled.
"I love you too. Idiot." you rolled your eyes before finally leaning in for a kiss.
"Never thought there would be a cure for all my grief," he mumbled against your lips.
"You're finally accepting that you're in the now. Not in the past. You were in that bargaining and depression phase for longer than I've ever seen someone be in it. Glad to help, soldier." you winked and he pulled you onto his lap.
"I love you," he said again.
"Since when?"
"The day I met you in Shuri's lab 5 years ago." he smiled and connected your lips again.
"That's a long time to build up the courage." you ruined the moment and made the both of you laugh.
