Alright so cause I’m hot of the press of A:EG I’ve got some thoughts on Steven motherfucking Rogers.
a) Yes. His ending was disappointing. It was reductionistic for him as a character and only emotionally satisfying if you’re maybe under the age of ten. If you want emotional complexity in your character arc resolution, sorry charlie, it’s not to be found here.
b) I’m okay with it. Why am I okay with it? Because I’m gonna be real, all emotional complexity and true, deep, potent character development for Steve Rogers was laid softly to rest after the Winter Soldier. I say this as someone who loves Steve with my entire heart as soul, but his complexity and persuasion died the moment Marvel picked up on the fact that Stucky was gaining a popular following and no-homo’d him directly back into the forties (by the end of Endgame, quite literally) The Steve I love was already gone. He had a good two movie run and that was enough to carry me though even if I was only going to be sustained by snippets and suggestions of the character I would die for.
c) All that being said, I’m okay with Steve’s ending because he’s still alive. Because they could have taken Steve’s heartbreaking, self-sacrificing life and culminated his story with one more sad, hollow sacrifice that would finally take the character I loved away with no emotional fulfillment. But because we get this little gift- the little bit of wiggle room- I can continue doing with Steve’s story what I’ve been doing since the winter soldier: filling in the gaps the way Steve would be proud to have them filled in. It’s not much. it’s a little hollow- it’s a little “dissapointed-not-surprised,” but if I want to bend the rules of time travel a little bit and imagine that Steve went back and had his dance with Peggy and then went on to raise hell fighting for what was right in a time when a lot was wrong, I can do that. I can believe he saved Bucky and spent his life with him. I can imagine he and Bucky and Peggy lived in happy, healthy polyamory if that’s what I’m in the mood to entertain. Even beyond the past, I can imagine Steve grocery shopping in the background of Sam and Bucky’s co-adventures, and clipping in to their coms to make shitty jokes to them while they’re in the middle of battles. I can still do that because Steve’s still alive. Because I don’t have to say “what if he wasn’t dead.” I can just say what if he did whatever the hell he wanted?
Which is really what Steve deserves.














