We knew going into Avengers: Endgame that we would be walking out of it saddened to realize we had just seen the last of at least one iconic MCU character. In the months and years that followed, we kept hearing rumors that Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans might reprise their Iron Man and Captain America roles in future MCU movies. We learned how Marvel could bring back any dead Avengers without ruining Endgame’s legacy. And we saw fans asking for a Steve Rogers story that would be so amazing to watch.
It turns out that Marvel has already considered telling the story we all want to see, but it doesn’t yet know how to pull it off.
Infinity War made it clear that Marvel isn’t afraid to show the audience the stakes become more and more real as the story progresses. Marvel killed half of our favorite heroes in the film and told us those deaths were final, and we should accept them. It turns out that Marvel didn’t exactly lie. The heroes who were blipped were gone for five years. And the ones who died before the blip stayed dead even after Hulk resurrected everyone.
Endgame then delivered more than we bargained for. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers were always expected to be among the victims of whatever confrontations came their way. And fans suspected others might be harmed, especially since someone had to recover that Soul Stone. But we could not have foreseen that Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) would be the one to die. With Nat and Tony dead, and Steve retired, Endgame concluded a massive era for Marvel, opening the doors to a new set of Avengers adventures that would need new heroes.
But Endgame left several loose ends that could be covered in additional stories. We never saw how the world experienced Hulk’s (Mark Ruffalo) blip, and WandaVision delivered that moment. And we never saw what Loki (Tom Hiddleston) did after he escaped, but the Loki series started fixing all that.
There’s still one more untold Endgame story we’re dying to see, as it would finally explain one of the film’s biggest controversies. How did Steve return the Infinity Stones and Mjolnir? Where did he retire after completing that final mission?
Marvel answered that second question officially, addressing the matter a few different times. Steve stayed behind in a different reality where he finally got to dance with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and marry her. A leaker who claims they had provided “the most complete and accurate rundown of Endgame” has now returned to Reddit with a vast collection of Marvel secrets. Among them was a tidbit that Marvel wanted to make a TV show about Steve Rogers returning the Infinity Stones after Endgame.
Marvel reportedly reacted to fan feedback, but it ultimately could not find the right way to tell the story. Rogers’s arc was completed in Endgame, so there’s no emotional arc left for him:
Due to fan feedback, the idea of a Captain America Returns the Infinity Stones show did go through ideation. The crux of why it is currently not moving forward is there is no heart to show. Everyone agrees watching Cap return the stones (1 each episode) could be fun, but that is not a story. There is no emotional arc for him if at [its] core it is a reverse fetch quest. The most popular idea was that he would return the Soul Stone first, where Red Skull would warn him of the path he is headed on. From there, Red Skull would join Cap returning the stones as a way to redeem himself and return his own soul to him/free himself from being keeper of the Soul Stone. But his inevitable turn (he is Red Skull after all) never made sense either, and no other villains were considered.
Emotional arc or not, seeing Evans reprise his Steve Rogers role for this particular story would be excellent. And Marvel could probably find a way to tell this story so that it makes sense for the overall MCU storyline.
Other Marvel rumors claim that Evans will still return to the MCU, although he might not play Cap again. After all, that position was just filled. Remember though, that as we dive deeper into the multiverse, we could end up seeing a different Steve Rogers in the MCU.
