Everything we've seen post-Endgame is a different universe.
Hear me out.
The thing is, we've met an old man Cap which, according to the Ancient One from the very same movie, would be impossible cuz it's not how time travel works in the MCU. As Hulk said: "Changing the past doesn't change your future"
In the original timeline (let's call it Earth-1) Steve was active during the war, then he crushed the plane and was frozen for decades. In 2011 he was found, brought back to life and blah blah blah, we all know that. After the Avengers defeated Thanos, Cap left with the Stones and never came back. That's it.
During his adventures with Infinity Stones he decided to stay with Peggy, and by doing that he created a new timeline (Earth-2). Before the plane crash everything went pretty much the same as Earth-1, but then, a couple of years later Steve just showed up and lived the rest of his life in peace. That creates a problem.
First of all, if Endgame finale is set on Earth-1, Sam would never meet an old man Steve bacause in this timeline there is no old man Steve. That would only be possible on Earth-2.
On the other hand, we don't know what happened to Earth-2's original Cap. Let's say, Steve-1 somehow kept his comeback a secret from everyone except Peggy. For me it looks like the most logical scenario, since only in this case Steve-2's life would be the same as we all know. But it seems so out of character. I can't believe our Cap would just sit there and watch everything that happened with SHIELD/Hydra, Bucky, Thanos, etc. and then he's just "ah, fuck it! I wanna pass my shield to Sam". But I digress.
Anyway, whatever happened on Earth-2, according to time-travel rules set in Endgame, the movie finale couldn't happen on Earth-1. Although I doubt that they intended to do it, most likely they're just fucked up their own narrative, it's just amazing that they managed to do it in the same damn movie. That's why you should never touch such a sensitive topic as time-travel unless you're absolutely know what you're doing.
What are you, guys, thinking?
The thing is, we've met an old man Cap which, according to the Ancient One from the very same movie, would be impossible cuz it's not how time travel works in the MCU. As Hulk said: "Changing the past doesn't change your future"
In the original timeline (let's call it Earth-1) Steve was active during the war, then he crushed the plane and was frozen for decades. In 2011 he was found, brought back to life and blah blah blah, we all know that. After the Avengers defeated Thanos, Cap left with the Stones and never came back. That's it.
During his adventures with Infinity Stones he decided to stay with Peggy, and by doing that he created a new timeline (Earth-2). Before the plane crash everything went pretty much the same as Earth-1, but then, a couple of years later Steve just showed up and lived the rest of his life in peace. That creates a problem.
First of all, if Endgame finale is set on Earth-1, Sam would never meet an old man Steve bacause in this timeline there is no old man Steve. That would only be possible on Earth-2.
On the other hand, we don't know what happened to Earth-2's original Cap. Let's say, Steve-1 somehow kept his comeback a secret from everyone except Peggy. For me it looks like the most logical scenario, since only in this case Steve-2's life would be the same as we all know. But it seems so out of character. I can't believe our Cap would just sit there and watch everything that happened with SHIELD/Hydra, Bucky, Thanos, etc. and then he's just "ah, fuck it! I wanna pass my shield to Sam". But I digress.
Anyway, whatever happened on Earth-2, according to time-travel rules set in Endgame, the movie finale couldn't happen on Earth-1. Although I doubt that they intended to do it, most likely they're just fucked up their own narrative, it's just amazing that they managed to do it in the same damn movie. That's why you should never touch such a sensitive topic as time-travel unless you're absolutely know what you're doing.
What are you, guys, thinking?
Commentaires
*The Marvels credit scene the obvious exception.
The second timeline was created the moment Steve-1 decided to stay with Peggy.
Anyway, someone in the comments made a pretty decent point about what really happened. Look for leashii's comment. I think it's the most logical explanation.
I used 1 and 2 just to make it easier to understand my point. Also Earths labelling in the MCU is broken as well
Comics and live action MCU are different multiverses. There are universes that have the possibility to meet within some same existence, but narratively they exist on different planes within the omniverse. This is known because America Chavez has no variants even though she exists outside of other mediums.
Endgame only scratches the surface of time travel and how it works (confined within the bounds of the Quantum Realm and the existence of the infinity stones).
Loki or even Endgame itself do not “break these rules”. They just add more lore and understanding.
So, timeline 1 is our main one, the one where all the movies happen. At the end of endgame, timeline 1 steve travels to the past, which creates timeline 2, where Steve lives the peaceful life with peggy.
I'd guess him being there is a secret, with only some people in the know, like Peggy and maybe howard stark.
Maybe he even makes sure to inform the right people of the things that he knows might happen to ensure the worst can be prevented, but we don't know that for sure.
After a while, timeline 1 Steve leaves timeline 2 to go back to timeline 1, because he knows that's where he belongs, probably shortly before timeline 2 Steve is found and thawed out and all that.
He travels to a point in time shortly before he originally left timeline 1, waits to see himself leave, then sits down on the bench and waits for sam to spot him.
1) he went back to "Earth 1" past and lived a full life with Peggy, but kept it quiet. So references to her husband were actually to Steve, etc.
2) he went back to a the past but doing so changed events creating a branched timeline, eg "Earth 2". In this timeline he could have been open as Cap for all we know, and destroyed Hydra in the 40s. Regardless, at some point, as an old man, he travels to "Earth 1" and gives Sam the shield.
My only two quibbles with either option would be:
a) if he does just "keep quiet" that feels rather out of character for Steve, especially as he knows somewhere Bucky is being tortured by Hydra
b) is he really just going to leave the "other" him trapped and frozen in the ice? And if he does find him, will he defrost him? Will he revive him? Hasn't he sort of technically stolen the life of this other Steve Rogers?
If he stops Bucky from being tortured, he just creates an alternate Bucky, he doesn't save his Bucky from being tortured. He just creates a world without super powered Bucky, potentially creating an alternate timeline tht turns out worse.
This goes for literally everything.
Also, he can get involve on the small stuff like fighting Hydra and maybe rescuing some Widows, he just can't get involve with anything or anyone that involves the Infinity Stones which Bucky does count techinally.