Marvel Rants

12

Okay. This has been a long time coming.

Let's talk about Steve's ending in Endgame.

I ship Steve and Peggy so hard that, when I first saw the movie, I was thrilled. I thought it was perfect. Then, I started hearing people complaining about it, and while I dismissed them at first, I eventually, especially after I saw it for the second time, saw that they really did have a point.

When it comes to him leaving Bucky, let's make a few things clear. First, Bucky knew what he was gonna do. That's very clear in the movie... I honestly don't know how people overlooked it. Second, one thing I'm sure of is that Steve never planned to leave Bucky behind. I guarantee the conversation started with, "Buck! I found a way back! We can go back... Back to our time, back to everyone we love! Isn't that amazing?" And then Steve was shocked when Bucky, after thinking about it, said he was going to stay.

Bucky knew how important it was to have someone who always had your back, because he and Steve had been that for each other forever. So, he decided to stay and be that for Sam. He didn't feel like he had a place in the 40's anymore... He didn't have Peggy waiting for him, and he'd seen and done and been through too much to go back to his old life. So, he decided to stay, and continue being what he'd been for his entire life... A loyal best friend.

He would never ask Steve to stay, and when (because I'm sure he did) Steve said he'd stay with Bucky, he wouldn't have had any of it. He would have already seen how excited Steve was, and he wouldn't allow him to give that up. Steve was ready to retire... Bucky wasn't. I don't think that part was well-scripted when it came to Steve, but I do think that the reason he seemed to be okay with leaving Bucky was just that he was so used to losing people that he'd become a champion at walking through the grieving process. We see that in a lot of Endgame.

Bucky had lost a lot too, but he'd never been allowed the time that Steve had in the last five years to learn how to process it so well. He'd always been rushed through everything or brainwashed or whatever else, and for once he had nothing to do next, and he was just left with the loss of his best friend. So yes, he was upset. But I can tell you now it wasn't Steve's intention to leave Bucky, and he would have stayed if Bucky had asked, and probably if Bucky hadn't insisted he go.

But I think that's a lesser issue than Steve's character arch and what his choice did to it.

Overall, I do think that the Russos did a pretty poor job of writing Steve in Endgame, other than making him worthy to lift the hammer. I don't really understand how they wrote Winter Solider and Civil War and then came to the conclusion that, that was how to end his arch. Steve losing Peggy and seeming to let go, or at least be in that process, is pretty much negated by him jumping back as soon as he can. I mean, these were the same people who thought that him and Sharon Carter was a good idea (insert gagging noises), so I guess they didn't always make good decisions, but Winter Soldier particularly was just such a good movie with such a deep arch that continued perfectly in Civil War, and the Endgame writing of Steve just wasn't on par with those those incredible movies.

The Sharon thing should have told us that the Russos thought that Steve was incapable of letting go of Peggy. Because I ship them so incredibly hard, it's hard for me to be displeased with this, yet I am. So maybe we should have seen it coming (if you didn't read that the first time or go back and read it a second time in Pietro's voice I have nothing to say to you), but I personally didn't, and I don't think many stans did. We said, hey, wouldn't that be nice? Without really thinking it would ever happen. Maybe we justified that by saying it was too good to be true, but I think it was more than that.

Steve stans have gotten incredibly good at reading between the lines with him, because often the movies do something with his arch half-way, but it's a risky decision so they never commit. I think Steve's mental health is the best example of this. It's clear he has PTSD, I think it's pretty clear he struggles with depression, but they never really get into it. The other prime example is him being a Christian. They give him one line and a lot of honor and never go further.