Captain America going to space for the first time in Avengers: Endgame includes a subtle reference to Iron Man's experience. As the pillars of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark's importance in the ongoing narrative mostly kept Earth as the primary location for the MCU. The cosmic side of the universe was set up through Thor in Phase 1, but it was in The Avengers that it became clear space would play a larger role moving forward, especially with the tease of Thanos as a looming threat.

Thanos' original attempt to conquer Earth, led by Loki, failed in The Avengers when Iron Man sent a missile through the wormhole above New York and destroyed the Chitauri fleet. But, the Mad Titan took matters into his own hands in Avengers: Infinity War to bring balance to the universe. His success in wiping out half of all life across the universe left the remaining MCU heroes in disarray. Once they were reunited in Avengers: Endgame, though, a plan was formed to travel to Titan 2.0 to kill Thanos and get the Infinity Stones so they could undo the snap. This mission sent Captain America, Black Widow, and War Machine to space for the first time.

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When the Avengers fly into space aboard the Benatar and Rocket begins their lightspeed travel, the camera focuses on Captain America as he takes in the wonders of the cosmos. His eyes widen in amazement of this experience as the vibrant colors of space reflect in them. This isn't just a great snapshot of Steve still being in awe of what his life has become, but also mirrors a scene with Iron Man in The Avengers. When he flies the nuke into the wormhole and let's go, his first visit to space is one he believes will end with his death. Instead of a wide-eyed look coming across his face, Tony slowly closes his as he waits for his fate.

Steve Rogers and Tony Stark talk in Endgame

In many ways, this small callback is a perfect summation of the differences between the mindsets of Steve and Tony. Steve is typically more of an optimist and hoping for the best, while Tony is more pessimistic and plans for the worst. Steve is well aware that this mission he's going on is a dangerous one, but he's not going to let that potential fear stop him from taking in a once in a lifetime moment. On the flip side, Tony accepted that death could be the outcome when he took the nuke through the wormhole and was ready to accept this fate. While he survived that moment, Tony did end up sacrificing his life to save everyone in Avengers: Endgame.

And as far as this moment of Captain America going to space goes, it is just the latest example of Avengers: Endgame managing to reference films and moments that came before. Whether or not this specific moment was intentional on the part of directors Anthony and Joe Russo is not confirmed, so this may have been a bit of a coincidence. However, given how much detail is put into Avengers: Endgame and the abundance of callbacks it includes, it wouldn't be too surprising to learn they wanted to replicate the memorable scene from the first Avengers here.

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