Whether Steve Rogers died of old age or not after the events of Avengers: Endgame is an interesting question, but it should remain a mystery in order to preserve the emotional weight of Captain America's well-deserved farewell. When a character is so perfectly cast, written, and brought to life by an actor, it's certainly tough to come up with a definitive sendoff that does them justice. Ideally, all the MCU actors fans know and love would have enough time to live through countless live-action adaptations of iconic storylines from the comics. However, actors eventually need to hang the cape and move on.

Chris Evans' Steve Rogers, specifically, could have remained the leader of the Avengers for a long time after defeating Thanos and bringing back all the victims of the Snap. But Captain America's decision to prioritize his own desires for the first time and go back in time to live with Peggy Carter worked as a perfect conclusion to his character arc. The fact that Steve lived long enough to retire and pass on the torch to Sam Wilson is just icing on the cake, as it proves that the end of a character's journey doesn't necessarily entail death. Still, there's the remote possibility that Steve Rogers will find the way to revert his aging and pick up the shield once again. After all, that's exactly what he did after he became an old man in the comics.

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While the former Captain America could easily ask Hulk and Scott Lang to help him restore his youth with the time machine prototype they used in Avengers: Endgame, Steve Rogers' return could cause a problem for his onscreen journey and the MCU as a whole. After a few hypothetical appearances, a future movie or show would need to craft yet another appropriate farewell, which could fail to meet the emotional significance of his final scenes from Avengers: Endgame. On top of that, a second farewell would have to go out of its way to confirm that it is definitive, otherwise, the door would be left open for endless appearances. If the MCU keeps Captain America’s fate ambiguous, it sets the precedent that major characters don't need to be killed off when their actor retires.

Old man steve Avengers Endgame plot hole Steve rogers retired life peggy

One highlight in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is that Steve Rogers' Captain America legacy is the crux of the conflict, and yet, the Disney+ series never confirmed whether Steve died. These kinds of inconclusive details allow fans to come up with their own interpretations and provide different ways to watch an MCU installment. At the same time, they prevent major events from being changed for the sake of shock value. Similar to Captain America, Iron Man's death is sending ripples through the entire MCU in Phase 4. Bringing back Robert Downey Jr. to play a Tony Stark variant that survived Avengers: Endgame's final battle is technically possible, but it would take away from what made Iron Man's death such an important event.

Whether Steve Rogers is dead or alive is not as important as the fact that his MCU story is over. Captain America lives on in the form of a mantle, which Sam Wilson has now picked up with pride. The MCU story of major characters like Hawkeye, Hulk, Thor, Loki, Doctor Strange, and even Peter Parker will eventually have to end, and not all of them will necessarily have to be killed off for this to happen. A peaceful retirement is possible, and Captain America's farewell in Avengers: Endgame proves it.

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