The journey of Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe came to an end in Avengers: Endgame where the elderly Steve handed the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson. Prior to that, though, Steve had a long stay in the series where his position as the leader had him make many judgment calls.
While his legacy is that of a hero who represents the best a man can be, Steve actually was in the wrong quite a few times as regards his opinion over certain matters and beliefs he held. Of course, he was also very much right several times as well, making it worth taking a look over at how all this played out in the MCU.
Wrong: That Tony Wasn't One To Sacrifice Himself
In The Avengers, Steve and Tony Stark got into a heated argument when Tony kept making fun of S.H.I.E.L.D. and took Bruce Banner’s condition lightly. Here, Steve claimed that Tony was just pretending to be a hero and he would never make a sacrifice for anyone due to his self-involved attitude.
Steve was proven wrong by the end of the movie itself, as Tony guided the nuclear bomb meant to destroy New York through the portal and almost died to save everyone else. He proved beyond any doubt that he was selfless when he took on all the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Endgame to save the universe at the cost of his life.
Right: Bucky & The Winter Soldier Weren't The Same
Steve was the only one who kept faith in Bucky being healed from his mental conditioning at the hands of HYDRA, even when Bucky claimed his Winter Soldier persona was too great for him to overcome. Despite everyone coming for Bucky, Steve stood by his side.
Although he wasn’t there to see it, Bucky did redeem himself in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier where he erased the bad things he’d done as the Winter Soldier to finally become his true self. It was only possible due to Steve’s efforts in making Bucky see that he and the Winter Soldier weren’t the same.
Wrong: The Decision Not To Tell Tony About His Parents' Death
Being a human capable of flawed decisions, Steve made the wrong call when he decided against telling the truth about the deaths of Howard and Maria Stark. He did so initially to protect Tony from the truth of their murder but later held the information to avoid Tony getting revenge from Bucky.
However, this came back to haunt Steve when Helmut Zemo revealed the Winter Solider’s killing of the Starks, leading to Tony feeling betrayed by Steve for never telling him the truth. Had Steve been upfront about it, his friendship would Tony could have been salvaged earlier.
Right: Going With The Time Heist Would Work
As soon as Steve learned from Scott Lang that time travel could be possible through the Quantum Realm, he had decided that it was worth a shot. There were several doubts if this could be possible but Steve rallied the Avengers into believing they could assemble all the Infinity Stones.
As it turned out, he was completely right as the heroes did manage to go through time to successfully pull the Time Heist plot out. While there was collateral damage in the deaths of Black Widow and Tony, their mission of bringing everyone back worked as Steve had claimed it would.
Wrong: Bringing The Vision To Life Wouldn't Work
Tony’s decision to create Ultron without consulting the others made Steve resent him for his lack of honesty and got him to distrust Tony’s other creations. When he found out that Tony and Bruce were going ahead with bringing Ultron’s intended body to life, Steve attempted to stop them.
This led to a scuffle that ended when Thor powered Vision into existence, following which Steve learned that Vision was indeed a benevolent being. Had it not been for his activation, Ultron would never have been destroyed, meaning Steve’s reservations were eventually proven wrong.
Right: The Sokovia Accords Would Take The Avengers' Right To Choose
Due to several of the Avengers’ plans getting botched, the world’s governments decided they would need to be controlled and brought up the Sokovia Accords. Steve was extremely against signing the accords as he claimed they would be controlled as S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA once had and that it would take their right to choose.
Although he turned himself and his factions into fugitives, Steve was right in the long run as Thaddeus Ross’s constant interferences effectively shattered the remaining Avengers and left Earth unprotected when Thanos’ forces invaded.
Wrong: To Place Blind Trust In People Of Authority
During the first half of Steve’s stay in the MCU, he had blind respect for perceived authority. This was the reason why he signed up for the army as he believed the government was always going to do the right thing. He later joined S.H.I.E.L.D. when he felt the same about them.
Steve realized he was wrong to think this way after learning that HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and he’d been following the bad guys. Moreover, the corruption of the World Security Council convinced him that he should place his trust in people he knew rather than authority figures with agendas.
Right: That Sam Was Worthy Of Being Captain America
The final act that Steve did in the MCU was to hand over the Captain America shield to Sam Wilson. It was his belief that Sam embodied all the right qualities and would do it justice even though Sam himself didn’t share this opinion.
As was seen in his character arc in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sam was indeed worthy of being the next Captain America and displayed it best when he put an end to the Flag-Smasher conflict. It turned out that Steve had seen the heroic nature in Sam before the latter could accept it.
Wrong: That The Avengers Would Lose Together
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony defended his creation of Ultron by claiming the Avengers would lose against alien forces. To this, Steve countered that if that would be the case then they would still be together and share this loss.
However, he wasn’t there when Thanos beat the heroes on Titan when their loss meant that he had the Time Stone that Thanos used to take the Mind Stone from Vision and complete the Gauntlet. Tony called Steve out on this in Avengers: Endgame as the reason why he lost faith in him due to his false promises.
Right: That He Would Reunite With Peggy
Steve never really moved on from his true love Peggy in the future and rued the fact that he had promised to reunite with her but was unable to. He had genuinely believed that they could have the dance they wanted, which he finally did follow through with in Avengers: Endgame.
It took him spending over a decade in the future and time-traveling back to the past to keep his promise, but Steve proved he was right in his claim that he and Peggy would indeed be together again.