Warning: This article includes some spoilers for “Avengers: Endgame.”
SALT LAKE CITY — In “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Steve Rogers and audiences everywhere learned Peggy Carter, Rogers’ World War II love interest, had a husband and two children.
Turns out, that husband was always Steve Rogers. Let’s unpack that.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely said their intention was always to have Captain America travel back in time to live with Peggy.
"It was always our intention that he was the father of those two children. But again, there are time travel loopholes for that," McFeely said.
It’s also important to note fans have argued about how this moment could actually happen since it seems to break the movie’s time travel rules in favor of “Back to the Future”-style rules.
In the film, it’s stated that any change to the timeline simply results in a new alternate reality forming rather than an alternate future.
However, after Captain America travels back in time to put the Infinity Stones back, he stops off in the past to live his life with Carter. He then returns to the present as an old man to pass on his shield. While there aren’t any apparent changes to the timeline, it remains unclear how Rogers could have directly affected his own reality the way he apparently did.
The Deseret News previously reported that Joe and Anthony Russo, the film’s directors, teased that there “may be a story” when it comes to Rogers’ time travel. Markus also said a possible thread that could later be explored is the fact that two people in the Marvel Cinematic Universe could have super soldier DNA.
So, it’s possible it’s not so much a plot hole here as it is a well-thought-out mystery.
Here are some other highlights, fan theories and facts Markus and McFeely discussed during the interview:
- There was always only one way the Avengers could defeat Thanos — one that led to Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) death.
- The Infinity Gauntlet apparently can’t bring back anybody who’s been “physically” killed. Sorry, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) fans.
- Fan have theorized that Steve Rogers may have been strong enough to use the Gauntlet, but Markus said: “Steve would be toast.”
- No, there aren’t any references to Namor, Marvel’s resident king of the sea. “I wish we were that smart,” Markus said.
- The all-female battle shot toward the end of the film was meant to be a celebration of the characters involved — but was almost cut.
- The beginning of the film features Hawkeye’s wife asking if the Barton family wanted mayo on their hot dogs. Apparently, the writers and directors aren’t sure where the line came from.
- The second half of the interview also reveals dropped concepts, including the “House of M” plot, Scarlet Witch’s mind control powers and Nova’s involvement in “Infinity War.”