The following story contains spoilers from Avengers: Endgame.
When the latest Marvel Studios movie drew to a close, Captain America (Chris Evans) embarked on one final mission. He agreed to be the one who traveled back in time to return the Infinity Stones from the moments in which they were borrowed, thereby eliminating any multiverses that might have sprung away from the main timeline.
In doing so, this means that Cap had to travel to the remote planet of Vormir to return the Soul Stone. And that should mean that Steve Rogers would encounter – for the first time in decades – the arch-nemesis who helped bury him in the ice way back in 1945: Red Skull. We have seen the Skull in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, where he stands guard over the pit where a sacrifice must be made to retrieve the Stone. So when ReelBlend sat down with Joe and Anthony Russo to talk Endgame spoilers, we asked if this meant that Cap encountered Red Skull again, and what the rules of Soul Stone returns actually are:
Joe Russo: He would have to encounter Red Skull. And nobody knows what the rules are when you return the Soul Stone.Anthony Russo: Nobody knows. But knowing Red Skull, he probably has a no-money-back policy.
Captain America’s final trip through time is the biggest gap in storytelling that Avengers: Endgame doesn’t bother to address. Hulk sends Cap back in time using the technology that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) perfected. And he expects to bring Steve Rogers back… only, that doesn’t happen.
Instead, Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) notice that Old Man Rogers is waiting for him. It turns out, after returning the Stones, Cap decided to go back in time and live his life in full with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), and choosing not to elaborate on the steps that he took to bring the Stones back.
That leaves a LOT of story left to tell, and Marvel actually has ways to tell it. After all, with Disney+ as a new streaming service, Marvel fans already expect to see new stories branching out from Avengers: Endgame starring Tom Hiddleston as Loki, as well as Stan and Mackie. Why couldn’t Chris Evans choose to keep playing Captain America, just going on adventures in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and beyond?
Also, Marvel Studios easily could bring back the One Shots that they used to include on DVDs and Blu-rays. Who doesn’t want to see a short film that shows Steve encountering Red Skull, one last time?
The Russo brothers confirm that the meeting takes place in their version of the story, but they stop short from telling us when we might ever see it happen. To hear the rest of our conversation with the brothers, where we talk all things SPOILERY for Avengers: Endgame, press play on this bonus segment of the ReelBlend podcast.
As for Avengers: Endgame, that blockbuster is shattering records left and right, passing $2 billion in 11 days. Staggering. Have you seen it yet? What did you think?
