Viewers were kept on their toes as Loki tried stopping certain doom surrounding the Sacred Timeline. The Time Variance Authority spent the entire series trying to stop and prune timeline branches, but fans noticed a discrepancy in the MCU – Captain America and Peggy Carter’s reunion in the final scene of Avengers: Endgame. This led to Marvel fans questioning Steve Rogers and Carter’s alternate reality as it relates to the main timeline. This concern even reached the ears of the series’ director. Now, in the midst of the debate, Loki director Kate Herron has shared on answer regarding whether the beloved Marvel couple’s fate is a nexus event.
With the Time Variance Authority constantly pruning the Sacred Timeline of alternative timelines, it was only natural that fans would have questions about Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter’s alternate-reality marriage. But within Loki, it seemed to be either a blind spot or purposely ignored. However, it would seem Kate Herron has put a lot of thought into the highly debated subject. Herron said about the couple’s fate at the end of Avengers: Endgame:
People are going to be annoyed because it’s not a definitive answer, but also I can only really answer as a fan, right? My theory is this: It comes down to if you’re an optimist or a pessimist. If you’re an optimist, maybe it was okay [for] them living that way, and the branch wasn’t so severe that it didn’t need to be pruned, and that meant that they could stay together. Maybe the romantics can say somehow that managed to exist. And then the pessimists [think], ‘They probably got pruned. [Laughs.]
It's interesting to hear Kate Herron mention two perspectives after the events of Season 1. Both outcomes are definitely plausible when thinking about Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter’s relationship in Endgame’s final scene. The TVA’s mission to keep the Sacred Timeline clean may have cut the couple’s fate short, but given Captain America’s status as a hero, the agency may have ignored the branch. All Cap did was go back in time to reconnect with the woman he loved, after all. That doesn’t seem to be as severe as the other branches viewers witnessed on Loki. But the Loki director wasn’t done giving her thoughts on the beloved MCU couple.
During her recent interview with The Direct, Herron continued to stress that her theory could fall along either side of the fence, depending on fans’ perspectives. Yet the Loki director still seems to be holding her Marvel cards close to the vest regarding a definitive answer on Captain America and Peggy Carter’s reality:
Like if it’s alternate, it would imply that it’s running alongside our main timeline, so yeah. I don’t want to definitively say that they were pruned, but by our logic in the TVA, probably. But maybe where there’s a will there’s a way, and they weren’t too disruptive and managed to live happily ever after.
Kate Herron's sentiments still do give fans something to think about. Given the TVA’s attitude toward timeline branches, Captain America and Peggy Carter’s innocent love story may have been a blip for the mysterious agency. But also, taking into account Marvel Studios' infamous secrecy about future storylines, it may come up in some way (looking at you, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness). Their love story could even come up in Loki Season 2. But in the end, Marvel may just decide to leave it up to viewers' imaginations.
You can stream all of Loki Season 1 on Disney+ now.
