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Why Captain America survived ‘Avengers: Endgame’

Chris Evans as Captain America in Endgame
Chris Evans as Captain America in Endgame

WARNING: There are SPOILERS ahead for Avengers: Endgame. So please don’t read ahead unless you’ve seen the blockbuster.

Avengers: Endgame was an emotional rollercoaster for Marvel fans.

The hardest part of the blockbuster to watch was Iron Man using the Infinity Gauntlet to defeat Thanos and his army, which sadly resulted in his death, too. But the shock of watching Robert Downey Jr’s hero die was offset by the fact that Captain America survived.

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It was widely expected that Steve Rogers would be the one to sacrifice himself in Avengers: Endgame, especially as Chris Evans had already confirmed his departure from the Marcel Cinematic Universe.

Instead, he survived and used Bruce Banner’s (Mark Ruffalo) time-travel machine to go back and live out the rest of his life with his true love Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell).

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 23: President of Marvel Studios/Producer Kevin Feige, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, and Mark Ruffalo poses at the Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Endgame" Cast Place Their Hand Prints In Cement At TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX Forecourt at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on April 23, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)

We now know the reason why Captain America didn’t die in Avengers: Endgame, as co-director Joe Russo has admitted that it would have been just too devastating for audiences to handle.

“Once you kill a beloved character like [Tony], you've got to have hope at the end of the movie in some regard, and the only person to give you that hope is the other co-lead. Had we killed both the leads, I feel like people would have been walking out into traffic after the film.”

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“The intention is not to destroy people, it's to hopefully tell a complex and dimensionalised story in a way, that makes them feel a varied range of emotion,” Russo told the recent edition of the Empire Podcast.

But while Captain America managed to survive Avengers: Endgame, it looks unlikely that he will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Not only has Evans said he won’t return, but Endgame concluded with an elderly Rogers passing on his titanium shield to Sam Wilson.

We’ll get to see his further adventures with the weapon in the upcoming Disney + series Falcon & Winter Solider.