By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 20 seconds ago

Now that the first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday dropped, we know the rumors are true: Steve Rogers, last seen in Avengers: Endgame, is finally returning to the MCU. That trailer did its job, as fans around the world are now wildly eager to see what happens to their favorite Avenger after he takes on Doctor Doom. However, Endgame might have already ruined Doomsday by confirming that Steve Rogers manages to survive the events of the upcoming film.

Old Man, Take A Look At Your Life

One of the most shocking developments of Avengers: Endgame is that Steve Rogers decided to stay in the past, allowing him to have the life he always dreamed of with Peggy Carter. We last see the Avenger in the present day as an elderly man who passes his shield to Sam Wilson, effectively making the younger hero into the new Captain America. At the time, the scene worked perfectly as a way for Steve Rogers to pass the torch while confirming for audiences that he finally got the happily ever after that was denied to him by his life as a superhero.

However, the first trailer for Avengers: Doomsday complicates things because we see the Steve Rogers who went back in time (who has now had a son with Peggy Carter) is gearing up to get back into action. He will probably not be wearing his iconic uniform, but he will still (as the trailer helpfully reminds us at the end) return to fight alongside his fellow heroes in Doomsday. Audiences have already bid goodbye to this character once before, so fans are understandably on the edge of their seat about whether Steve Rogers will live or die in next year’s blockbuster film.

We Already Know That Captain America Survives

Unfortunately, there’s no real drama involved here because the Rogers who showed up at the end of Endgame is, presumably, the same one who is heading into battle in Doomsday. This implies that the former Captain America will escape his fight with Doctor Doom unscathed and return to life with Peggy Carter in the past, growing old and eventually passing on his shield. Furthermore, the appearance of the elderly Steve Rogers implies that fans shouldn’t worry all that much about Doctor Doom. From the old man’s perspective, this was a villain who was defeated over half a century ago.

To put it mildly, this puts Marvel in something of a storytelling dilemma. Unless they retcon the events of Endgame (remember, Kevin Feige has promised that Secret Wars will “reset” the MCU), then Avengers: Doomsday loses all of its tension. Fans may not want to run to the latest blockbuster superhero ensemble film when they already know that not only does the bad guy lose, but that nothing truly bad happens to the main character.

Retcons, Resets, And The Death Of The MCU

Of course, nothing keeps Marvel from retconning Endgame, but doing so would likely anger the fandom. To this day, Endgame is considered the best MCU film ever made, and returning directors the Russo Brothers are doing everything they can to replicate its success with Doomsday, which will be another major ensemble showdown with impossibly high stakes. But if they end up making the events of Endgame retroactively irrelevant with their upcoming Avengers film, it may worsen superhero fatigue among general audiences. After all, why should we care about what happens to our favorite characters when those events will just be completely undone in a few years?

Obviously, there may be other explanations for why the elderly Steve Rogers we see is not necessarily the same guy who fights in Doomsday. In a world of multiverses, time travel, shapeshifters, and magic, literally anything is possible. However they handle things, though, the Russo Brothers now face an impossible choice: they can either cheapen the impact of Avengers: Endgame or rob Doomsday of all its drama. Captain America may be someone who “can do this all day,” but Marvel can’t, and unless Doomsday can deliver on fans’ increasingly outsized expectations, this cinematic universe could very well sink beneath the weight of the retcons and resets that nobody really wants.