Steve Rogers' Avengers Doomsday Plot Hole Explained, Kang Retcon Theory

Avengers: Doomsday has brought back Steve Rogers’ Captain America and it has big implications for the ending of the last big MCU outing.

At the end of Avengers: Endgame Captain America goes back in time to return the Infinity Stones to their original places, so as to not upset the natural order and create a bunch of branching timelines. He takes a bit of a detour though, spending his life with Peggy before presumably heading towards his initial departure point to bestow the Captain America shield upon Sam Wilson, making him the new star-spangled hero.

It was a touching ending but now that we know Chris Evans is returning to play Steve Rogers once again it only raises more questions about the timeline. Many are now theorising that old man Rogers now gave Sam the shield not just because he was the right person to be Captain America, but because he actually saw Sam’s worthiness throughout the events of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

We don’t know for sure but the Steve Rogers we see in the first official teaser for Avengers: Doomsday appears to be the same one who travelled back in time to stay with Peggy, now having a child before being pulled back to his superhero life to stop Doom.

It’s now predicted he’ll fight alongside the modern day Avengers and that’s what spurs him to give Sam the shield.

Disney

Don’t forget that before Doom became the new villain it was Kang who was supposed to be the next big bad.

And based on plot leaks for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty Steve Rogers wasn’t originally down to reappear, making this a bit of a retcon if it’s truly how things play out.

It also begs the question of why Steve wouldn't warn the Avengers ahead of time that another war was coming.

But given that it’s all a bit timey-wimey maybe that’d cause an entirely different set of problems. Maybe he just forgot in his old age too?

Avengers: Doomsday is going to be an interesting one, as it doesn’t feel like there’s been any real build-up from the films and TV shows we’ve seen so far.

Hopefully it doesn’t tread over what was established and accepted in Avengers: Endgame, but given that both Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans are returning to the fold it feels like Marvel is taking a massive gamble as it course corrects away from Kang and the original plan.