Joe Russo has clarified what exactly happened regarding the culmination of Captain America’s story arc in Avengers: Endgame. Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers was last seen handing his shield and potentially the mantle of Captain America to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson/Falcon at the end of the movie.

His character was an old man now, as a consequence of having that promised dance and living his life with his ladylove, Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter, by going back in time.

Joe, one half of the Russo Brothers who directed the final two Avengers movies as well as the final two Captain America movies for MCU, said while on Lights Camera Barstool podcast, “One thing that’s clear that Anthony [Russo, his brother] and I have discussed, I don’t know that we’ve discussed this publicly at all, Cap would have had to have travelled back to the main timeline. That’s something that, yes, he would have been in a branch reality, but he would have to travel back to the main timeline to give that shield to Sam Wilson.”

Due to what Thanos did and the discovery of time-travel by the Avengers, the world of MCU branched itself into many other realities. So Cap travelled back to another reality in which he did not spend 66 years unconscious and frozen in ice until he was discovered found by S.H.I.E.L.D. in 21st century. Instead, he returned to Peggy  and lived his life with her.

And then, he travelled back to the main timeline, in which the MCU and all the events are set, to give the responsibility of his shield to Sam.

“In our internal logic that we defined in the room, that was the choice that we made. Based on everything that happened, he would have been in a branch reality and then had to have shifted over to this, so jumped from one to the other and handed the shield off,” Joe added.

Evans was recently confirmed to be returning in an MCU project as Cap. Though it is unlikely he will headline a new film, he can be expected to play a supporting role, perhaps as a mentor to a young superhero.