Steve Rogers hiding in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ could be more important than it initially appears. If it’s actually a case of him avoiding someone on purpose in the past, then it does raise a question about whether or not he knows how dangerous his choice was.
One thing that was established during the Time Heist in ‘Avengers: Endgame’ was that the Avengers were not to come into contact with their past selves. Steve is more familiar with that rule than almost anyone else. If he’s hiding, there’s a very good reason.
Steve Might Know He Doesn’t Belong There
In the scene, Steve deliberately stays out of Loki’s sight while Loki approaches the timeline’s Steve/Peggy situation. That makes the moment more interesting because Steve seemingly knows he cannot interfere openly.
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It also connects to the larger question of what Steve was doing in that timeline and whether he was already aware that something had gone wrong with the events surrounding the Infinity Stones. His decision to hide from Loki could suggest that he knows more about the timeline than he is willing to reveal.
The obvious one is that Steve knows that his younger self is still trapped in the ice somewhere in that time. This would make the scene very complex. Steve is no longer just traveling through time. He’s living in a time when another version of him is still alive, waiting to be Captain America.
And Steve has already seen how dangerous these interactions with timelines can be. ‘Endgame’ also revealed that the Infinity Stones were meant to be returned to restore the timeline. However, Steve’s story is different, as he was left behind with Peggy Carter before eventually coming back as an old man.
This leaves one big unanswered question: What happened when Steve returned the Soul Stone?
The Soul Stone Could Be The Biggest Mystery
The Soul Stone is unique among the Infinity Stones in that it comes with a specific rule. Someone has to be sacrificed to get it. That makes the quest to bring it back all the more intriguing for Steve. It was never revealed what actually occurred when he returned the Soul Stone to Vormir.
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We just know that Steve was supposed to put the stones back where they came from. If the Soul Stone can’t just be “returned” without undoing the sacrifice that made it, then there might be something about Steve’s journey that ‘Doomsday’ finally explores.
Maybe Steve played by the rules. Maybe the Stone was linked to another time. Or, in a much darker possibility, Steve kept it for reasons we have yet to discover. That doesn’t mean that Steve is a secret agent who secretly altered the Multiverse or triggered ‘Doomsday’.
However, his hiding may indicate that he knew what he did had repercussions. That’s what makes the scene so interesting, right? Steve Rogers has always tried to be a good person. What if, this time, he knows that he may have damaged something that he can’t repair?
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