The unexplored consequences of Steve Rogers’ time travel from Avengers: Endgame might have transformed Captain America‘s abandoned son figure into his most dangerous MCU enemy, drawing inspiration from Marvel’s Ultimate comics. Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers played a key role in Thanos’ defeat, but he survived the events of the Time Heist and the Battle of Earth unscathed. Despite being able to continue leading the Avengers for decades, Steve decided to travel back in time and spend the rest of his life with Peggy Carter in the past before returning to pᴀss on the Captain America mantle to Sam Wilson.

Steve Rogers’ MCU ending suits his Captain America journey perfectly, as he finally put himself first above his seemingly never-ending hero duties. However, Captain America’s trip to the past doesn’t match what the MCU had established. According to Avengers: Endgame‘s time travel rules, Steve Rogers should have traveled to a different timeline, and he would have needed to pᴀss through the Avengers’ machine in order to return to the present day, which he evidently didn’t do. Marvel Studios has ignored this detail since Avengers: Endgame, and the surrounding mystery doesn’t seem to be receiving an answer anytime soon.

Steve Rogers’ Endgame Reverse Time Heist Had Uncertain Consequences In The MCU Timeline

Steve Rogers Broke Several Time Travel Rules When He Stayed In The Past

To this day, how exactly Steve Rogers time-traveled and came back without the Avengers’ help is unknown, but the fact that Steve stayed in the past strongly suggests that he affected at least one timeline’s history. In ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, Wade Wilson asked whether he was captured by the TVA due to his unauthorized time travel from ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool 2, but Agent Paradox brushed it off. Perhaps the TVA allowed Steve Rogers to time-travel within Earth-616 without as a sign of graтιтude for preserving the Sacred Timeline’s balance. Still, it may have led to unintended side effects.

Steve Rogers took the Infinity Stones back to their original time and place at the end of Avengers: Endgame in order to prevent their timeline from spiraling out. Staying behind would have rewritten the Time Heist’s alternate timeline if it branched out, or it would have rewritten Earth-616 if it didn’t. Either way, maintaining a low profile wouldn’t have been enough for Steve Rogers to avoid changing history, as per basic time travel rules.

Steve Rogers’ Time Travel Technically Writes Peggy Carter’s Children Out Of History

Peggy Carter’s Family Was Replaced With Steve Rogers’ In One MCU Timeline

If Steve Rogers went to Earth-616’s past and stayed there, then Peggy Carter’s children were probably written out of history, and Peggy’s war veteran husband from Captain America: The Winter Soldier was replaced by Steve Rogers. To make this happen, the TVA might have pruned Peggy Carter’s original family, paving the way for Peggy and Steven’s children. Peggy’s original husband, son, and daughter might have been considered a necessary sacrifice or superficial collateral damage by the TVA, whose main priority is simply to preserve the Sacred Timeline’s stability.

As seen in ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, the TVA have a soft spot for the Avengers and some variants of Wolverine. Agent Paradox shows Wade Wilson a highlight reel that features key moments from each hero’s history, which suggests that the TVA may be willing to give Earth’s Mightiest Heroes some advantages over other characters and variants. Painful moments like Thor’s many tragedies and Tony Stark’s Avengers: Endgame death may be necessary and unavoidable, but Steve Rogers’ lonely retirement might have been an easy problem to fix for the TVA, regardless of the consequences.

Peggy Carter’s Son Could Become Ultimate Red Skull In The Void

Peggy Carter’s Pruned Child Could Transform Into The MCU’s Version Of Earth-1610’s Red Skull

In Marvel Comics’ original Ultimate Universe a.k.a. Earth-1610, Red Skull isn’t the Hydra leader Johann Schmidt, but instead Steve Rogers’ son. Steve’s unplanned son was recruited as a child by a secret organization and trained to become the perfect soldier. The boy grew resentful of Captain America, so he killed his captors and used a knife to transform himself into a more realistic and gruesome version of the Red Skull. After earning supervillain status, Earth-1610’s Red Skull eventually revealed that he only wished to go back in time and prevent Steve Rogers from abandoning him. As soon as he revealed his trauma, Ultimate Red Skull was murdered.

The MCU could draw inspiration from Marvel Comics’ Earth-1610 to adapt Ultimate Red Skull to live-action. After the TVA pruned Peggy Carter’s family, Peggy’s son could learn that it happened because of Earth-616’s Steve Rogers. The boy could grow up in the Void and get acquainted with the Captain America mythos through pruned objects and other variants. Then, Peggy’s pruned son could be inspired by other Red Skull variants to oppose Captain America’s iconography and adopt the idenтιтy of Steve Rogers’ WWII enemy. The MCU’s new Red Skull could also transform his appearance in a similarly gruesome way to his Ultimate Marvel counterpart.

The Void Is Still Rich In Cameo Opportunities For Avengers: Doomsday & Secret Wars

The MCU Hasn’t Explored The Void To The Fullest

The Void is the place outside of time and space where all pruned variants and objects are sent to, which means that at least one variant of each Marvel character may have pᴀssed through Alioth’s realm at some point. Loki featured dozens of Loki variants and ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine featured and referenced variants of characters from Fox’s X-Men, Elektra, The Punisher, and Fantastic Four movies. However, this might just be the beginning. The Void must have housed countless wild variants of Marvel characters, from other animal variants to dangerous villains like Ultimate Red Skull.

Marvel Hasn’t Taken Full Advantage Of The Red Skull’s Potential In The MCU

The MCU’s Red Skull Never Matched His Comic Book Counterpart’s Threat

Red Skull has been Captain America’s sworn archnemesis in the comics for decades, and he’s often regarded by the Avengers as one of the most dangerous villains on Earth. Marvel Comics’ primary Red Skull variant has been the most frequent wielder of the Cosmic Cube, frozen Steve Rogers in time, cloned himself, and stolen Charles Xavier’s psychic powers to become the powerful Red Onslaught. At one point, Red Skull even attempted to steal the body of Steve Rogers’ son. In the comics, Red Skull is a particularly cruel and creative supervillain whose evil mind knows no bounds.

Meanwhile, the MCU’s Red Skull barely got to fight Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger before he was transported to Vormir by the Tesseract. He then spent the following eight decades guarding the Soul Stone. Once Thanos and the Avengers arrived to take the stone, Red Skull had already evolved into a wise and impartial guardian with no allegiances. With Johann Shmidt’s arc completed off-screen, the only chance to keep exploring the Red Skull’s mythos in the MCU might be to introduce a new version of the villain, possibly through Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars‘ multiversal plot.