In “What If…The Avengers Assembled in 1602?”, Captain Carter is summoned by a Scarlet Witch variant in 1602 to help prevent an imminent incursion. Interacting with various present-day MCU heroes whose lives have been altered to fit this past era, Carter soon discovers that this incursion and intermingling of the 17th and 21st centuries was caused by Steve Rogers, the forerunner who was the first to be sent back in time after striking the Time Stone during the battle with Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. As such, this particular incursion has created some key questions regarding the main Rogers’ actions in Avengers: Endgame.

What If Season 2 Makes Captain America’s Endgame Ending More Problematic

Steve Rogers Created An Incursion in 1602 So…

As seen in Marvel’s What If…? season 2, the simple act of Steve Rogers being sent back in time creates a significant incursion of timelines, resulting in multiple MCU heroes similarly being pulled into the past with new memories and lives. Likewise, things are only restored once Captain Carter sends Rogers back to the present which in turn sends everyone from this reality back to their respective times.

To that end, one has to wonder why similar consequences didn’t occur for Steve Rogers in Earth-616 after he returned all the Infinity Stones to their respective times before choosing to remain in the past with Peggy Carter, the final scene of Avengers: Endgame. It’s certainly been a point of debate for some time even before Marvel’s What If…? season 2, though it’s become even bigger now that the animated series has effectively shown what arguably should have happened to reality once Steve decided to stay in the past with Peggy.

The Incursion Loop Hole Doesn’t Work For Cap

Steve Rogers’ Happy Ending Would Have Made Waves

The MCU may have avoided the plot hole and argument that the TVA should have gone after Captain America with the idea that his happy ending was part of the Sacred Timeline. Likewise, it’s been argued that Steve going back in time shouldn’t matter seeing as how living in the past with Peggy was the time in which he should have lived anyway had he not been frozen. However, Steve going back in time should surely have led to an incursion, just as his teleportation to the 1602 timeline did.

The implication is that the lesser your involvement in the universe, the lesser the chance of an incursion. However, Steve’s arrival in the past meant Peggy’s life was completely different, the biggest change presumably being her marriage never happening. Furthermore, even if Rogers avoided being a hero (which feels very unlikely), Captain America must have changed the branched universe to the same degree the other Rogers did in What If…?’s 1602, if not more so.

All episodes of Marvel’s What If…? are now streaming on Disney+.