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| MAJOR SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame ahead. Seriously, there will be some pretty thorough summarizing, if you keep reading... |
The pain of loss and defeat overshadows the story from the very beginning and it isn't long before we see how this is further aggravated by the pain of division between these two old friends. We immediately hear the difference between Tony's messiah complex and Steve's determination to give everything in order to simply do what they can. When Steve is helping Tony off of the ship, after it was carried back to Earth by Carol Danvers, we hear Tony lamenting: "I lost." The simplicity of Steve's response is perfectly on point: "Tony, WE lost." But, naturally, this doesn't sit well with Tony who throws Steve's own words, from the conflict with Ultron, back in his face. When Tony had insisted that his creation of Ultron was meant to protect them from what was coming (whose name they now know is Thanos), Steve had responded that they would face it together and if they lost, they would "do that together too." The utter despair Tony is experiencing leads him to mock Steve's commitment to freedom and to insist that he has "no trust" in Steve, because he had just wanted to keep the team together for that moment... the moment arrived and Steve was not around. Of course, Steve had given him the phone. Bruce told him to use it. It was Tony who couldn't bring himself to call. Steve doesn't necessarily know that, of course. But, he knows that he didn't want any of this either. He knows that Tony is speaking out of his pain, rather than out of his reason. And it seems, he is tired of fighting. He stops firing back. This is the time for them to pull together. If Tony isn't willing, at the very least, Steve knows it will accomplish nothing to fight back. Yet, regardless of whether their reunion is yet a reconciliation, it makes little difference at this stage. The Avengers' only chance at finding and stopping Thanos yields nothing that is able to change what has been done, because he has already destroyed the Infinity Stones. All it brings them is an opportunity for Thor to kill him in act of fruitless vengeance.
When the story jumps forward five years, both Steve and Tony are in very different places from their past heroics. In fact, all of the original Avengers are in very different places, leading to a striking re-gathering sequence, which resembles the way they were originally gathered, but instead of some supervising organization reaching out to gather them, we see them reach out to one another as friends. Steve is now devoting himself to helping people move forward from the tragedy of loss, after Thanos's snap. His commitment to helping others in whatever way he can is fitting for the man who "knows the value of strength... and he knows compassion." The support group setting almost seems like an homage to Sam, who was doing a similar kind of work when Steve first met him. Meanwhile, he goes to visit Natasha, who is now leading a very different team of Avengers, just as Scott Lang returns from the Quantum Realm.
Meanwhile, Tony had already made clear that his belief was that "we fight... so that we can end the fight and go home." So, he and Pepper have made a home for themselves, now that there is nothing more that they can do. The fight has ended. They just lost. But, it is not just him and Pepper. They have a daughter... a daughter that they might possibly no longer have if they were to go back in time and change all that has taken place (again, depending on the actual nature of time travel). This sets us up well to understand how badly Tony doesn't want to go along with Steve, Natasha, and Scott's plan to use the Quantum Realm to travel back in time (because time works differently down there, of course). Naturally, Tony is the only one who is able to crack the whole time travel thing, and Pepper is able to convince him that he will never truly "be able to rest" until he knows whether he could possibly help the many who weren't as fortunate as they were. So, under the condition that they try to get back what was lost, but "keep what we've found," Tony returns to the Avengers complex to help them. And he brings Steve's shield with him, in order to finally return it to him, after the conclusion of Civil War.
This is when the real reconciliation takes place, in as moving and emotional of a way as Tony's ego will allow. "Turn's out resentment is corrosive. I hate it." And this has always been where Tony's strength lies. His ego gets him in trouble. But, he is willing to change. He is willing to hate and turn from that - even within his own actions - which stands in the way of the good that must be done. Meanwhile, Steve's strength is shown forth as well, in his ability to show mercy and to help a friend who is hurting to have a second chance. Not unlike he showed Bucky that his actions under brainwashing were not him and helped him to move beyond the pain of guilt and shame, so also he does not hold it against Tony that he essentially blamed the whole defeat by Thanos on him. Even after everything, he does not fail to see the good in Tony, to believe in that good and to give Tony the freedom to choose to be the best version of himself. Elsewhere in the story, we will see even more striking examples of mercy, especially between Banner and Thor, Gamora and Nebula(s), and most especially, Natasha and Barton.
But, the trust Steve places in Tony comes across boldly when their "time heist" (to acquire the Infinity Stones from the past) takes the two of them on a detour together. As Tony is devising the plan, he asks Steve, "You trust me?" And with a simplicity that is incredibly meaningful, Steve only replies, "I do." So, these two go on a journey together into the past, which ends up being quite meaningful for them both. In other parts of the larger story, we learned that the Quantum Realm has some healing capacity. Strikingly, then, this ends up being a journey of healing. The "father-wound" has always been important to the healing process connected to Tony's ongoing conversion. Thus, this little detour enables him to have a conversation with his father, to witness the love and care that his father had for him before he was even born and speak to him words that he hadn't the chance to say. Meanwhile, Steve is given a brief glimpse in person of the woman he left behind when he went into the ice all those decades ago: now Director Peggy Carter. The reason Steve was only "at home" fighting alongside his fellow soldiers was because of all that he left behind. Peggy stands for more than a lost love. She stands for the fact that Steve is a man out of time, who has never quite been able to find his home in the time in which he awoke from the ice.
Finally, one more leg of the "time heist" needs to be discussed (not that the others aren't important and meaningful; I'm just trying to stay on the topic of Steve and Tony's story). Not unlike Tony's healing encounter with his father, Thor is given one with his mother. This whole time, Thor has been undergoing a (relatively) redemptive story arc, as Banner and Rocket had to pull him out of a very low and dark place. Without going into too much detail about the ups, downs, ins, outs, good, bad and ugly of his character arc, the dramatic conclusion of that crucial conversation with his mother is when he successfully calls Mjolnir (his hammer) back to his hand. It had previously been destroyed (but they are in the past, before it was destroyed), and it can only be wielded by one who is deemed "worthy." So, his response to the hammer coming to him signifies the final piece of the puzzle in reviving his spirits: "I am still worthy." But, this sets the stage for the moment in the final battle against Thanos (who followed them back to their time from another leg in the "time heist") when the hammer flies into the hand of... drum roll, please... Steve Rogers. Besides that, from a sheer entertainment standpoint, this was the single most exciting moment in this or possibly any Marvel movie, it is a fitting moment for the final stage of Steve's story. Steve is the quintessential "good man," the "weak man" who knows "the value of strength... and he knows compassion." It can be said that the moments when Thor has faltered are moments when he had forgotten the value of strength, weakness, and compassion. In these moments, he is reckless and arrogant, falling back on his brute strength of will and he is utterly crushed by his defeat and failure to stop Thanos by his own strength. Steve knows the value of the strength entrusted to him and continually uses it to help others, even when he must come to terms with his weakness and inability to accomplish every victory. He is indeed worthy (which may be further demonstrated by the fact that he may have found this out back in their playful competition just before Ultron showed up, but not allowed it to be a spectacle for showing off). It is nice to see Mjolnir confirm this fact before his story closes. And since part of his strength and compassion in seeking to help others was always found in leading others and helping to draw the strength out of them, it is fitting that he be the one to welcome all of the fallen back (because they successfully used the Infinity Stones to bring back all of those that Thanos snapped away) and call them together with the iconic "Avengers, assemble!" Of course, this dramatic return of their fallen friends only happens after we see the central three Avengers (Steve, Tony, and Thor) face Thanos alone, standing together again. In the dialogue within this standoff, we again see how Steve offers a striking contrast to Thanos. Not only do his strong moral convictions hold to genuine truth and goodness, unlike the strong moral convictions of Thanos, but he is also quintessentially the one who has not forgotten what was lost. This man out of time's pining for the world that once was, and perhaps some of the values lost with it, stand in bold contrast to Thanos's newly stated belief that those who remember "what was" will forever be an obstacle to "what can be."
Meanwhile, Tony's character can be defined by the fact his initial conversion caused him to finally start taking responsibility, until he took so much of it on himself that he truly believed it was his job to save the world. And he is indeed willing to "make the sacrifice play" in order to do it. In the midst of the raging and epic battle with all of the resurrected heroes fighting together as one against Thanos's forces, it is Tony who finally ends it. Using his nano-tech gauntlet to move the stones from Thanos's hand (just as Thanos finally got a hold of it) into his own, he bears the power of the stones in order to use them to snap Thanos and his forces out of existence. {Again, the believability of this depends on whether we accept their understanding of how time travel works; but like I said, I support their decision to prioritize character-arcs over the kind of realism that would satisfy everyone.} The power of the stones takes his life and the sadness of loss is cushioned by the sense that he finally fulfilled the mission for which he always believed he was destined. Thus, it is as fitting as it is emotional when Pepper tells him, "You can rest now." Far from wasting his life, Tony made of his life a gift given away. And of course, we see another beautiful image of making one's life a gift given away in Natasha and in the competition to sacrifice themselves between her and Barton.
Steve's finale is interesting in a very different way. After being sent into the past to put all the stones back in the exact place and moment it was taken, he makes the choice to remain behind in the past and choose to live a quiet, simple life, at least part of which is clearly with Peggy. It seems like they finally had the chance to spend their lives together. Still, they left just enough of this unknown to us for us to be unsure of whether it actually works, without undoing too many essential things (again, depending on one's understanding of time travel). Many debate whether this is believable for Steve, who had always remained committed to the apparent belief that the fight required constant vigilance. But, I would argue that the reason why I can believe Steve might finally decide to hang up the shield is found, not only in the scene in which he lays eyes on Peggy again, but also in the scene in which the myriad of other heroes are coming out of the portals and he calls them to assemble. Steve has never believed this fight was just his alone. He has never believed it was his job alone to save the world. Personally, I don't have a hard time imagining him choosing to entrust their legacy to this vast army of heroes now populating the planet and beyond.
Of course, the final legacy to be entrusted is the shield itself (and the title of Captain America that comes with it). There has been a sort of competitive relationship between his two best friends, Sam and Bucky. In the comics, of course, both have taken up the shield and the title at different times. One of the biggest questions going into this conclusion of Steve's story has always been, will one of them become the new Captain America and if so, which one? In terms of abilities, Bucky is the obvious choice, as he has similar scientific enhancements which give him similar physical advantages to those Steve had after the super soldier serum. By comparison, Sam is just a regular guy. And this is why he is the perfect successor. Whether or not they choose to give him some kind of physical enhancements later on, his real strength is found simply in his goodness and uprightness of character. One can imagine Erskine easily saying the same words he said to Steve, as Sam takes up the shield: "Always remain who you are, not a perfect soldier, but a good man."
And this is the perfect note to end on. As we walk out of the theater (literally or figuratively) and return to reality, we recall that, like Sam, we don't have superpowers. But, the call still speaks to us to remain consistent in living out the deepest truth of who we are... as good men and women. This is so much more than just being a nice guy/girl. The difference between a "good man" and a "nice guy" is the maturity of one who lives his life by wisdom, striving to conform his life to the truth, to authentic goodness. The good man or woman holds themselves, not only to firm moral convictions, but to a firm conviction to the truth, to authentic goodness. Sometimes this means that, like Tony, we have to be willing to change. With this choice, the process of ongoing conversion can move forward. And as Christians, we know that this conversion is made truly possible by the knowledge that our Father has loved us, even since before we were born. This love of the Father heals the wounds in our hearts. And the knowledge that His Son has shown us mercy and given His life for us enables us even to show mercy to others and to ultimately choose to make our lives a gift given for others.
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