it’s been a long, long time;

Having Steve end his character arc with him leaving Bucky behind to build a life with Peggy is not only a slap to the face to his development, but also to Peggy Carter's character.

I, personally, have always loved and identified with Peggy's character, in that I too have always been a woman in male-dominated fields. I realize that basically no one watched Agent Carter, BUT I DID, and seeing her have to deal with misogyny, and being belittled and having her capabilities doubted at every turn, AND STILL PERSEVERING AND COMING OUT ON TOP... She's always been a big inspiration to me.

It's kind of a running joke in the show that people always see her as "Cap's girl," and it's always shown that she rolls her eyes and doesn't really appreciate being reduced to that, especially since she was also a very instrumental part in winning the war, even outside of her work with Captain America.

In season one of Agent Carter, we have a beautiful portrayal of her grieving Steve and letting him go. One of the last scenes of that finale is of her pouring a vial of his blood into a river and saying goodbye. AND MARVEL SHOULD HAVE RESPECTED THAT DAMN DECISION.

In season two, we see her start to develop a more romantic relationship with Daniel Sousa, a disabled war vet who absolutely ADORES her and respects her and all her accomplishments. After that, the show was cancelled, but the point is, we got to see Peggy build a life without Steve, one where she was happy, that she was PROUD of, and that she was surrounded by people who respected her enough to NOT REDUCE HER TO A LOVE INTEREST cough cough, Marvel.

When we look at Steve's story, even though Peggy was very much a pillar to him becoming who he is, the relationship that defined his motives in every movie was ALWAYS Bucky. Whether you want to interpret that as platonic soulmates or actual twin flames, the point still stands.

Many times throughout the movies, Steve is confronted with the fact that he needs to stop living in the past and accept the new relationships and family he is making in this century.

SO TO SEE ALL OF THAT THROWN AWAY IN ENDGAME (which was not the end. of. the. fucking. line.) BECAUSE CAP NEEDED TO GET THE GIRL, AS IF SHE WERE SOME PRIZE AT THE END OF THE WAR AND NOT PEGGY FUCKING CARTER, FOUNDER OF SHIELD... actual character assassination. I will never not be pissed about this.

I'm not even talking about Stucky becoming canon, that was never going to happen, and I don't even think that would work particularly well in the MCU, that's what fanfiction is for. I'm talking about Steve Rogers leaving Bucky Barnes out of his own free will, to be with a woman he knew damn well had moved on and built a LIFE without him, in a timeline where he needs to live with the fact that while he's living his white picket fence life, HIS BEST FRIEND IS BEING TORTURED BY HYDRA IN SOME NAMELESS PLACE.

I just do not believe for a second that Steve would do that. It goes against all of his emotional motivations. He had finally learned to be a little bit selfish and to make decisions that made him happy, AND THAT DECISION WAS SAVING AND STANDING BY BUCKY BARNES. Like, c'mon man, inseparable in both schoolyard and battlefield.

I genuinely would have preferred Steve die in the battle for Earth and have a last words moment with Bucky where he makes some stupid joke about this being the end of the line (which would have made me cry the equivalent of the Amazon River in tears) and tell him to pass on the shield to Sam.

Lestat enjoying a cigarette

Another beautiful piece by June_L