Captain America is seen as one of the most upstanding characters in the MCU. He’s a hero that cares a lot about morality and doing the right thing, and even before he became Captain America, Steve Rogers was always trying to stick up to bullies. While he definitely has a lot of positive and heroic qualities, there are also moments where he makes some questionable moral decisions. He’s a more complex character than many people realize.
Here are the ten most questionable moral decisions that Steve Rogers made in the movies.
NOT SIGNING THE ACCORDS
The conflict between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers in Captain America: Civil War started when they were both on opposite sides of the Accords. There were definitely good arguments made on both sides, so it’s not that Steve had no good pints. However, the way he went about not signing and how he handled this with Tony was pretty questionable. He was too stubborn and didn’t communicate, and breaking up the Avengers probably wasn’t a great move.
FIGHTING WITH IRON MAN IN CIVIL WAR
One of the most troubling moments in Civil War is when Captain America and Iron Man got into a fight at the end of the movie. This is a rather complex issue because Iron Man was also in the wrong by attacking Bucky how he did.
It makes sense that Steve would try to defend his best friend, but he also could have likely avoided some of this mess by talking to Tony beforehand and telling him the truth. Seeing him have to attack Iron Man so brutally was definitely a sad moment.
NOT GETTING HELP TO MOVE ON FROM THE PAST
One of the biggest issues that Steve Rogers struggles with throughout the films is not being able to move on from the past. While this does make sense as he lost so many people he cared about as well as woke up in a completely different time, he definitely holds himself back from moving on. He doesn’t do the work to live in the present, and he ends up pushing a lot of people away because of it. He’s never fully present or honest with a lot of the people he’s close to because he’s still in the past.
THE WAY HE HANDLED SAVING BUCKY IN CIVIL WAR
This point is also rather complicated. On the one hand, Steve trying to save Bucky shows how loyal he was and that he’s a very caring person when it comes to the people he loves.
It makes sense he would protect Bucky from getting killed. However, the way he alienates his other friends and breaks so many laws to do so wasn’t the best way to handle things. He ended up making everything worse by trying to do everything on his own and go against the other Avengers and the law.
BREAKING LAWS TO TRY AND JOIN THE ARMY
While many people seem to think that Captain America in the MCU is an extreme rule follower and Boy Scout type, this isn’t the case at all. From the beginning of his introduction in the movies, he’s breaking laws. He starts breaking laws and rules in order to lie on his enlistment forms to try and get into the army. While his passion for trying to do the right thing is admirable, breaking the law so instantly probably isn’t the best thing.
KISSING SHARON CARTER WHEN HE STILL HAD FEELINGS FOR PEGGY
One of the weirdest things that Steve does in the movies is to kiss Sharon Carter. This is a moment that many fans thought was strange and that seemed forced.
While Sharon is a great character, their relationship wasn’t really developed much. It’s also a rather questionable decision given that later on Steve ends up going back to the past to be with Peggy, Sharon’s aunt. If he still had such strong feelings for Peggy it’s really weird he kissed her niece so soon after her death.
NOT TELLING TONY THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS PARENT’S DEATH
One of the worst moral decisions that Steve makes in any of the movies is keeping the information about Tony’s parents’ death a secret from him. While he doesn’t know Bucky killed them, he does know that HYDRA did, and he doesn’t tell Tony this. While he says he kept it from him in an effort to protect him, this was still a lie. He could have likely avoided the huge fight with Iron Man if he had told him the truth. It’s clear that Tony felt really betrayed by this.
SAYING HAIL HYDRA TO RUMLOW IN ENDGAME
Avengers: Endgame is the other movie other than Civil War where Captain America makes the most questionable moral decisions. Many fans weren’t very thrilled about having Steve say these words to members of HYDRA. It was played off as such a light moment when really it’s quite a serious subject manner. Given that the character was created in comics to fight Hitler, it just felt a bit icky and even out of character.
NOT LETTING SAM KNOW HE PLANNED TO STAY IN THE PAST
Of all the decisions Steve made that had fans conflicted and debating, his decision to use time travel to stay in the past is the most controversial. One of the worst aspects of this is how it impacted his friends. While it seems he told Bucky about it, even though it was sadly shown off-screen, he didn’t tell Sam about what he was doing at all. Given that Sam was one of his best friends, this feels like a pretty poor way to treat him.
RETURNING TO THE PAST AND ABANDONING BASICALLY EVERYONE
Of all of Steve’s decisions, this one is probably the worst. He basically went back in time and screwed up the rules of time travel laid out in the film. He chooses to decide what Peggy would want without really thinking about the implications of it. And, on top of all that, he left a world recovering from the Snap and all of his close friends to deal with the fallout of what had happened. Seeing him ditch Bucky after everything he’s done for him in past movies seemed really out of character and cruel.
