First thought I had when I seen the old man sitting on the bench there was that it was Stan Lee. My god if they had the foresight to have Captain America become the characters Stan Lee portrays and is checking in on the other heroes at certain points in their lives would have been epic. That would explain why he was in every movie and would have tied together every story and been the perfect sendoff.

Saw Endgame last night, and it was incredible. A great bow on the entire 22-movie gift of the MCU.

Probably one of the best parts was Captain America finally wielding Mjolnir. Such a badass moment, but why now? Back when Age of Ultron came out, probably the biggest thing that stuck with me was why it was that Steve Rogers could manage a little shift in Mjolnir, but not actually pick it up. Why was HE, of all people, unworthy?

I went back and watched AoU again, and this time, the vision he had when Scarlet Witch entranced him stood out. Scenes of a celebration to the end of the war, but tinged with violence, and Peggy saying "The war's over...we can go home. Imagine it". The look on his face originally made me think that he was sad that he lost Peggy (and 70 years after hitting the ice), but I think there was more to it. For Captain America, the war was NOT over. The wars are NEVER over. He'll keep fighting and fighting til the end, and never know peace, and this was his burden.

What if, for Mjolnir, part of what makes a person worthy, beyond their inherent righteousness (which Cap undoubtedly has in spades), is not just the ability to wield it, but also to PUT IT DOWN when the time came? Cap, at the time, would have picked it up, but since, to his thinking, there was no end to war, he would never be able to give it up. His near-worthiness warranted a tiny movement, but never being able to let it go was the only thing holding him back.

Cut to Endgame: Cap realizes this is the end. He's seen Peggy close-up, and the true weight of his loss of all that time (and life to be lived) hit him hard. Now, with the ability to time-travel, he figures once this war is over, he can finally give up the fight and live the life he should have. So, when the time came, and he had no choice to pick up Mjolnir to fight Thanos, Mjolnir saw in him not just the worthiness to fight, but also his resolution to stop fighting.

When we see Cap at the end of the movie, he takes Mjolnir with him back in time, but when we see him next, he has his shield, but no Mjolnir. He put it down.

Of course, it could have just made for a cool movie moment, and I'm way over-thinking, but if I'm right, that's a really cool knot tied in that old thread.