Captain America’s Ass Is the Real MVP of Avengers: Endgame

Now that Avengers: Endgame is officially in theaters, fans are getting a chance to appreciate so many of the film’s moments, from the epic battles to the one-off jokes. And as one rather delightful running joke proved, every aspect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was fair game.

Obviously, spoilers for Avengers: Endgame below! Only look if you want to know!

The film follows the remaining Avengers as they attempt to move on from Thanos’ universe-shattering actions — only to discover that there’s a pretty risky way of reversing The Snap to begin with. To do this, they need to use the Quantum Realm to retrieve the Infinity Stones from various points throughout history, which they will return once they bring the previously-dusted heroes back to life.

Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) leads a group to the Battle of New York in 2012, where they hope to retrieve the Mind Stone, the Time Stone, and the Space Stone. Of course, the mission involves a lot of Steve, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) trying to skirt around their younger selves, who were all present at the Battle of New York.

At one point, while Tony and Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) are preparing to take the Space Stone, Tony catches a glimpse of 2012 Steve and makes one acute observation — that Steve’s butt looked really good in his Avengers-era uniform. This leads to a pretty flustered and hilarious exchange, in which Scott proclaims that Steve has “America’s ass”.

Later in the trip to 2012, 2023 Steve accidentally runs into 2012 Steve, and the pair begin to fight each other for the Mind Stone. 2023 Steve wins the ordeal, and when looking at his younger self laying face-down on the ground, remarks “That is America’s ass”.

Not only is the moment just a pretty great running joke, but it serves as one of several self-aware examples of how much Steve has evolved as a character since he got unfrozen in 2011. After the return of his previously-dead best friend, becoming a fugitive of the goverment, and five years of grieving over Thanos, Steve has become much less of the squeaky-clean boy scout he was initially characterized as in The Avengers, one who is much more willing to make a joke about his ass than bemoan bad “language”. And at the same time, the joke also pays tribute to the years of fanart and Tumblr gifsets that have been dedicated to Cap’s posterior.

What do you think of Avengers: Endgame‘s “America’s ass” joke? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame are in theaters now. Spider-Man: Far From Home will land in theaters on July 2nd.