As it turns out, that’s exactly why writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely didn’t go down that path — it was too obvious. In an interview with ComicBook.com, McFeely explained that Steve Rogers sacrificing himself would’ve been too simple a solution and perhaps not a meaningful evolution for the character.
This makes a lot of sense. Both Captain America and Iron Man have had interesting character arcs since we first met them in Iron Man and Captain America: The First Avenger, not just in terms of self-interest and selflessness. Think about it, when we first meet Iron Man, he’s the ‘screw the system’ kind of guy, while Captain America was single-minded in his dedication to the government and country. But as the films progressed, Iron Man became one who’s always pushing to work with the government, while Captain America became more of a rebel. Markus then proceeded to discuss their decision to kill off Black Widow in Avengers: Endgame.
