Captain America‘s current status is unknown in the MCU, but if The Star Spangled Man With A Plan has died since his last appearance in Avengers: Endgame, it raises the question of whether or not he went to Valhalla after passing. Steve Rogers famously wields Mjlonir in The Avengers’ final battle against a time-traveling Thanos. This clarifies that he is, indeed, worthy of wielding the enchanted hammer, but passage to the Asgardian afterlife is an entirely different matter.
Interestingly, the MCU has detailed several different afterlives that people can go to after their deaths. However, Valhalla has been defined the most clearly in the movies of the MCU. Given Thor’s explanation of Valhalla in Thor: Love and Thunder and what the MCU has revealed about Steve Rogers, a clear answer presents itself of which afterlife Captain America is in if he has indeed died since Endgame.
Captain America Would Not Be Worthy Of Valhalla In The MCU
Valhalla In The MCU’s Asgardian Mythology – Kay Facts |
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Valhalla is the Afterlife in Asgardian mythology. |
Slain heroes and honored dead are said to ascend to Valhalla. |
Valhalla is an astral plane located in the multiverse. |
Notable residents: Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Heimdall (Idris Elba), Frigga (Rene Russo) & Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). |
Captain America was worthy of wielding Mjolnir, but, given when he would have died if he had indeed passed away, he would not be worthy of crossing the gates to Valhalla. While the Norse afterlife was left fairly vague for most of Thor’s time in the MCU, Thor: Love and Thunder showed it on-screen and had its titular hero explain exactly what it takes to make it there. According to Thor as he’s speaking to an injured Sif, a warrior has to die in an actual battle to reach Valhalla, and Sif wouldn’t get in if she died later from the battle-caused injuries.
Even if Steve Rogers had died after he time-traveled to the past and returned an old man in Endgame, he would not have died on the battlefield. While his actions throughout the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe are nothing short of selfless and heroic, and he becomes worthy of Mjolnir, death from old age simply doesn’t cut it for the Asgardian afterlife. Unfortunately, this also means that the likes of Odin, the Allfather himself, didn’t get to experience Valhalla.
Captain America Would Not Have Gone To Valhalla Even If He Did Qualify
The fact that Captain America isn’t eligible for entrance to Valhalla may seem sad, but the truth is that it doesn’t matter. The MCU has firmly established that some existential power seems to guide people to the afterlife of their personal beliefs or choosing when they die. There have been several other afterlife locations shown in detail in the MCU, each one inhabited by the people who believe in it. It’s unclear what happens to those with beliefs not tied to an afterlife that exists in the MCU, but since that hasn’t yet come up, it seems reasonable that most belief systems have some Marvel equivalent location.
Given that afterlives are confirmed to exist in the MCU and that they seem tied to a person’s beliefs, Steve Rogers would have hypothetically gone to a version of Christian heaven. Steve is clear about his religious beliefs, famously stating, “There’s only one god, ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that” after hearing that Loki is supposedly a god. As such, Steve would go to whatever form of that afterlife exists in the MCU upon his death.
Every Afterlife Seen In The MCU So Far
So far, three distinct afterlives have been shown in the MCU, and a fourth may have been teased less clearly. First, the Ancestral Plane plays an important role in both Black Panther movies as T’Challa and Shuri both visit deceased Black Panthers for important advice. Additionally, Moon Knight dives into Egyptian Mythology, sending Marc and Steven to both Duat and the Field of Reeds, where they eventually find their way back to the world of the living. Finally, as previously discussed, Valhalla is finally shown straight away in Thor: Love and Thunder, where Heimdall greets Jane Foster.
Additionally, Rocket Racoon enters a space that may be some form of afterlife, may be an internal vision, or may be something in between. When he nearly dies in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Rocket is greeted by his friends who died before his escape from the High Evolutionary’s lab earlier in life. This space is a place of pure white, but Rocket soon departs as his time with the living isn’t over. With so many afterlives already shown, it’s likely Steve Rogers’ Captain America will go to one of his own choosing after death, not the Asgardian Halls of Valhalla.
