Chapter 253: The Twilight of Heroes! Captain America with Gray Hair

"But you look quite young now." Loki said, "You don't look like a hundred-year-old man at all."

"That's because I was frozen in ice for decades." Steve Rogers said.

"So, Captain, when would you choose a successor?" Nick Fury turned his head and asked, "Is it when you're old and unable to fight anymore?"

"It's possible." Steve Rogers thought for a moment and said, "But I currently have no intentions of retiring."

"That's the spirit, Steve." Sam Wilson said, "If you could retire contentedly before facing Thanos, you wouldn't be Captain America."

"If Captain had to wait until he's old to choose a successor, then, except for Peter, the other three options can be ruled out." Phil Coulson said, "Bucky and Captain are in similar situations, they look young, but they're already a hundred years old, and by the time Captain gets old, Bucky would be old too. Same with Sam and Clint, they would definitely become elderly."

"So, this successor won't be chosen by Captain when he's old, but rather when several of the options are in their prime." Tony Stark said.

"That's quite strange then. In their prime?" Sam Wilson said, "When we're in our prime, isn't Captain also in his 'prime'? Even though Captain is older in actual age, he looks younger than me."

"Exactly." Clint Barton said, "Except for Peter, Sam and I are currently in our prime. If we were to be chosen as successors, it would be now. In another twenty years or so, we'll be too old."

"So Captain chose the successor during his prime?" Stephen Strange said, "Why at this time? Is it because he's gravely injured and unable to fight anymore?"

"It should be the reason." Scott Lang said, "Facing a powerful enemy like Thanos, it's reasonable for Captain to have suffered serious injuries during the fight."

"At Tony's funeral, Captain looked perfectly fine. No missing limbs or anything." Clint Barton said.

"Appearances can be deceiving, not showing injuries doesn't mean he wasn't hurt. It could be internal injuries." James Rhodes said.

"The reason itself isn't that important. We just need to know that Captain wants to choose a successor," Bruce Banner said, "Captain, if you had to choose a successor right now among the four options, who would you choose?"

"I don't think it would be me." Before Steve Rogers could speak, Clint Barton immediately ruled himself out, "I'm just an ordinary person, without any superpowers. I mean, if the answering space wasn't interfering. The combat abilities of an ordinary person can't hold up the mantle of Captain America, right?"

"I think Barton makes sense." Sam Wilson said, "So, it wouldn't be me either. Between Peter and Bucky, neither of them is an ordinary person. It should be between the two of them."

"Although Peter has stronger combat abilities and more potential, he's too young." Clint Barton said, "And Bucky, while having similar combat abilities to Captain, and similar powers, he fought alongside Captain, grew up with him, fought wars with him, and is Captain's closest friend. So, I think Captain would choose Bucky as the successor."

"No, it definitely can't be Bucky." Nick Fury shook his head, immediately denying Clint Barton's conclusion, "Did you all forget what Bucky has done? He was an assassin for Hydra for quite a long time, assassinating many people."

"Fury, that wasn't my intention. My brain was controlled, and I didn't know what I was doing." Bucky Barnes quickly explained.

"Bucky, I know, I understand." Nick Fury said, "What I meant was, Captain America is not just a superhero, he's a symbol, a representation of the American spirit. Letting someone with so much 'baggage' inherit this role is not suitable."

"Fury is right." Tony Stark said, "Having Bucky as the new Captain America wouldn't be appropriate."

"Then, it's Peter?" Scott Lang concluded, "With Bucky out of the picture, he's the only one left with superpowers."

"No, Scott, we shouldn't just focus on individual combat abilities." Steve Rogers spoke up, "What Fury said just now is correct. Captain America is more than just an American superhero, he's a symbol, a representation of American spirit. So, personal combat abilities should be secondary. If we were to measure based on combat abilities, then this symbol of spirit shouldn't be me right now; it should be Thor, or Bruce."

"Makes sense." Scott Lang nodded.

"If it's about being a symbol, then maybe I should be ruled out." Sam Wilson said, "Although no one has a problem with my skin color, the American people, they wouldn't accept a black man as their symbol."

"Sam is right." James Rhodes, also a black man, said, "Democracy, equality, they've always been slogans, a joke. Discrimination based on skin color has never really changed in America."

"Breaking the barrier of skin color is one of the few things I can't change." Nick Fury said.

"Sam, maybe you're right, but don't forget, we're talking about the second generation of Captain America, we're talking about my successor." Steve Rogers said, "Although this symbol is the symbol of American spirit, the one choosing is me, not those Americans. Would I need to hold a nationwide vote

"Captain, so, did you choose me?" Sam Wilson was a bit excited, being chosen by his idol as a successor was a tremendous honor.

"That's right, Sam, I chose you!" Steve Rogers made his choice, "I choose C!"

Correct answer! Reward distributed!

Steve Rogers' eyes immediately turned red, like molten lava, and then returned to normal.

"Captain, how about shooting something?" Tony Stark said from the side.

"Sure." Steve Rogers turned around, facing an empty direction, his eyes turned red, and with a "whoosh," two red beams shot out from his eyes.

"Cool!" Scott Lang gave a thumbs up, "Give Captain a cape, and he's basically like Clark coming to life!"

"What cape? Scott, you completely missed the point," Tony Stark asked, "What's the most recognizable symbol of Superman?"

"The S on his chest?" Scott Lang asked.

"Wearing his underwear on the outside!" Tony Stark said, frustrated, "Such an iconic symbol, and you can't even think of it!"

"So, Captain, hurry up and put it on the outside, and you'll become Superman." Stephen Strange said.

"Make sure it's red." Tony Stark said, "I like red."

"If you like it, you can wear it yourself." Steve Rogers said, not in a good mood.

"He can fly, shoot laser beams from his eyes; the current Captain is already a budget version of Superman." Stephen Strange said.

"If his defense could be raised a bit more, he'd be even closer." Bruce Banner said, "Captain's defense is still insufficient, not to reach Superman's level, but at least to be mostly immune to most firearms?"

"I'm already quite content." Steve Rogers said, "My current power is already much stronger than before the answering space appeared."

That was an understatement; adding a significant multiplier in power, with just the abilities of flight and laser beam shooting from his eyes, the current Steve Rogers could easily defeat hundreds of his previous selves.

No, it's more like he could defeat as many as he wants; he could fly high up and shoot laser beams from above, out of the range of any attacks, and any previous version of him would kneel before him.

Air force against infantry, it's essentially a reduction in dimensions, an absolute advantage.

At this moment, the space lit up, and the space started playing a video.

"Remember, you have to return the stones to the moment they were taken." At the beginning, Bruce Banner said to Steve Rogers, "Otherwise, you'll open up a bunch of annoying parallel realities."

"Don't worry, Bruce, I'll prevent all branching timelines." Steve Rogers said.

"I've tried." Bruce Banner said, "When I had the Infinity Gauntlet and the stones, I tried to bring her back. I miss her a lot."

"I do too." Steve Rogers said.

"If you want, I can go with you." Sam Wilson said to Steve Rogers.

"You're a good man, Sam." Steve Rogers said, "But this time, I need to go alone."

"Don't do anything stupid, wait for me to come back." Steve Rogers walked up to Bucky Barnes again.

"How could I?" Bucky Barnes smiled, "You've taken all the silliness with you."

Saying goodbye to his two best friends, Steve Rogers then picked up the box filled with Infinity Stones and walked to the time-travel machine.

"How long will he be gone?" Sam Wilson asked.

"He can take as long as he needs, but for us, it'll only be five seconds." Bruce Banner said, then he asked Steve Rogers, "Are you ready, Captain?"

On the time-travel machine, Steve Rogers lifted Thor's Mjolnir and turned to look.

"Alright, we'll be waiting for you here." Bruce Banner said.

"No problem." Steve Rogers said.

"Activate the quantum, three, two, one." After Bruce Banner counted down, he pressed the button, and Steve Rogers was pulled into the quantum tunnel and disappeared.

"Return countdown, five, four, three, two, one!" Immediately after, Bruce Banner counted down from five, and pressed the button again.

However, the space above the time-travel machine was empty, and Steve Rogers didn't come back.

Bruce Banner thought something went wrong and quickly checked the machine.

"Where is he?" Sam Wilson asked.

"I don't know, he missed the time stamp." Bruce Banner was still checking, "He should have come back."

"Bring him back." Sam Wilson said.

"I'm working on it." Bruce Banner said.

"Hurry up and bring him back!" Sam Wilson urged.

"I said I'm working on it." Bruce Banner said.

"Sam." At this moment, Bucky Barnes called out to Sam Wilson.

Sam Wilson and Bruce Banner also looked over and saw a figure sitting by the shore. From the back, he looked like an old man.

Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes walked over.

Standing behind, they already felt who the old man was.

"Go ahead." Bucky Barnes said to Sam Wilson.

Sam Wilson walked up to the old man, "Captain?"

At this point, the camera switched to the front of the person. The person had dry skin, wrinkles all over his face, and white hair. He was truly an old man.

Even though he was very old, everyone had already seen him with the mentality of "this is Captain America," so they immediately recognized that these aged features were indeed those of Steve Rogers.

"What the heck! Captain has actually grown old!"

"It's hard to imagine that the lively and energetic Captain would one day grow old like this."

"Is that really Captain? Could I be seeing things?"

As soon as Steve Rogers' aged appearance appeared, it immediately caused waves of exclamations.

"So, it turns out Captain did choose his successor when he was too old to fight." Tony Stark couldn't help but say.

"What's going on? Why did Captain age like that, while we're all still young?" Scott Lang asked.

"It's obvious. After returning to the past to return the stones, for some reason, Captain didn't come back from the quantum realm but lived in the past." Bruce Banner said, "That's why he looks so old."

"Our thinking was too narrow." Tony Stark said, "Even though we knew about time travel, when analyzing this question, no one considered time-traveling."

"Who could have thought of this?" James Rhodes said, "No one could have thought of this!"

"Throughout, Captain has always appeared before us as a hero who fights relentlessly, and whenever there's trouble, Captain is the first to act. This gave us a misconception that Captain will always be with us, always protecting us." Natasha Romanoff said, "I never thought about Captain growing old."

"Neither did I." Clint Barton said.

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