Steve's Diary

March 30, 2028

Dear Diary,

It seems everything has... calmed down.

People still call me a hero, but I don't know how much of it I want to believe anymore, especially after all the mistakes I've made. That's another reason everything's gotten to be so abnormally quiet. I've put away the shield and stepped down from that Captain America mantle for the time being.

The thing about living a life like that and constantly being referred to as 'the h word' is, you really have to live up to it. There can't be any missteps. No hesitation. That's why I couldn't do it anymore, at least not at this point in my life.

I mean, what if I wanted to put Bucky first, above the rest of the planet, for once in my life?

I have too much to live for and too many people I can't lose all over again; I suppose that's one thing Thanos taught me... it's the only thing he seems to have been good for.

Sam is the new Captain America, he's got the shield now, after all. I'm certain that if the world were to need the old Avengers est. 2012, he'd hand it over in a heartbeat and revert back to his Falcon suit and follow my lead... but I think he's doing great as he is right now with the New Avengers, which includes a few new members like Songbird, Echo, Sentry, Shang-Chi, Hercules, Mockingbird and even a Spider-Woman.

As for the rest of us originals, we've stayed in touch and intend to do so for as long as time permits. Some weekends we'll all meet at Stark Tower and have a movie night or we'll drive to Stark's new place upstate, just Bucky and myself, and hang out with Morgan and Pepper or we'll have a double date with Nat and Bruce or a triple date including Clint and Laura. It's endless, all these possibilities we have now that the world is somewhat normal.

To think that we hesitated to retire out of the simple idea that Earth may be losing her best defender when, in reality, she was gaining a whole new legion of heroes. It's exponential, as Vision once said, the growth of heroes since Tony announced himself as Iron Man in 2008- twenty years ago.

I mean, think about it. Especially in New York, but even worldwide, we have incredible heroes being born and being made. I've even had the privilege of meeting a few of them as they've been recruited to new hero teams as per my recommendation.

Banner's cousin, for example, Jennifer Walters, Hulks out sometimes after that emergency blood transfusion- but she's also a lawyer... like the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, he's a lawyer, too; and he's legally blind. Oh, and, he's got a whole group of friends who call themselves The Defenders including the Private Investigator Jessica Jones and the man with unbreakable skin known as Luke Cage as well as the immortal Iron Fist, protector of K'un-Lun, sworn enemy of The Hand, heart of Shou Lao, called Danny Rand (yes, of the billion dollar company Rand Enterprises in Manhattan). They're all heroes, too, despite their reputation as vigilantes... that includes those around them, like Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Hellcat, Elektra, The Punisher and even Claire Temple.

To think that we were all once normal people. Frank, Bucky and I were soldiers, Banner was a scientist, Stark was the owner of the world's leading weaponry company, Natasha and Clint were agents/spies- just as Matt and Jen were lawyers, Jessica was a P.I., Luke was an ex-con, Danny was presumed dead, Misty was a cop, Colleen was a Sensei and so on.

I've heard of others, like the group called the Midnight Sons, including the likes of Moon Knight, Elsa Bloodstone, Blade, Doctor Voodoo, Morbius, Man-Thing and others. And, another group called the New Warriors which includes those going by Justice, Night Thrasher, Namorita, Silhouette, Tigra, Hummingbird, Speedball, Sun Girl and Water Snake, among others.