"Obviously, we've underestimated Captain America."
Rhodes was the first to speak, expressing strong admiration for Captain America. "He truly deserves to be the spiritual leader of the Earth Alliance."
"Not many people ever impress me, but Captain America... not bad."Iron Man shrugged and gave his approval.
"Now that's impressive—getting a 'not bad' from you,"Rhodes couldn't help but comment.
Given Iron Man's arrogant and prideful nature, a "not bad" was practically high praise.
"I'm thinking about something else," said Coulson, resting his chin on his hand with a pensive look. "If this footage is truly from some point in the future, doesn't that mean Captain America didn't actually die?"
"Exactly! That must be it!"Rhodes' eyes lit up. "Captain America's body has never been found!"
Captain America had been molded into a symbol of American spirit. Nearly every American knew his stories and life history.
During his final mission, he battled Schmidt, the leader of HYDRA. Refusing to watch the aircraft explode in America, Captain America chose to crash it into the sea himself.
Since then, he had been missing.
The military had dispatched numerous search teams, but no one ever found Captain America's body.
Although no body was recovered, in the vast and endless Arctic Ocean, not finding a corpse was essentially considered confirmation of death. The odds of survival were virtually zero.
All of America believed Captain America was dead.
But now it seemed he wasn't dead at all!
"Wait, Captain America is from World War II. Even if he didn't die, he'd be nearly a hundred years old by now!"
Rhodes frowned slightly. "But in the footage, Captain America looked younger than me! Could the serum he was injected with grant immortality?"
"As far as I know, that serum only enhances the body's attributes—turning an ordinary man into a superhuman—but it doesn't grant eternal life."
Coulson shook his head. Though he used the phrase "as far as I know," his tone was certain.
And for good reason—S.H.I.E.L.D. had been studying the super soldier serum for years!
Though they hadn't yet managed to replicate it, they were very familiar with its effects.
And those effects didn't include delaying aging.
In fact, the serum drastically increased metabolic rates.
Reports from when Captain America was injected showed his metabolism was four times that of a normal person!
From that perspective, the serum wouldn't slow aging—it would accelerate it, shortening lifespan!
Immortality? Completely absurd.
In truth, S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't the only one. Ever since Captain America's legend emerged, countless organizations, including the military, had invested heavily in researching the super serum.
The Hulk was actually a mutated byproduct of one such military experiment.
But none of them had ever reported any anti-aging effects.
"Immortality? Rhodes, that's something only God can do!"Iron Man shook his head, utterly unconvinced.
Enhancing physical abilities and unlocking human potential was within reason.
But breaking the boundary between life and death?
That was pure nonsense.
"From a scientific perspective, there's no method to achieve immortality. Modern technology simply isn't capable of it."
Iron Man said with finality. "Even within the next hundred years, I don't see it happening."
Then his expression turned baffled. "So what exactly is going on with Captain America?"
"Doesn't Captain America know magic?"Coulson suddenly thought of something. "Could it be the power of magic?"
Technology couldn't achieve immortality—what about supernatural forces?
Just look at Captain Marvel.
When Coulson and Nick Fury first met her, they were both energetic young men.
Now? They were rugged, middle-aged uncles.
But Captain Marvel hadn't aged a day.
"So... it's magic that's kept Captain America young forever?"Rhodes said, utterly speechless.
That idea just sounded ridiculous.
A WWII soldier using magic? The vibes didn't match at all!
It was absurdly out of place.
But then Rhodes recalled the footage where Captain America summoned lightning using magical artifacts—and began to waver.
Could Captain America actually be... a wizard?
"If Captain America were such a powerful wizard, would he really be unable to handle a simple airplane?"Iron Man hit the nail on the head, pointing out the flaw.
Captain America had chosen to crash because the plane was loaded with ignited bombs.
Schmidt had sabotaged the controls so it couldn't turn—only fly straight—headed directly for New York.
To save the city's people, Captain America chose to go down with it.
If he truly was an immortal wizard, would he really be stumped by such a basic problem?
"And no record anywhere has ever shown that Captain America knows magic,"Iron Man added.
"But we can't rule it out."Coulson's eyes gleamed as his mind worked rapidly.
"First, Captain America clearly demonstrated magical powers. That's undeniable."
"Second, we weren't on the plane, so we don't know what actually happened. Maybe he ran out of magic. Maybe Schmidt used some other magical power—we just don't know."
Coulson had a solid foundation for these guesses—Schmidt was wielding the Cosmic Cube at the time!
And the Cosmic Cube was definitely a magical artifact!
"Lastly, the reason there's no data about Captain America knowing magic is simple—it's classified at the highest level. We just don't have access."
Coulson spoke eloquently before Rhodes and Iron Man, analyzing everything with logic and reason.
"It sounds ridiculous, sure—but Tony, he's not wrong. We can't rule out the possibility."
Rhodes nodded in agreement.
Putting aside personal bias and looking purely from a logical standpoint, Coulson's argument couldn't be refuted—at least not for now.