"It's obvious that we all underestimated Captain America before," Rhodes said first, expressing great admiration for Captain America. "He truly deserves to be the spiritual leader of the Earth Alliance."
"Although few people have ever impressed me, Captain America… he's not bad," Iron Man shrugged, giving a positive evaluation.
"It's truly not easy to get a 'not bad' evaluation from you," Rhodes couldn't help but say.
Given Iron Man's arrogant and conceited personality, "not bad" could indeed be considered a high compliment.
"I'm thinking about something else," Coulson said, resting his chin on his hand, a pensive look on his face. "If these scenes are truly from some point in the future, doesn't that mean Captain America isn't dead at all?"
"Exactly, it must be!" Rhodes' eyes lit up slightly. "Captain America's body has still not been found!"
Captain America was molded by America into a symbol of the American spirit, and his series of deeds and life story were known to almost everyone in America.
During his last mission, Captain America engaged in a fierce battle with Hydra leader Schmidt. Unable to watch the fighter jet explode over America, he chose to crash it into the river.
He had been missing ever since.
Afterward, the military dispatched a large number of personnel for search and rescue, but they never found Captain America's body.
However, even without seeing the body, in the vast expanse of the Arctic Ocean, not finding a body was equivalent to death; there was simply no possibility of survival.
The entire United States believed Captain America was dead.
But now, it seemed Captain America wasn't dead at all!
"No, Captain America was from World War II. Even if he didn't die, he would be almost a hundred years old now!"
Rhodes frowned slightly. "But in the footage, Captain America looks younger than me! Could the serum Captain America injected grant immortality?"
"As far as I know, that serum can only enhance various human attributes, turning an ordinary person into a superhero, but it doesn't have the ability to grant immortality," Coulson shook his head. Although he used the phrase "as far as I know," his tone was very certain.
The reason was simple: S.H.I.E.L.D. had always been researching the Super Soldier Serum!
While they hadn't reached the point of being able to replicate the Super Soldier Serum, they had a good understanding of its effects.
And that did not include delaying aging.
Not only that, but after injecting the Super Soldier Serum, a person's metabolic rate would greatly increase.
Reports from when Captain America first injected the Super Soldier Serum showed that his metabolism was four times that of a normal person!
From this perspective, the Super Soldier Serum not only couldn't delay aging, but it might even lead to premature aging and a shorter lifespan!
Immortality was even more preposterous.
In fact, it wasn't just S.H.I.E.L.D.; ever since the legend of Captain America emerged, many departments, including the military, had vigorously researched the Super Soldier Serum.
The Hulk was an accidental mutation product of the military's research into the Super Soldier Serum.
But no matter which organization, none had ever heard of the serum having any similar effect that could delay human aging.
"Immortality? Rhodes, that's something only God can do!" Iron Man also shook his head, completely disbelieving this point.
A serum enhancing human attributes, unleashing human potential, and allowing a person's body to reach the limits of what a human body can achieve, that was still within an acceptable range.
But breaking the boundaries of life and death?
That was truly a bit too far-fetched.
"From a scientific perspective, means that can grant immortality simply cannot exist. Modern technology simply cannot achieve such a thing!"
Iron Man continued, emphatically stating,
"It's not even possible for such technology to appear within the next hundred years!"
At this point, Iron Man's face also showed deep confusion. "So what exactly happened to Captain America?"
"Doesn't Captain America use magic?" Coulson suddenly remembered something. "Could it be the power of magic?"
Technological means certainly couldn't grant immortality, so what about supernatural powers?
Just look at Captain Marvel.
When Coulson and Nick Fury first met Captain Marvel, they were both young men, but now?
They had both become weathered uncles, yet Captain Marvel's appearance in the future remained unchanged!
"So… it's the power of magic that keeps Captain America eternally young?" Rhodes said, feeling utterly speechless.
How could such a statement sound so absurd?
A World War II soldier and magic – the styles just didn't match!
It was extremely incongruous!
But then, recalling the scene in the footage where Captain America used a magical item to summon lightning, Rhodes was truly starting to waver.
Could it be… Captain America was actually a sorcerer?
"If Captain America was such a powerful sorcerer, would he be unable to handle a mere airplane?" Iron Man pointed out the flaw incisively.
The reason Captain America ultimately chose to crash into the river was because there were a large number of ignited bombs on the plane.
And the plane had been tampered with by Schmidt, unable to turn, it could only fly straight ahead, eventually reaching New York and exploding there.
It was to save the many citizens of New York that Captain America chose to crash into the river.
If Captain America was a sorcerer capable of immortality at that time, would he be unable to handle such a simple matter?
"Moreover, all relevant data does not show that Captain America can use magic," Iron Man added.
"But we cannot rule out that possibility," Coulson's eyes gleamed, his mind racing.
"First, Captain America did indeed show us the power of magic; that is undeniable."
"Second, we weren't on the plane at the time, so we don't know what happened. It's possible that Captain America's magic ran out, or it's also possible that Schmidt used other magical powers as well."
Coulson's deduction was supported by sufficient facts, because Schmidt had the Tesseract in his hand at the time!
The Tesseract was a magical item!
"Finally, the reason there's no data about Captain America using magic is even simpler: this part of the information is highly classified, so we don't know about it."
Coulson spoke eloquently to Rhodes and Iron Man, analyzing with sound reasoning.
"Although it sounds a bit absurd, Tony… what he said does make sense. We cannot rule out this possibility."
Rhodes nodded along.
Setting aside the influence of subjective feelings, and looking purely from a logical perspective, Coulson's deduction currently could not be disproven.