Chris Evans Returning to the MCU
Chris Evans could do this all day. The Wrap exclusively reports that Evans will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Doomsday, the next Avengers film that’s scheduled to arrive in theaters in 2026. Evans famously played Captain America, the leader of the Avengers, in the first three phases of the MCU, culminating in Avengers: Endgame. In Endgame, Evans’ Steve Rogers traveled back in time and chose to stay in the past and live his life with his lost love, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell – don’t lie and say you wouldn’t do the same), appearing at the end of the film as an old man and handing his shield to Sam Wilson (which, according to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, made him a racist). Evans recently appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine, but not as Captain America; rather, he reprised the role of Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, from the two Fox-produced Fantastic Four movies in a very funny cameo. Evans will join fellow Avenger Robert Downey Jr., who will return in Doomsday as well, but not as Tony Stark; he will be playing the villainous Doctor Doom. In that spirit, The Wrap says they’re not certain who Evans will be playing in Doomsday, just that he’ll be there.
I’d say to take this with a grain of salt, but who’s kidding who here? This was a given for a long time; it had been rumored a couple of years ago, and when Marvel managed to wrangle Robert Downey Jr., we all knew it wouldn’t be long before the rest of the old-school Avengers (read: the characters people actually want to see) would be saddling up for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. I also don’t think it’s an accident that this is coming out two months before Captain America: Brave New World, the first Captain America film without Evans as Steve Rogers, which is poised to be a huge bomb. The Wrap saying they’re unsure if Chris Evans will be playing Captain America once again or if he’ll be someone else is them covering their bases after that asinine announcement that Downey would be Doctor Doom, but I don’t think this will be another switcheroo. It’s possible that he’ll be a multiversal variant of Annihilus or something stupid like that, but I doubt they’ll do that with every returning actor. He’s most likely just playing Cap again, although it’s possible he’ll be a Cap variant from another Earth because, despite the promising admissions in Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel is still obsessed with the multiverse. (For the record, I fully expect Robert Downey Jr. to be back as Iron Man as well, after they do whatever diminishing nonsense they’re doing with Doom.)
But I hope they don’t go the multiverse route. I don’t want to see some rando from another world who looks like Cap; I want to see the Cap we followed for a decade of film. And there are plenty of ways out of the old man Cap predicament; the comics actually had him in this state when Sam Wilson took over, and they fixed him (though I’m not sure how). Since Endgame established – or, rather, confirmed – that Cap was worthy of wielding Mjolnir, I thought it’d be cool if he picked up the hammer and used its godly powers to de-age himself. But I’d much rather see our Steve Rogers return to duty again instead of Marvel using the multiverse shortcut they love so much now. Similarly, I’d rather see the Tony Stark of the first three phases resurrected than have some doppelganger become an Avenger and have everyone pretend it’s the same. (There are ways to bring a character back to life without diminishing their sacrifice; maybe Kevin Feige can get over himself and give Joss Whedon a call.) And that’s what’s keeping me from being too excited; as much as I love Chris Evans in the role, I don’t trust Marvel to pull this off at this stage. Their plan to introduce one of the greatest comic book villains of all time is to make him a Tony Stark variant. They’re not the storytellers they once were, and until they prove otherwise, I’ll assume these big returns are just gimmicks to get people to see their movies again. I hope for the best, but I don’t assume it.
Let us know what you think of Chris Evans returning to Marvel in the comments!
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Comments (2)
It reminds me of The Dark Knight Rises when Bane tells Batman, “Victory has defeated you.” They got so big they thought they could do anything and people would eat it up; they didn’t have to try anymore. And their creative muscles have atrophied, so now, even their fixes are bad.
We got that first run prior to Endgame, which shows you just how good we had it for a while. It was a great run. I don’t think you can tap these special things again. You see it with LOTR, too. I appreciate them trying to tap the well again though.
It was one of those times, where of all things, it was the superhero movies that were cross generational and everyone could appreciate them. You never know how good it was until like a decade or a generation later.