Daily News for Marvel Movie

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine.
Summary

• Chris Evans is likely to return as Captain America in upcoming MCU movies due to recent major updates in the franchise.
• Avengers: Endgame saw Mackie's Sam Wilson take on the Captain America mantle from Evans' Steve Rogers.
• Marvel is making bold casting decisions for upcoming Avengers movies with Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, and that could make Evans' Captain America return easier.

Despite what Chris Evans might say, I believe he is coming back as Captain America in the coming years. Evans is one of the most important actors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and my personal favorite. His Captain America was a constant presence during the MCU's best period, the Infinity Saga. From 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger — his MCU debut — to 2019's Avengers: Endgame — his latest outing as Steve Rogers — Evans appeared in at least one MCU movie a year. That is a record no other MCU actor matches, with Evans' Captain America trilogy also the franchise's best.
Avengers: Endgame's ending saw Steve Rogers go live in the past with Peggy Carter, making Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson his successor. Mackie will now lead Captain America: Brave New World's cast, making his big screen debut as the MCU's new Captain America next year. While I think Evans will not show up in the movie as old man Steve Rogers, since that would undermine Sam's big moment as Captain America, I feel like the MCU's recent major updates make it so Evans has got to be making a return as Steve Rogers in one or more upcoming MCU movies.
Related Captain America: Brave New World Is The Winter Soldier Sequel I've Waited 10 Years For Following Captain America: Brave New World"s first trailer, it"s clear to me that it is coming to fill a spot left by one of the MCU"s best movies.
4 RDJ And The Russos Are Returning For Avengers 5 & 6 Marvel Brought Out The Big Guns At SDCC Close At San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios revealed its bold plans for the two announced Avengers movies. Originally, Kang the Conqueror and his variants, the Council of Kangs, would play a role in the films, or at the very least in 2026's Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. However, after Kang's debut film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, bombed at the box office and Kang actor Jonathan Majors was fired from the role after being found guilty on two misdemeanor counts of harassment and assault, Marvel decided to scrap its plans for Kang in favor of bringing in Doctor Doom.
While I would have wanted Oppenheimer's Cillian Murphy to play the MCU's Doctor Doom, I can't help but be curious about how the decision to bring in his Oppenheimer co-star to play the role will affect the MCU. At San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios made the shocking reveal that Robert Downey Jr. will play Doctor Doom in the next two Avengers movies. There was no explanation as to how the former Iron Man actor would switch roles to give life to the villain, but with the Multiverse Saga as the backdrop, Victor von Doom could be a Tony Stark variant.
Robert Downey Jr. personally called Chris Evans to convince him to play Captain America in the first place, and RDJ's MCU return could help Evans to come back as Steve Rogers.
The previously titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will now be called Avengers: Doomsday. I'm excited about the change, as I always thought Doom was one of the best comic book villains. RDJ playing Doom also opens a lot of doors, especially for Evans to return as Captain America, as Downey coming back could be what convinces Evans to also return to his most famous role. The next two Avengers movies will also be directed by the Russo Brothers, who helmed four of Evans' best MCU movies and have worked with him after his MCU career, making a return more likely.
Related 10 Reasons Robert Downey Jr. Is Perfect For The MCU’s Doctor Doom Robert Downey Jr. is leaving Iron Man to play the MCU"s Doctor Doom, which has led to differing opinions, but the casting works for a few key reasons.
Chris Evans Already Returned To The MCU Post-Endgame Not As Captain America Close Besides the chance to team up with the Russos and RDJ again in one or both of the announced Avengers movies, Evans himself has already returned to the MCU, only with a twist. Before playing Captain America in the MCU, Evans gave life to another Marvel hero, Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, in two Fantastic Four movies in the 2000s. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman recently joined the MCU with Deadpool & Wolverine, and the movie's multiverse story included several returning characters from Fox's Marvel movies, including Evans as the Human Torch.
With Evans already in the MCU, Marvel could turn his extended cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine into a full-on return as Captain America in Avengers: Secret Wars. Evans has talked about his Deadpool & Wolverine role, saying he was "so excited" to return as Johnny Storm after almost 20 years and that "Ryan's humor makes just about everything work." With Downey returning to the MCU, it seems like all options are now on the table for Marvel, and given Evans had a great time with his own MCU return, I think a Captain America return is a matter of time.
Related The MCU Just Put Even More Pressure On The Fantastic Four Reboot The Fantastic Four: First Steps brings Marvel"s First Family to the MCU next year, and the pressure the movie has to succeed just got even heavier.
Chris Evans' Career Post-MCU Has Been Mostly Misses A Captain America Return Might Be What He Needs Close While Evans has delivered good to great performances in his roles after last playing Captain America in 2019's Avengers: Endgame, his post-MCU movies have not performed as well as expected. Evans' roles have been primarily in streaming films after the MCU, with his biggest theatrical release being Lightyear, based on the Toy Story franchise's fan-favorite Buzz Lightyear character. I'm a big fan of Lightyear; however, I'm sadly one of a few, as Lightyear only made $226.4 million at the worldwide box office on a $200 million budget, meaning it lost a lot of money after marketing costs entered the picture.
Evans' other high-profile movies post-MCU include the action picture The Gray Man, directed by the Russo Brothers; the action-comedy Ghosted alongside Ana de Armas; and the drama Pain Hustlers opposite Emily Blunt. Despite working with popular Hollywood stars and interesting creative teams, Evans' movies failed to find positive critical reception. The Gray Man stands at 45%, Ghosted at 25%, and Pain Hustlers at 23% Critics' Score on popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. With many of Evans' post-MCU releases facing issues, I think that could end up leading to the actor being more receptive to coming back as Captain America.
Related I Predict This 2024 Movie Will Continue 2 Actors' Disappointing Rotten Tomatoes Streaks Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans are set to star in an upcoming Christmas action movie, but unfortunately, the film already looks disappointing to me.
1 Chris Evans Could Play A Captain America Variant It Would Avoid Evans' Biggest Concern Close Evans has been asked about coming back as Captain America multiple times since he last played the role. The star's answer is always a variation of how the role is special to him, and while he wouldn't close the door, he thinks Steve Rogers had the perfect ending. Well, I think if Evans came back as a Captain America from a different universe, that would no longer be an issue. Evans could either play a Steve Rogers that the Avengers recruit to take down RDJ's Doctor Doom or an evil version of Cap that works with Doom.
Another positive aspect of Evans possibly coming back to the MCU as a Captain America variant is that it would not really impact Anthony Mackie's first Captain America movie as the lead. A return as old man Steve Rogers in Captain America: Brave New World or playing Cap in a movie closer to it might, but a multiverse role in 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars would be another situation altogether. Based on his and RDJ's MCU returns, I think Marvel will want Evans back as Captain America to recreate the Cap and Iron Man relationship with a twist.
Avengers: Doomsday Avengers: Doomsday is the fifth Avengers film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will bring together heroes, new and old, to face off against Victor von Doom – played by the returning Robert DOwney Jr.. Avengers 5 will also mark the beginning of phase 6 of the MCU.
Release Date May 1, 2026 Avengers: Secret Wars Avengers: Secret Wars is the sixth Avengers film and takes place during phase six of Marvel's Cinematic Universe. The film will see several heroes from the prior phases return and battle against a cosmic threat to rival Thanos, and borrows elements of the Marvel Comics event of the same name.
Release Date May 7, 2027 Upcoming Marvel Movies
Release Date
Captain America: Brave New World
February 14, 2025
Thunderbolts*
May 2, 2025
The Fantastic Four : First Steps
July 25, 2025
Blade
November 7, 2025
Avengers: Doomsday
May 1, 2026
Avengers: Secret Wars
May 7, 2027