Chris Evans to Return to the MCU?

Well, that didn’t last long. We all remember the ending of 2019’s mammoth MCU juggernaut Avengers: Endgame where (spoilers ahead for anyone yet to see the biggest movie of all-time) Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers aka Captain America heads back to the past to correct the timeline that the heroes altered, only to stay in the past with his estranged love Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). It was a perfect ending to one of the MCU’s most popular, longest lasting heroes. Everyone assumed that this was the end of Evans’ time in the MCU, with the actor hinting for years that he was ready to hang up the shield, and it was a fitting conclusion for the character’s time on screen. 

Not so fast. Despite that film ending with Rogers passing the shield on to Anthony Mackie’s Falcon, implying that he will become the new Captain America moving forward, it looks like the original Cap is on his way back. According to Deadline, sources are saying that Evans is gearing up for a surprise return to the MCU, just two years after her informally left it. The deal reportedly has Evans coming back for one MCU film in a supporting capacity, referencing Robert Downey Jr.’s role in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Captain America: Civil War as a comparison point, with the option open for a second film as well. 

How could Evans return, when the last time we saw him was as a wise old man passing the torch? The possibilities are essentially endless. He could return in that same old man capacity, giving mentorship to some of our present headliners. That would be fairly underwhelming to bring one of your biggest stars back though, so one imagines his return will be in a more active capacity. With movies like Black Widow and Captain Marvel showing us that the MCU is down to go back in time for some of their films, there is the possibility that we see another film taking place in the past, and Rogers makes an appearance before all of the time heist shenanigans of Endgame. 

Then again, the MCU is about to change in a big way with the introduction of the multiverse on the horizon. Between Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and all of the casting announcements (and rumors) for the next Spider-Man movie (not to mention the Loki series coming to DIsney+), it’s pretty clear that the multiverse is about to impact the MCU in a big way. As we saw with the return of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) in Endgame, maybe the most likely option is that the Rogers we’ll be seeing on screen isn’t going to be the Rogers we’ve known up until this point. 

Marvel hasn’t commented on the matter, and knowing the studio they’re not likely to do so for quite some time. Plenty of options are on the table, and this is sure going to keep MCU fans theorizing for years to come until we see whatever they’ve got in store for the character.