- There is one Captain America movie Marvel could make with Chris Evans without ruining Steve Rogers’s arc in Avengers: Endgame.
- It’s the Captain America adventure that many fans have been wondering about because of the way Endgame concluded. Still, it’s also a story that might not necessarily fit with the rest of the MCU.
- Joe and Anthony Russo said in a recent interview that one particular story would be interesting to tell while acknowledging this might not be the right time for it. Separately, Evans said that he’s finished with his iconic role as Cap.
Going into Avengers: Endgame last year, we knew some of our favorite superheroes would not make it out alive from the biggest fight of their lives. Captain America and Iron Man were the main suspects, although we had no idea how they’d die. It turns out Kevin Feige & Co. did have a clear plan in place to complete most of the arcs of the original six Avengers, even if that meant some of them had to die or retire. In the end, Black Widow gave her life for a key Infinity Stone needed to bring everyone back. Iron Man died to save everyone else and prevent a different version of Thanos from killing off all like in the universe. Captain America did not die, but he retired to live a regular life in a different reality, though not before completing one final task for the Avengers.
As far as most people back in the primary Marvel reality know, Captain America also died during the fight, and Far From Home made that clear. Bringing any of these superheroes back for new MCU adventures is rather challenging, as it would ruin the magic of Endgame. Part of the reason why the film works so well is that it feels more real than other superhero flicks where the good guys always survive at the end. You can’t just bring these heroes back without cheapening what Endgame manages to achieve.
We will see Scarlett Johansson again in the MCU, as she reprised her Black Widow role for the MCU movie the actress was denied for so long. Black Widow is a prequel, with the action set chronologically between Civil War and Infinity War. Robert Downey Jr. is rumored to have a cameo in the film based of old unused footage, and there’s speculation that he might return as Iron Man at some point down the road. But Chris Evans won’t appear in any future MCU films. The actor said he’s done with the role a few times already, even though he might miss it. Not to mention the fact that the Captain America baton has been passed to Anthony Mackie. That said, there is one Captain America film Marvel could make without altering Endgame in any way and we would absolutely love to see it happen.
If you want to rewatch Endgame, then you should definitely consider seeing Infinity War before that. Watching the two back to back is incredibly satisfying. Even better, you should play Civil War before that. It’ll just remind you of the enormous stakes and the mindset of the Avengers. That’s what I did this past weekend, as these are three of the best MCU films so far. Throughout Endgame, I found asking myself why Cap picked up just four Pym particles from 1970 Camp Lehigh. What if something else unexpected would have happened and they needed more? He took four vials, which were enough for Steve and Tony to return to the present, assuming the mission would be completed. And he got just two spares.
I then wondered how many particles he would have needed to complete his final mission. As a reminder, he has to return all six Infinity Stones and Thor’s hammer to four different timelines. He has to put them back right after they were taken to ensure the safety of those realities. This isn’t necessarily an easy task to pull off when you have no backup, and when you have no real experience traveling to the far corners of the universe. It can be risky and time-consuming. There’s no guarantee of success, and you’ll need more Pym particles.
Yes, this is a Captain America 4 film we all desperately want to see. But Marvel wouldn’t make one just for the sake of giving Evans another shot at his iconic role, especially now that Mackie will play Captain America. More importantly, whatever Steve does between the moment he leaves 2023 as a young man only to return to the main timeline a few seconds later as an elder, has to be somehow tied to the rest of the action in the upcoming MCU phases.
Rogers is essentially an incredibly skilled delivery person in his last mission as a leading Avenger. That adventure has to be combined with the main storyline of the MCU. And it has to be done in such a manner that Evans wouldn’t really make a comeback to the MCU for other films.
It turns out that Joe and Anthony Russo, who have delivered the last two Avengers and the previous two Captain America films, are intrigued by this particular Steve Rogers story.
“It would be a great story to tell, no question,” Joe Russo told ComicBookMovie when asked about Cap’s trip back through time. But he acknowledged that the story might not necessarily make sense it the current scheme of things. “I don’t know whether it needs to be told, but it would be a great story to tell, and we’d love to tell it, but I think there are other stories to move on to now.”
That’s in no way confirmation that the Russos are coming back to the MCU, that Chris Evans is considering a return, or that Marvel is even entertaining the idea of showing us Rogers’s trip through time. Not to mention that Evans said recently that he’s probably done with the role. “It was a great run, and we went out on such a high note that it would be risky to revisit it, in my opinion,” he said. “It was such a good experience, and I think it’s better left that way.” In previous remarks about his Captain America tenure and a return, he explained that “you never say never,” but everything would have to fall in exactly the right place for that to happen. “It almost feels like maybe we should let this one sit.”
