We haven’t seen Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in a Marvel movie since 2019. The character retired at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Rogers was referenced often in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and we learned that no one knows where the former Captain America is. Hawkeye is another show in which the original Avengers and Captain America were referenced, largely thanks to Rogers: The Musical. And Spider-Man: No Way Home also featured a Rogers Easter egg.
Meanwhile, plenty of MCU rumors claimed that Marvel will inevitably bring back Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) from the dead. He would be a key player in the Avengers’ fight against Kang in Secret Wars. Rumors also said that Steve Rogers will be back, despite what Chris Evans has been saying about a return to the role. This led to speculation that we might see Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) as well down the road.
These are not spoilers. Even without rumors, MCU fans would still expect such surprises from Marvel while we’re in the Multiverse Saga.
Fast-forward to late November and Chris Evans’s stance on a return to the Captain America role has changed slightly. We noticed it a few months ago when the actor said that he might reprise the role at some point in the future. But the actor recently had to address rumors that Marvel planned on reuniting the original Avengers again. Nobody told Evans, the actor said in an interview. Before we go on, know that some spoilers might follow below.
The new rumors
Recently, a report from Variety claimed that Disney and Marvel had considered bringing back the original Avengers gang for another movie. The story tackled Marvel’s MCU issues, including Jonathan Majors’ legal problems, so it didn’t focus on the original Avengers tidbit. The report did say that the studios have not committed to the idea, and that’s all we had to go on.
Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney pushed Marvel to make such a movie. I don’t think we need one. I think we need more Avengers presence in other MCU projects to signal to the casual viewer that a bigger story is brewing.
Bringing the old gang back together for anything other than Secret Wars would ruin the Secret Wars. And many people would feel like it would ruin Endgame, which brought us the heartbreaking sacrifices of Nat and Tony Stark.
The Variety report dropped a few weeks ago. Before that, Chris Evans said in an interview that he would consider playing Steve Rogers again. It would have to be someday, and only if the story was right for the character.
This brings us to his new comment addressing this rumored return of the original Avengers gang. “You know, I always see those reports too, and it’s news to me,” Evans said. “I think every couple months, someone says that they’re getting Downey, and Hemsworth, and Scarlet [Johansson], and everyone’s coming back!”
The actor made the comment during an appearance on The View on Monday, per The Wrap. As in previous remarks on his iconic Captain America role, Evans reiterated the importance of the character for him, while acknowledging that the right story would get him to return.
“No one’s spoken to me about it,” Evans said. “And look, I would never say never, but I really — I’m very protective. It’s a very precious role to me, so it would have to be just right.”
We’d never expect any MCU stars to confirm rumors about future movies, especially RDJ, Evans, or Johansson. They’d do anything to save the surprise for theaters.
We need the Avengers in the MCU
The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019); these are the only Avengers films to date. As you’ll notice, we’ve had one every three years or so. Then there’s Captain America: Civil War (2016), which qualifies as a big Avengers movie.
We haven’t experienced anything like that since Endgame. It’s late 2023, and we’re not about to get an Avengers anytime soon. Forget RDJ, Chris Evans, or Scarlett Johansson. We don’t even have new Avengers stories in the MCU.
I explained time and again that the lack of Avengers in the MCU is incredibly disturbing. Marvel has been going out of its way to show Avengers developments since Endgame, despite the group being the best way to connect the sprawling universe of standalone superhero stories that we’ve witnessed so far.
Marvel has received plenty of criticism about the quality of the MCU, especially more recent shows like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion. That surely impacted the success of The Marvels, especially considering that Marvel could not promote the movie at all with the help of its stars. The Marvels premiered right when the actors’ strike ended.
The strikes will further delay the MCU slate for Phases 5 and 6. This will hopefully help Marvel tell better stories. Rumors say some of the key projects that will follow will finally start setting the stage for Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. But it’ll still be a few years until we get an Avengers movie.
Thankfully, Captain America: Brave New World is widely expected to be the MCU film that puts back the Avengers team. It’ll be a new team under the leadership of Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). But that’s still something.
Also, the Young Avengers are coming, as we learned in The Marvels.
