Word slipped out last week that Anthony Mackie inked a deal with Marvel for his first Captain America movie. Right after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ended, we heard that Captain America 4 was in the works. Rumors at the time said that Marvel isn’t developing just one Captain America project. Mackie’s Sam Wilson might be the MCU’s new Cap. Falcon shows Sam’s journey towards accepting the role that Steve Rogers planned for him. But Marvel might also be working on a separate Captain America project featuring Chris Evans.
Falcon is the new Cap
Evans actor has addressed rumors about his MCU return in various interviews. In most of them, he denied speculation that he would reprise his iconic Steve Rogers role. And while Chris Evans seemed to concede that you never say never in the MCU, he always stuck to the same response. Steve Rogers’s arc ended beautifully in Avengers: Endgame and Evans wouldn’t want to compromise that story.
Unlike Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), who died in Endgame, Rogers was still alive after the final fight against Thanos. And he gets to marry Peggy (Hayley Atwell) in a different timeline. In other words, there certainly are Steve Rogers stories that Marvel can tell if it wants to.
Captain America 4 resurfaces Chris Evans rumor
While reporting of Mackie’s deal for Captain America 4 a few days ago, Deadline mentioned Marvel’s other Cap project. The “top-secret” one — emphasis ours:
Captain America 4 is being scripted by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier head writer and creator Malcolm Spellman, along with series staff writer Dalan Musson. This is not believed to be the top-secret project tipped by my colleague Justin Kroll that might bring Chris Evans back into the fold. A director hasn’t yet been set for Mackie’s film.
That’s all there is to this new Chris Evans Captain America rumor. It’s too early to say when or even if Chris Evans will indeed rejoin the Avengers in some way. Or, since we’ve opened the Pandora’s box that is Marvel’s multiverse, Rogers could always come back as an antagonist.
The multiverse can make it all happen
Loki
unleashed the multiverse, which probably contains all sorts of Steve Rogers variants. And Marvel has plenty of source material to give us alternate Caps that Chris Evans would play. Steve Rogers got married to Peggy in a different reality. That itself is a multiverse story we haven’t figured out. And the events in Loki might be directly responsible for Steve getting his retirement.
That, by the way, seems to be the only approach that makes sense. Sam is the MCU’s new Captain America. You can’t just bring back the original Steve Rogers for a Captain America 4 or future Avengers stories. Not to mention that other rumors say RDJ might be coming back to the MCU to play an alternate Tony Stark version.
