Chris Evans is (probably) returning to the MCU as Captain America

Chris Evans seemed to have hung up his Captain America shield after Avengers: Endgame. But comic characters never stay down for long, do they?

The last time we saw Chris Evans as Captain America was in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame (man, it feels like a lifetime ago, doesn’t ago?) when he handled off the character’s iconic shield to Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon. It seemed to be a passing of the torch, and an event that will no doubt get further explored in the forthcoming Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But don’t expect to see Evans pop up in that; the actor has been pretty clear that his time as Steve Rogers is over.

Only…not? Deadline — which is pretty unimpeachable as far as entertainment news sources go — reports is in talks to again suit up as Captain America and rejoin the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to Deadline’s sources, the deal isn’t completely closed yet, but there’s a lot of smoke which likely means a pretty big fire.

Apparently, the idea of a return started to get floated in the past couple of months, with Evans himself coming around to it earlier this year. If he does come back, it wouldn’t be for Captain America 4: rather, he would play supporting roles in other movies and/or TV shows. Deadline likens it to how Robert Downey Jr. still appeared as Iron Man in movies like Captain America: Civil War even after Iron Man 3, and Iron Man played a huge role in Civil War, so if Cap comes back, it could be in a major way.

Of course, Marvel will have to write itself out of the hole it dug for Cap in Avengers: Endgame. In that movie, Steve Rogers chose to remain in the past and grow old with Peggy Carter; at the end of Endgame, he looks to be well past his super-heroic days.

But comics are famous for bringing characters back from the dead, introducing alternate universe versions of them, etc. There are a million and one ways for Evans’ Captain America to get back into the action. Maybe there could be a movie (or show) set in the period when Cap is living with Peggy. Maybe he could travel forward in time and hang with the rest of the Avengers again, or maybe they could travel back to him.

That part is easy. The real question is when we might see Evans back in the suit.

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