Chris Evans looks set to squeeze America’s ass into Steve Rogers‘ star-spangled super suit once again.
Or at least that’s what The Wrap’s reporting (although nothings been officially confirmed). They exclusively revealed that the Red One star will reprise the role of Captain America in the upcoming Marvel movie Avengers Doomsday, and, perhaps expectedly, this news has been met with some confusion.
After all, the last time we saw Steve, he looked better suited to leading The Pensioners than The Avengers (The Pensioners: Age of Retirement is a Disney spin-off waiting to happen), so how can the First Avenger return to the front lines?
Well, in the comics, Steve’s never let being a centenarian get in the way of doing what’s right, but what if I told you that’s not how the superhero movie will use the character? Allow me to explain.
Cap’s earned a rest
First of all, we need to think about who’s making this film. The Russo Bros (and writer Endgame writer Stephen McFeely) are returning from their streaming exile to direct Avengers Doomsday, and that’s important. The brothers and McFreely are the ones who aged Steve up, giving the eternal soldier’s story closure and letting him live a peaceful life.
This (alongside killing Tony Stark) is arguably one of the Russo’s biggest contributions to pop culture. Will they undermine their legacy to bring Steve back to the fight? To paraphrase Steve himself, no, I don’t think they will. Bringing our Steve back would be the equivalent of burning the Mona Lisa. Ok, that’s a bit dramatic; it would be the equivalent of burning one of the Louvre’s less valuable paintings.
So, how are they bringing Cap back? They’ll use the multiverse, obviously! Specifically, I think Evans will be playing a variant of Captain America from the same universe as the Robert Downey Jr version of Doom.
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“New mask, same task.” Robert Downey Jr. surprises Hall H to announce his return to the MCU as Doctor Doom. pic.twitter.com/j1SEjzse3p
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) July 28, 2024
Why? Well, let’s be honest. Marvel didn’t plan on using Robert Doomy Jr in this movie; they originally envisioned this story being told with Kang as the big villain. That didn’t work out, so they’ve had to pivot, and they don’t have a lot of time to establish Doom as a threat or his motives.
A brief flashback showing this alternate Tony with his Cap (with Evans back in the suit) would serve as a nice emotional (and narrative) shortcut to establish what went wrong in this branch in the multiverse. Perhaps on Doom’s Earth, Cap died during the Chitauri invasion, and that’s what convinced Tony to turn to evil. Maybe he was always bad, and we’ll see this version of Tony kill Steve? I honestly don’t know how it will play out exactly.
That said, I’m willing to stake my reputation (jokes on you; I don’t have a reputation) on Steve’s appearance being kept to Doom’s flashback… for this movie, at least because Secret Wars is a different story entirely.
If you love the MCU and are after more of our hot takes, check out our ranking of every MCU movie. We’ve also guides breaking down everything you need t know about the next Marvel movies including Captain America 4, Thunderbolts, and Fantastic Four.
