Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies | Tagged: avengers: doomsday, chris evans

Avengers: Doomsday – Chris Evans Returns, But As Captain America?

Chris Evans is returning for Avengers: Doomsday, but one small detail hints that he might not be returning as Captain America specifically.

Just over a year ago, word came down that Chris Evans would be returning for Avengers: Doomsday, and it appeared to be the first big indication that this film was going to be a setback instead of a step forward. We wrote a whole op-ed about it, and the news that has come out in the last year hasn't done a very good job of proving us wrong. There is nothing "safer" for Marvel Studios than bringing back cast members that have been beloved since the very beginning, despite spending the last seven years shifting the focus away from said characters.

For a little while, everyone was still denying that Evans would be making his return, even as more and more familiar faces were revealed in that hellishly long chair stream. It seems we're done being coy, and we're not bothering to keep it as a reveal for the movie (because you can't use someone for marketing if their presence is a secret), and confirmed by Variety and several others, Evans is returning. He is featured in the new teaser that is attached to the theatrical release of Avatar: Fire and Ash this weekend, so if you want to see the trailer, you have to buy a movie ticket. It's not the first time studios have done this, but that doesn't make it any less desperate.

Steve is reportedly seen on a farm holding a newborn son [with some sources saying the baby is named after Bucky, the shippers are going insane], with the text, "Steve Rogers will return for 'Avengers: Doomsday." That wording is important, as many say he's returning as Captain America, but that text just addresses him by name, not by his title. The two times, at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier, respectively, that the character was cited as returning, they called him Captain America. However, reportedly, he's listed only as Steve Rogers, so assuming he's returning as Captain America is jumping the gun.

Is Avengers: Doomsday Taking Steps Back Instead Of Forward?

Over the summer of 2024, word came that Marvel and Disney were courting Anthony and Joe Russo to return and direct the next two Avengers films. It made sense in a way; they were coming off a year that didn't exactly go to plan, and no doubt they wanted to go with what they thought would be the safest option. It turned out that the reports were spot on, and in July 2024, they were announced as the directors at San Diego Comic-Con. That was also where we learned that Robert Downey Jr. would be coming back as Doctor Doom, and it became very clear that Marvel was playing it safe by returning to what worked the first time.

At the end of March, over the course of five and a half hours, Marvel announced a large portion of the Avengers: Doomsday cast, which includes, along with already confirmed Robert Downey Jr.,  Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum, and Pedro Pascal. The inclusion of previous X-Men characters is more proof that Marvel is taking steps back instead of forward. The stream was also an announcement that the film had entered production. Avengers: Doomsday will be released in theaters on December 18, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars is set to be released on December 17, 2027.

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