This week in Yeah, We Figured news, Chris Evans is reportedly returning to the MCU as Captain America. Deadline calls it “a move sure to rock the Marvel Cinematic Universe”, as if we didn’t all just assume this would happen eventually Bitch, have you ever seen a Marvel movie? People are always going away and coming back. No one ever dies for real and those who leave always return. Besides, this report is as vague as a mysterious figure from the future’s warning of impending doom. We don’t know “whether the deal is closed” and Evans will return in “some form”, for one or maybe two movies, which are probably not new Cap movies. And then after the report broke, Chris Evans tweeted this:
First of all, Tatiana Maslany already ruinedthismove for everyone. No one will ever again believe anyone who claims to not be involved with Marvel after reports that they ARE involved with Marvel. We’re not buying it, Chris. Second of all, when we last saw Steve Rogers, he was an old man, and in the comics “old Cap” stuck around as a friend and mentor to Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, and as a general sounding board for other Marvel characters. After all, what made him Captain America was his moral code and sense of duty and justice. Those things didn’t go away when he became old. So it’s not exactly shocking that Evans might stick around the MCU in the same capacity. As much as Evans talked about being done with Cap, being in a Marvel movie as a supporting character, especially one that doesn’t have to do action scenes, is a VERY different proposition than being the lead in a Marvel movie. It’s much less of a time commitment, for one, and for another, you don’t have to keep up the diet or the bodybuilding.
At this point, Evans will make just as much money to put on some old man makeup and sit on a diner stool for a week as he would to suit up as Cap for months on end. Or maybe Evans isn’t returning as old Cap, maybe he’ll come back as alternate universe Cap—like, say, the wildly unpopular but headline-grabbing Hydra Cap from the comics—in one of the upcoming multiverse movies Marvel has cooking. Playing a multiverse Cap still would not require the same time or training commitment as playing a lead role, which makes it an attractive option for an actor burnt out on the toys but still interested in the sandbox.
Since Cap survived Endgame, even as an old man, I think most people expected to see Evans again in some capacity. That’s probably why he’s trying to play it off like he doesn’t know what’s going on, to preserve ANY sense of surprise when he finally does return. The only real question is if he continues as old Cap or plays an alternate version of Steve Rogers. If you want to talk surprises, a real surprise would be RDJ returning as Tony Stark, but even that feels completely possible. Marvel is developing an Ironheart show for Disney+, which centers on Riri Williams, an inventor and engineer who designs the most advanced armor since Iron Man. In the comics, Tony and Riri have a mentoring relationship, which isn’t really possible since Tony is dead in the MCU. But how much do you want to bet RDJ returns as AI Tony or a hologram or similar? One thing Marvel has never been good at is letting go. As long as they can keep making money, they’ll keep bringing popular characters back, no matter what consequences they’ve already met in the movies. I mean, Vision is dead and he’s currently co-starring in WandaVision, streaming now on Disney+. What is dead may never die, especially when there is money to be made.
