The Truth About Whether Chris Evans Is Actually Returning as Captain America: ‘Ultimately… ‘
Captain America: Brave New World is technically the fourth Captain America movie, but it’s really a new beginning for the Marvel Cinematic Universe—and for the character. Gone is Chris Evan’s Steve Rogers, and in is Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson. And there’s a new Falcon too, in Danny Ramirez’s Joaquin Torres. All of those things add up to big expectations, particularly considering this fourth installment in the Captain America series is the 35th movie in the MCU.
Mackie’s Sam Wilson was already the main character in another MCU project—the Disney+ series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. This time, the Winter Soldier is not set to appear in this Captain America movie. Instead, Bucky Barnes will be moving on to Thunderbolts, while the new Captain America headlines his own movie.
Related: Here are all the Deadpool & Wolverine cameos
And as the MCU says hello to a new hero, fans cannot help for remember the one that left: Steve Rogers, who at the end of Avengers: Endgame decided to stay in the past and live out his life with Peggy Carter. In fact, we only see Steve Rogers return for one reason: to pass on the shield to Sam.
That’s how we got here. But why did we? What made Marvel move on from Steve Rogers to Sam Wilson? Why Did Chris Evans leave Marvel?
Why did Chris Evans leave Marvel?
The first and most obvious answer for why Chris Evans left Marvel is that his contract expired. Evans originally signed a six-picture deal with Marvel and then signed an extension when the third Avengers movie was split into two movies. So, the movies that fulfilled his contract were, in order: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Evans also made short appearances in two other Marvel movies, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Captain Marvel (2019). That’s a lot of time playing the same characters, and a lot of movies filmed in a short span of time. And the actor certainly enjoyed his last moments of filming his final movie, Avengers: Endgame, telling Men’s Journal in 2022, “For the last month of filming I was letting myself go to work every day and be a little overwhelmed and a little nostalgic and grateful. By the last day, I was bawling. I cry pretty easy, but I was definitely bawling.”
But for him, it was the right time to step away—to rest, to try other roles, but also to just be out of the spotlight for a bit. The actor has been open about his struggles with anxiety, telling GQ that he almost didn’t take the role of Steve Rogers, and explaining, “I remember in my late 20s having a real shift in how I felt on set, how I felt promoting films: a little more anxiety, a little more uncertainty,” and adding, “You always end up questioning, Is this what I should be doing?”
So it made sense that, as the Infinity Saga ended, both Evans and Robert Downey Jr., who were in many ways the biggest stars of the first few years of the MCU, said farewell to their characters. Evans moved back to his hometown, outside of Massachusetts. He married fellow actress Alba Baptista. And he’s appeared in films like Knives Out, The Gray Man, Ghosted, and Red One—playing very different characters.
To the question of whether he’d ever go back to Marvel, Evans told GQ in 2023, “I’ll never say never, just because it was such a wonderful experience. But I’m also very precious with it. It’s something that I am very proud of. And like I said, sometimes I can’t believe it even happened. And I wouldn’t want the black eye if it felt like a cash grab or if it didn’t live up to expectations or if it just felt like it wasn’t connected to that original thing. So, no time soon. And ultimately I really hope to just maybe act a little bit less in my life.”
Even though we don’t know if we’ll ever see Evans back as Steve Rogers again, he did return to Marvel recently—in a way—reprising his role as Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, which he first played in 2005’s Fantastic Four. And sure, his role on Deadpool & Wolverine was mostly played for laughs, but as Evans himself said, never say never. For now, however, it’s Anthony Mackie’s time to shine.
