Chris Evans Reportedly Returning To The MCU As Captain America
Ask any comic book fan, and they'll tell you that the only thing permanent in mainstream superhero stories is the status quo. There's no damage that can't be undone. Aquaman grew his hand back. Superman has been killed and brought back so many times that, according to his punchcard, he's technically teed up to get his next headstone free. And now, in keeping with this time-honored tradition, it sounds like Captain America might be headed back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This news comes courtesy of Deadline, which reports that Chris Evans is currently penning a deal that would see him donning his star-spangled superhero attire once again "in at least one Marvel property, with the door open for a second film." Anonymous insiders with knowledge of the apparent situation have claimed that the deal is nearing an official close. There's been no word from Marvel Studios executives or from Evans himself, so it can't be said for certain what exactly is going on.
Off that point, it's also unclear what the purported projects in question might be, but it's suspected that Evans' Steve Rogers would serve in a supporting role in a future project, à la Tony Stark in Spider-Man: Homecoming. However, this isn't to say that there aren't other possibilities for how Cap could possibly return to the MCU.
Cap's not totally out of the fight yet
When last we saw Steve Rogers, he was enjoying his later years, handing off the Captain America mantle to Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson after a leisurely 60-year retirement in the past. That said, while Cap's place in the current MCU continuity doesn't necessarily lend itself to action and adventure, there are plenty of workarounds that could be drawn from the comics. Especially promising is Marvel's upcoming slate of stories set in the multiverse — i.e., Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Marvel's What If..?, which open up a bevy of alternate realities for the world's most spry nonagenarian to explore.
Old-man Rogers could return as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., like he did in the comics back in 2014, depending on Evans' enthusiasm for spending eight hours a day in a makeup chair. An even bigger swing might involve a story based on 2016's All-New Captain America follow-up, which saw a rapidly aged Rogers returned to his youth via Red Skullduggery. It seems unlikely, however, that the studio would be eager to undo Steve's happy ending at the conclusion of Endgame, given that it was a narrative that took nearly a decade to tie up.
For now, Evans' return to the MCU is still just unconfirmed chatter, but be sure to check back for the latest updates as the story unfolds. We'll keep you posted — we can do this all day.