Chris Evans’ Return to the MCU Is Actually a Bad Idea

If the news that Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the MCU but now playing Doctor Doom wasn’t shocking to fans already, the news that Chris Evans would also be returning for Avengers: Doomsday certainly enough to make fans take notice. While Avengers: Endgame seemed to mark the end of Evans’s time in the MCU as the movie gave his Steve Rogers a fitting end while also setting up the future of the Captain America franchise, Marvel Studios is bringing back the fan-favorite actor. This isn’t entirely news as Evans already did return to the MCU in Deadpool & Wolverine, but instead of reprising his role as Captain America, it was to play Johnny Storm/The Human Torch from the 2000’s Fantastic Four movies. While it isn’t confirmed who Evans will exactly be playing in Avengers: Doomsday, it is safe to say he will at least be returning as Captain America in some form, even if Evans also pulls double duty as an evil variant.

Marvel’s decision to bring Chris Evans back to the MCU just two months before the release of Captain America: Brave New World seems like it is doing a disservice to the new Captain America, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). After building up Sam Wilson’s struggle to take on the role of Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he is finally going to get the spotlight as the star-spangled Avenger in his own feature film coming out in February 2025, four years after the Disney+ series and six years after he was given the shield at the end of Avengers: Endgame. This should be a new, exciting chapter for the MCU and the idea of Captain America, but announcing Chris Evans’s return is undercutting the importance.

Despite past comments by Evans about not wanting to take attention away from Anthony Mackie as the new Captain America, it feels like that’s exactly what will happen. Is Marvel Studios playing it safe following the mixed reaction to the Multiverse Saga by bringing back a fan-favorite and hurting one of their upcoming films? What does this suggest for the future of the MCU, and will Evans appear even earlier than Avengers: Doomsday?

Marvel Has Not Given Sam Wilson the Time to Shine as Captain America

One major issue that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has faced since the start of the Multiverse Saga is a lack of a central core group of characters. The Infinity Saga had six core Avengers members, and even when new characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, or Spider-Man were added, it all tied back to those primary six who appeared in multiple films across 11 years, and were also the central focus of Avengers: Endgame.

The MCU hasn’t had that since, and while it appears that Sam Wilson’s Captain America was supposed to be one of them at one point, they haven’t invested in it. By the time Captain America: Brave New World comes out, Sam Wilson will have had the Captain America shield for six years, longer than he was The Falcon in Captain America: The Winter Soldier to Avengers: Endgame. Between 2014 and 2019, Sam Wilson/The Falcon appeared in six MCU films, but since Avengers: Endgame, he has only appeared in the Disney+ series The Falcon and Winter Soldier and now his feature film.

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While Chris Evan’s Captain America got to lead The Avengers for two films and was the lead of three films on his own before the big epic crossover, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson will barely get one solo film before Avengers: Doomsday. He hasn’t been given the same time to grow into the character, and now he will likely have to share the title of Captain America with Chris Evans. It feels both unfair and just poor timing on Marvel’s part, one that can’t help but feel like they are responding to the post-Endgame reaction and wanting to appeal to fans at the cost of new, exciting ideas.

Sam Wilson Already Has People Refusing to Acknowledge Him as Captain America

Sam Wilson becoming the new Captain America and then taking over the Captain America film franchise was a big deal as it was supposed to signal an exciting new era for the MCU, but also the idea of how these franchises could evolve. The concept of legacy heroes is baked into the foundation of comics, originating in DC with multiple versions of The Flash and Green Lantern. Marvel Comics heavily invested in legacy heroes during the 2010s (likely as a way to prepare the film versions when actors’ contracts started to expire) as fan-favorite heroes took on the mantle of popular heroes in the comics. Like the Spider-Man or Batman movies, film series have often been rebooted to return to the original status quo. The MCU’s ongoing continuity made the ability to reboot impossible, but it also provided them with an avenue to bring in legacy heroes to keep the beloved franchise moving forward.

While comic book characters don’t grow older or need to be paid, actors do, and that means the MCU had the chance to grow the superhero genre in a way that no other studio could. Instead of recasting Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man or Chris Evans as Captain America, they could give those characters endings that the comics never could while also allowing new characters to take on the mantles and become the new face of the franchise like the comics never could because they always need to return to the original characters.

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Yet this has also come with a great deal of backlash, particularly when a character of color takes on the superhero mantle that was traditionally a white male. A good example is Miles Morales, a character who has indeed exploded in popularity among fans thanks to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, still having to deal with a number of bigoted fans saying “Peter Parker is Spider-Man, Miles Morales is Miles Morales” even though he is the one wearing the Spider-Man outfit, and they don’t seem to say things like “Alan Scott is Green Lantern, Hal Jordan is Hal Jordan.” There is often a bigoted reason motivating this behavior, and it has often been a mistake for studios to cater to that audience.

Sam Wilson has faced a similar backlash from a loud minority of audiences who don’t want to accept him as Captain America, even though Marvel Studios and Disney+ made an entire series about what it means for a Black man to be Captain America. While Marvel Studios seemingly is putting their support behind Sam Wilson as Captain America, the news that Chris Evans will return to the MCU (likely as Captain America) can’t help but feel like giving the worst segment of the fandom a perceived win because now they can seemingly go and wait for who they see as the “real” Captain America to return.

The return of Chris Evans to the MCU, be it as Captain America, The Human Torch, Hydra Captain America, or the Beyonder even, will be exciting for fans; the timing of the news can’t help but feel odd. Marvel Studios and Chris Evans are supporting Anthony Mackie as the new Captain America. Sam Wilson will likely lead The Avengers in Avengers: Doomsday, but it would be more exciting if there weren’t the hanging specter of Evans’s return possibly overshadowing Mackie’s moment in the spotlight. The hope is that if the rumors are true that the MCU will reboot with Avengers: Secret Wars, they won’t use it as a chance to bring back Steve Rogers and recast him but instead allow Sam Wilson to be Captain America. Captain America: Brave New World is heading to theaters on February 14, 2025.