Last week, Benedict Cumberbatch made the bold declaration that Doctor Strange won’t appear in Avengers: Doomsday—only to walk that back and admit that yes, we will be seeing the Sorcerer Supreme in that film, rather than having to wait for Avengers: Secret Wars. His Avengers cohort Chris Evans, the former Captain America, has picked up the thread and stomped all over it by insisting his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is done, done, done.
This latest statement—made in an Esquire piece (via the Hollywood Reporter) profiling the current Captain America, Anthony Mackie, who has Captain America: Brave New World coming out February 14—is entering broken-record territory at this point. Responding to talk of his return, reported in the trades most recently in December 2024, Evans told the magazine “That’s not true … This always happens. I mean, it happens every couple years—ever since Endgame. I’ve just stopped responding to it,” and added that he’s “happily retired.”
And it’s true: Evans’ return to the MCU has been rumored for years (in 2023, he did say “never say never” about returning to play Cap, which he called as “a precious role to me”)—and Marvel fans technically did get him back, albeit in a jokey take on his Fantastic Four character Johnny Storm, thanks to a surprise cameo in last summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine.
Mackie told Esquire he was just as startled by that December report as everyone else, claiming “I didn’t know! … I was like, ‘You know, they said they’re bringing everyone back for the movie. Are you coming back?’” Apparently, Mackie does a dead-on Evans impression, and said Evans told him exactly what he’d told Esquire: “I’m happily retired.”
The truth is, Avengers: Doomsday is likely to remain a big ball of mystery until we’re much closer to its May 2026 release. What little we know about it so far does include some MCU returns in directors the Russo Brothers, and former Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. stepping into the role of Doctor Doom. But you can guarantee all the big, juicy Marvel secrets—like, say, Chris “I’m Retired” Evans dusting off his Cap costume, or perhaps portraying another character entirely (probably not Johnny Storm, though)—will stay tightly under wraps until audiences are seated in theaters.
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