Chris Evans Says Cap Return ‘Doesn’t Quite Feel Right’ Yet

There are a few rules of comics, none more inviolate than this: No one stays dead forever.

Name literally any major Marvel or DC character and the odds are they’ve died at least once (at least once), and come back to life. Spider-Man? Doctor Octopus killed him and took his place; Spidey came back better than ever. Wolverine? Covered in (and suffocated by) liquid adamantium. He’s still the best there is at what he does. Superman? C’mon, that’s the most famous death in comics history, he was smashed to bits by Doomsday but was fighting for truth, justice, and the American way again inside of two years.

This practice hasn’t been tested quite as much in the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet, but there are a few examples; like Gamora, who “died” in Avengers: Infinity War but will appear in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 anyway. As for Captain America, well he didn’t even die in Avengers: Endgame; he was just turned into an old man. That, and handing his shield to his partner Sam Wilson, seemingly was the end of his MCU story. But the Steve Rogers of comics has died too, and come back to life. And he was also turned into an old guy for a while, then was de-aged again. So you never say never.

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And neither does Chris Evans, although he’s not ready to commit to a return at this point. Appearing at the C2E2 convention in Chicago, Evans said that he “loved [Captain America] deeply” and agrees that “there’s more Steve Rogers stories to tell.” But he also said he’s not sure it’s the time for something like that “right now.” As he put it...

I'm very, very precious with it. I'd become, you know, it's like this little shiny thing that I have that I love so much, and I just don't want to mess up in any way, and I was a part of something that was so special for the period of time and in a way, it really landed so well. As much as I'm connected to that role and love telling those stories and working with those people. It doesn't quite feel right right now.

The next Captain America movie, Captain America: New World Order, is scheduled to open in theaters on May 3, 2024. It will star Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, not Steve Rogers.