Chris Evans can't save Marvel – but Anthony Mackie could

Yet, Evans's return is more complicated. Famously, Evans handed over the mantle (and uniform) of the Star-Spangled Man to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) at the end of Avengers: Endgame. The complicated legacy and new era of Captain America was then explored in the Disney Plus spin-off, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

It has not been confirmed what role Evans will play, or how sizeable it will be, but the anticipation of his return only overshadows the upcoming and evolving franchise with Captain America: Brave New World scheduled to be released in February.

Sure, Evans could appear as a 100-year-old Rogers offering advice to Sam, but with a time machine and the multiverse, Evans isn’t limited to this role of the wise old man. He could return, suit and all, to fight alongside Sam.

All of which confuses and undermines Sam’s new position as Captain America, as the franchise has been trying – and was about to consolidate – Mackie as the one and only Captain America in this ‘brave’ new era of Marvel’s future.

Sam was also in a unique place to bridge the gap between the Infinity and Multiverse Saga, as an existing character who was primed for an organic passing of the baton, after being on Rogers’s “left” since Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014.

If Marvel now has doubts about whether Mackie can successfully take over that role, then where does that leave the less established characters who have been introduced as ‘new’ heroes in Phase 5?

After Endgame in 2019, the MCU started to shift the spotlight to the emerging next generation of heroes such as Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) in Ms Marvel, Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) in Hawkeye and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in Black Widow.

Many of these characters will only have appeared once before they appear in the Avengers' Infinity War-level movie event in 2025. Compared to at least three appearances in solo films and two Avengers movies that some of the other (albeit male) members of the lead six had before Infinity War and Endgame.

Naturally the rapid expansion of the universe and influx of new characters (and the introduction of Disney Plus) made it difficult for audiences to keep up with the central canon. Not to mention the superhero fatigue that emerged post-pandemic and the existing characters’ solo movies that led to major flops. Looking at you, Thor: Love and Thunder.

However, there was a clear initiative: let the old heroes retire and line up their successors who will culminate in an interconnected universe in two Avengers movies in 2025 and 2026.

Instead, as the box office revenue has diminished for much of the MCU (while Deadpool’s nostalgia tour soared to $1 billion over the summer), it seems the new direction Marvel has chosen is to wheel out its previously benched Avengers to attempt to save the franchise’s image.

Evans’s cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine as his original Marvel character of Johnny Storm was a ridiculous and entertaining one. It was brief and seemingly suitable for the wild, wacky tone that the Ryan Reynolds-fronted franchise has cultivated.

Doomsday is another feat entirely. Led by Anthony and Joe Russo (the directors behind the Infinity Saga’s final two Avengers epics), it’s safe to assume this film will have a more serious tone as it culminates the end of a rocky period in Marvel’s cinematic history.

After the initial mania and shock, Downey Jr’s casting remains rogue, but promising. Arguably, the Avengers' mightiest hero will now return as the face of their greatest villain, presuming that Downey Jr is playing a variant of Iron Man as Doom, as seen in the comics.

As much as Evans is an excellent and irreplaceable part of the MCU, Captain America has moved on. Steve Rogers had the perfect ending and character arc, as the man out of time ended up back with Peggy (Hayley Atwell), the woman he’d dreamt about since the 1940s.

Marvel needs to leave its former cast behind or limit them to the briefest of cameos, as it is preventing the inevitable for the MCU as a whole: moving on. It overshadows attempts to establish new actors within the franchise and confuses the audiences about who to root for in this vast universe it’s created.

Hugh Jackman might be doing Wolverine until “he’s 90” in R-rated comedies, but if Marvel wants to recreate the cinematic magic and electrifying superhero experience from the first 15 years of the MCU, it needs to innovate. Let old heroes lie and keep their faith in new ones.

Avengers: Doomsday is coming to cinemas in May 2026.

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