Anthony Mackie has said that he’s spoken to Chris Evans about returning for Avengers: Doomsday and that the star has denied he’s set to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, stating that he’s “happily retired”.
Evans hasn’t played Captain America since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame but rumours have persisted that he’s set to reprise the role, potentially in a villainous capacity, in the fifth Avengers film, set for release in 2026.
Speaking to Esquire, Evans disputed that he’s returning for the blockbuster: “That’s not true, though,” said the 43-year-old. “This always happens. I mean, it happens every couple years - ever since Endgame. I’ve just stopped responding to it. Yeah, no - happily retired!”
News of Evans returning hasn’t been greeted as warmly by fans as you would expect, with some saying the casting reeks of desperation after a slew of failures for Marvel.
The role of Captain America in the MCU has been played by Mackie more recently and he’ll make his feature film debut as the character in the forthcoming Brave New World.
In the same interview with Esquire, Mackie says that Evans has no plans to return as Captain America in the near future. “I talked to Chris a few weeks ago and it wasn’t on the table then,” said Mackie. “At least, he didn’t tell me it was on the table, because I asked him. I was like, ‘You know, they said they’re bringing everyone back for the movie. Are you coming back?’ He goes, ‘Oh, you know, I’m happily retired.’”
“I learned that right there,” Mackie added. “My manager showed me. He’s like, ‘Oh, so I guess Chris is coming back.’ That’s all I know. I haven’t seen a script.”
News of Evans returning hasn’t been greeted as warmly by fans as you would expect, with some saying the casting reeks of desperation after a slew of failures for Marvel.
In July, Robert Downey Jr stunned fans with the news that he is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he will play Doctor Doom in Doomsday.
“New mask, same task,” he triumphantly declared after it was announced that he would be playing the villain in the forthcoming Avengers instalment.
Elsewhere, Ryan Reynolds has responded to speculation that he will play Deadpool in the movie.
Reynolds first played a version of Deadpool in the 2009 movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He later starred as a different, wise-cracking version of the character in Deadpool (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), the last of which grossed $1.34bn at the global box office, making it the second biggest film of 2024.
In an interview with Variety, Reynolds was asked about the possibility of Deadpool returning in an Avengers film. “I’m not even being cagey,” he said, before laughing. “We’ll see what happens there.
