We all know that Chris Evans’ Marvel contract is up and he might be done with the MCU. Due to this, a lot of people expected Cap to be killed off in Avengers: Endgame, but he actually got a much sweeter, happier, more unexpected ending (mostly because everyone expected him to die, so they couldn’t do that).
The Russo brothers have teased that Evans is “not done yet” with the character of Steve Rogers, hinting at future appearances in the franchise. He won’t play as big of a role as he has in the past, but he could easily return. Here are 8 Ways Chris Evans Can Still Play Steve Rogers In Another MCU Movie.
A post-credits tease
Who says Steve Rogers has to star in a whole movie? What would really get fans going crazy – and free Chris Evans from the trappings of playing the same character for the rest of his life – is a post-credits tease. That would make the wait through an entire end credits sequence worth it. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with Cap.
It could just be someone like Sam Wilson suggesting to the other heroes that they contact a new superhuman on the scene. He’ll say something like, “They were recommended to me by a guy I trust,” and then old Steve Rogers could emerge from the shadows with a knowing smile.
More Spider-Man: Homecoming-type PSAs
Captain America had a lot of funny lines and scenes over the course of his MCU tenure, but perhaps the funniest was his recurring cameo in Spider-Man: Homecoming. In the post-credits scene, we saw another one about the virtues of patience, followed by Cap asking the off-camera crew how many more he had to do.
That question hinted that we could be seeing more of those oddball PSAs in the future. It would be a fun way to bring Chris Evans back into the fold without compromising the perfect ending that Avengers: Endgame gave his character arc, because technically, those PSAs were all recorded before he went back in time and married Peggy.
The adventures of Peggy and Steve
Presumably, to prevent the timeline that led to Thanos’ defeat and humanity’s survival from being screwed up irreparably, Peggy had to spend her whole life trying to hide Steve from the government. Apart from the last eight years, he was presumed to be dead throughout their entire marriage.
This was probably no problem for Peggy, who is an expert in the art of espionage, but it could make an interesting movie. Maybe they even spent their years together exposing government conspiracies and thwarting plots against political figures. The adventures of Peggy and Steve would undoubtedly make a really great movie.
A Vietnam flashback movie
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Steve Rogers goes from the prime of his life to his Clint Eastwoodian twilight years in the space of a few seconds. But who’s to say he didn’t spring back into action on a few occasions during that time. There could be a whole MCU movie that uses old Steve recounting a story to Sam or Bucky (or both) about the time he took up the Captain America shield in the ‘60s and ‘70s to fight in Vietnam.
It could be a superpowered Apocalypse Now, blending vibranium-fueled action with the sounds of Creedence Clearwater Revival. The plot doesn’t have to be too political, since it could follow Steve’s First Blood Part II-esque crusade to free some American prisoners of war. Peggy could even get in on the action.
Training the new Captain America
That shield is a tricky thing to use, especially with all of the unique bouncing mechanics allowed by the vibranium alloy, and Sam Wilson has just spent the last five years mastering the use of robotic wings and a drone sidekick. So, he’ll need some help getting used to his new weapon under the title of Captain America.
That’s where old, grizzled Steve Rogers will come in to act as the Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby mentor character. Sorry for all the Eastwood references, but Chris Evans with prosthetic aging makeup really did look a lot like Clint Eastwood.
A real ‘70s political thriller
Captain America: The Winter Soldier was written and directed in the style of a ‘70s political thriller like All the President’s Men or The Parallax View. However, it was set in 2014 and revolved around a Hydra-led conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D., so it didn’t quite have the weight of those earlier movies. X-Men: First Class touched upon the idea that Magneto manipulated the bullet that killed JFK, but it didn’t dig deep.
Now that Steve Rogers has lived through the whole second half of the 20th century, there are ample opportunities for him to get swept up in a real political conspiracy. If Steve Rogers got involved in the Watergate scandal (maybe he was “Deep Throat,” who spoke to Woodward and Bernstein and blew the whole thing wide open) or the Kennedy assassination, it would put him in a real ‘70s political thriller.
Replacing Stan Lee as cameo guy
Now that Stan Lee has sadly passed away and won’t be appearing in cameos in every MCU movie anymore, maybe he could pass the torch on to elderly Steve Rogers. It would require Chris Evans to spend a few hours in a makeup chair three times a year to get the old Steve Rogers look for a quick cameo appearance, but that would still leave the actor plenty of time to work on other projects.
He’ll always be keeping an eye on the heroes from a distance. He won’t be joining the fight, but he’ll appear to offer them words of wisdom, like he’s always done with his Avengers pep talks. Without Stan Lee’s cameos, it’ll feel like something is missing from these movies. Replacing his regular appearances with Steve Rogers would be a perfect way to say that he will live on through his superpowered creations.
A deathbed scene
After Steve Rogers left Peggy Carter behind in Captain America: The First Avenger and woke up in 2011, we saw various scenes in the sequels where she was an old lady. Steve was by her side when she was on her deathbed and he was a pallbearer at her funeral.
This could be echoed in a future movie, as Sam, Bucky, Banner, Thor, and everyone else who’s made an emotional connection with Cap over the years appear at his deathbed to say their goodbyes, and then carry his coffin at his funeral. It might be a little too close to the Peggy arc, but the way it plays out would be totally different.
