Every Version Of Captain America Who Could Return

Chris Evans is rumored to be in talks to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Captain America, but it might not be the Steve Rogers the audience came to know through all these years. The MCU began its run in 2008 with Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, which introduced Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and set the tone for the rest of the movies in this connected universe. While Iron Man is often considered as the leader of the MCU, he shared that responsibility with Steve Rogers, who made his debut in 2011 in the movie simply titled Captain America.

Steve Rogers went on to appear in all Avengers movies as well as in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, which saw Iron Man and Captain America fighting against each other. Steve’s time in the MCU came to an end in Avengers: Endgame, where he went back to different places and points in time to return the Infinity Stones he and the rest of the team took during the time heist, in order to bring some order back to the time continuum. What wasn’t part of the plan, however, was Steve deciding to stay in the past so he could live the life he couldn’t have alongside Peggy Carter, and reunited with Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson in their present-day now as an old man, passing on the mantle of Captain America to Sam.

Although that brought Steve Rogers’ arc to a close, Chris Evans is now reportedly in talks to return to the MCU in an unknown project, which makes way for many possibilities when it comes to when and how Captain America can return. Now that Avengers: Endgame established that time travel is possible in the MCU and the team ended up creating other timelines, Steve Rogers doesn’t have to return as old man Steve, instead taking viewers back to visit a younger Steve or even one from another part of the multiverse. Here’s every version of Captain America who could return.

Original Captain America

Captain America keeps fighting against Thanos

As mentioned above, time-travel is now a thing in the MCU thanks to the time heist in Avengers: Endgame, made possible thanks to the Quantum Realm, and with future movies and TV shows exploring the multiverse as well, it wouldn’t be surprising if there’s more time travel in upcoming projects. With that in mind, Chris Evans could return as the Captain America from the main timeline (that is, the one the audience came to know so well), which also makes way for many possibilities, as it could be Captain America pre-Civil War or before that. This would also make it possible for the MCU to properly explore what Steve Rogers did between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, or it could also take a look at other parts of his life that weren’t included in any of the movies.

Old Man Steve

Old Steve Rogers looking up in Avengers Endgame

The last time the audience saw Steve Rogers he was an old man who had lived the life he wanted and finally had that long-promised dance with Peggy Carter. Old Steve’s appearance at the end of Avengers: Endgame mostly served to retire the character and pass on the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson, who is set to take on the role in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but there’s no reason to believe that Chris Evans can’t return as this version of Steve. While turning Evans into old Steve requires a lot of work, narratively it wouldn’t be too complicated as it wouldn’t need to send the characters to other points in time nor visit other timelines to make old Steve Rogers part of the story. Old Steve could serve as a mentor to whoever is leading the story he’s a part of, and his appearance could also be used to show the audience what he has been doing now that he retired from the world of superheroes.

Pre-Frozen Captain America

Among the many possibilities of time travel in the MCU is exploring other points in time from different movies within this universe, as happened in Avengers: Endgame when the team traveled to New York City in 2012 (during the events of The Avengers), Asgard during Thor: The Dark World, and Morag right before Peter Quill took the orb with the Power Stone. The MCU could send the characters back in time to World War II to meet a young, pre-frozen Steve Rogers. Now, this also opens many doors when it comes to which version of Captain America could appear, as it could be a Steve Rogers who hasn’t found and freed Bucky from HYDRA, or even one who is just starting as Captain America and is still adapting to his new physiology after getting the super-soldier serum. As this involves time travel and interaction with characters from the past, the appearance of a pre-frozen Captain America would inevitably create another timeline, and could potentially change some of the most defining moments in Steve’s career – that is, unless pre-frozen Captain America shows up as part of a flashback, without any of the characters altering the space and time continuum.

Multiverse Captain America

The multiverse will play a big role in the MCU’s Phase 4, especially thanks to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and with the team creating multiple timelines as a result of the time heist, the acquisition and return of the stones, and the arrival of Thanos from 2014 to the present-day in Avengers: Endgame, there’s the chance the return of Captain America could happen thanks to the multiverse. Depending on which movie or TV show Chris Evans will return in, the method to travel to another part of the multiverse and the motivations for that will change, but most importantly, this wouldn’t be the same Captain America the audience knows so well. As each timeline is different and the events from the main timeline haven’t necessarily happened in each one (or at least not in the same way), a multiverse Captain America will have gone through very different experiences, which could have affected his personality as well. The MCU has a variety of ways in which it can bring Chris Evans’ Captain America back without undoing what he went through in Avengers: Endgame, and it’s only a matter of waiting for it to be official and then learn exactly when he will return.

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