Anthony Mackie and Chris Evans spent five years making Marvel movies together as Sam Wilson/Falcon and Steve Rogers/Captain America. Their characters were close friends, with Steve bestowing the Captain America shield to Sam at the end of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.” That decision reaches its full potential in Marvel’s upcoming “Captain America: Brave New World,” in which Mackie is now the eponymous freedom fighter. So what did Mackie make of the surprise news that Evans is returning to Marvel in 2026’s “Avengers: Doomsday“?
“I didn’t know!” Mackie told Esquire magazine as part of a new cover story. “I talked to Chris a few weeks ago and it wasn’t on the table then. 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,” he continued. “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.”
Popular on Variety
However, Evans also spoke to Esquire for the magazine’s Mackie cover story and disputed the report that he will be back for the next “Avengers” movie. While the actor last appeared as Captain America in “Endgame,” he did make a surprise cameo last year in “Deadpool & Wolverine” as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, a character he played 2005’s “Fantastic Four” and 2007’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.”
“That’s not true, though,” Evans said about the report claiming he’s coming back to Marvel again. “This always happens. I mean, it happens every couple years — ever since ‘Endgame.’ I’ve just stopped responding to it. Yeah, no — happily retired!”
Of course Evans could be lying (just look at Andrew Garfield, who denied for months that he was playing Spider-Man again and then popped up in “Spider-Man: No Way Home”), but for now the actor is denying he’s got a role in “Avengers: Doomsday.” The film is being directed by the Russo Bros. and will mark Robert Downey Jr.’s Marvel debut as the villainous Doctor Doom. Mackie is fully expected to star in the next “Avengers” movies as the MCU’s new Captain American.
“What you don’t want is ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame’ 2.0,” Mackie said of the upcoming tentpole. “The Russos, they’re so smart, and they have such a hold on this universe and the history and the comic books that I know they have an idea. I mean, they better have an idea. I don’t know how you put all those people onscreen together and make it work.”
As for Mackie’s future as Captain America, the actor said “I give it a solid 10 years,” explaining: “You have the two Avengers movies, you have hopefully another Captain America, and then random plug-and-plays: Oh, Spider-Man! Oh, Fantastic Four! What are you doing here? But you never know. I mean, I don’t want to be a 60-year-old Captain America.”
“Captain America: Brave New World” opens in theaters Feb. 14 from Disney and Marvel. Head over to Esquire’s website to read Mackie’s cover story in its entirety.