With Marvel in desperate need of a burst of renewed interest and energy, MCU fans are increasingly sounding like the Watcher as they ponder the question… What if the OG Avengers returned?
While Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, Jeremy Renner’s Hakweye, and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor are all still knocking around the universe, Avengers: Endgame memorably — and heartbreakingly — wrote Iron Man, Steve Rogers’ Captain America, and Black Widow out of the franchise. At the time this seemed like the right move, so as to allow the next generation of heroes to take up the baton.
However, four years later, with the MCU seemingly having lost the clout and box office power it once possessed, there’s growing talk (started by a tell-all report from Variety) that Marvel might be thinking about breaking its bank in order to convince Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson to reprise their beloved roles. Kevin Feige himself has denied it, but that man has more secrets than Nick Fury.
So what have the stars themselves said on the matter? Here’s Downey, Evans, and ScarJo’s most recent comments on a potential Marvel return.
Chris Evans
Appearing on Nov. 28, 2023’s edition of The View, Evans was fielded with the inevitable question about a Captain America comeback. Fans who’ve kept up with his responses to these queries ever since Endgame came out won’t be surprised by his words. By the sounds of it, he’s not ruling the possibility out, but it’s not like he’s in a hurry to steal back his star-spangled shield from Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson. We do have Captain America: Brave New World coming in February 2025, after all.
“You know, I always see those reports too, and it’s news to me,” Evans told The View. “I think every couple months, someone says that they’re getting Downey, and Hemsworth, and Scarlett, and everyone’s coming back! No one’s spoken to me about it. And look, I would never say never, but I really — I’m very protective. It’s a very precious role to me, so it would have to be just right.”
Scarlett Johansson
On Nov. 14, 2023, Scarlett Johansson raised eyebrows with an even more evasive response to her Marvel future than Evans’. The Black Widow star joked during an appearance on TODAY that they only way she could return as the late Natasha Romanoff would be by supernatural means.
“I feel like that’s kind of the end, right?” she remarked. “Like can you come back? Could it be a vampire version of the character? Cause I’m here for that, like a zombie version, maybe.”
Johansson then got into a teasing back-and-forth with host Al Roker, in which she heavily suggested there might be something she’s keeping under her hat.
“You really ask the hard questions. I feel like I have to tell you, but I actually don’t have to tell you, Al. I do not, but I want to so bad!”
It’s a fact that Johansson is working with Marvel as a producer on an unknown, upcoming project, so she’s probably the most likely to return of this trio.
Robert Downey Jr.
As for the least likely to return, that has to be Robert Downey Jr. As the daddy of the MCU, Tony Stark’s demise in Avengers: Endgame really wrapped up the Infinity Saga in a bow and acted as the perfect farewell to Downey’s time in the franchise. Naturally, then, he has been largely dismissive about the idea of suiting up as the Armored Avenger once more in the years since.
Downey’s definitive comment on the subject came from a Jan. 15, 2020 interview on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “There would have to be a super compelling argument and a series of events that made it obvious,” he stressed about working with Marvel again. “But the other thing is, I wanna do other stuff.”
Similarly, Marvel Studios producer Stephen Broussard confirmed to Gizmodo in February 2023 that future appearances from Downey were “no longer [on] the table,” which indicated that the actor had privately told the studio he’s closed the door on Iron Man for good.
All in all, ScarJo? Possibly. Evans? An outside chance, but it could happen under the right circumstances. Downey? Yeah, don’t count on it. And yet, this is the MCU, where anything can happen, and something drastic definitely needs to happen, so these Avengers might yet reassemble one day after all.
