As the culmination of twenty-two movies, Avengers 4 is set to bring some big changes to the MCU, and that will almost certainly mean one or two veteran heroes being edged out of the picture to make way for a new generation of Phase 4 stars. Naturally, the fans have their theories about which Phase 1 characters we’ll be saying goodbye to real soon, and with the possible exception of Tony Stark, the name that pops up more than any other as a predicted leaver is Steve Rogers.
With that in mind, CinemaBlend has offered a breakdown of what we know about actor Chris Evans’ situation, and how likely it is that next year’s Avengers: Infinity War sequel will be Captain America’s last hurrah. First off, it’s worth noting that Evans could’ve bailed already if he wanted to, since the contract he signed when he first joined this franchise only locked him in for six movies. After three Captain America standalone films and three Avengers flicks, the star should’ve been done, but it seems that he’s chosen to see Marvel’s Phase 3 to the end, explaining the situation last year as follows:
“I had six films in my Marvel contract, so I could have said after the third Avengers I was done, but they wanted to make the third and fourth Avengers films as a two-parter. They said they had so many other characters to fit in — Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Ant Man — and couldn’t get them all into one movie. [I agreed] because it made sense. It’s going to wrap everything up.”
Given how crammed with characters and plotlines Infinity War already is, you can imagine that giving sufficient runtime to the permanent departure of Steve Rogers would’ve been a real challenge, making it a welcome move for the fans that Evans decided to stick around for Avengers 4.
While the actor’s comment already gave a strong indication that next year’s release will be Cap’s last, Evans almost seemed to confirm his impending departure when he tweeted a heartfelt message earlier this month reflecting on his time in the role. Since then, however, the actor has clarified his comment, explaining that he was simply feeling sentimental after an emotional day of filming, though that hasn’t stopped plenty of his fans from mourning Steve’s exit in advance.
From the sound of things, Avengers 4 is pretty likely to be the First Avenger’s swan song, but we could always be proven wrong when the film hits theaters on May 3rd, 2019.
