Russo Brothers Address If Chris Evans Will Return as Captain America

Chris Evans has "emotionally moved on" from Captain America and is not expected to reprise his role as the star-spangled superhero, say Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo.

"No, I think Chris — Chris is a very emotional person," Joe told the Happy Sad Confused podcast when asked if Evans will play the character again. "I think, maybe it's evident if you follow him on Twitter — because he does put his heart into what he says — but I feel like he has to close the door on things and emotionally move onto the next thing."

Added Anthony, "There are no plans."

"I think for now he's emotionally moved on, yes," said Joe.

Evans, who portrayed the character in one Marvel Studios movie per year since 2011, received a definitive sendoff in Endgame when his man-out-of-time Steve Rogers chose to utilize time travel technology to return to the past and live out his life in peace with long lost love Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell).

The star hinted his turn as Captain America in the fourth Avengers would be his last when he published a sentimental tweet in October upon completing initial filming, writing it was "an honor" to play the character and that he was "eternally grateful."

"If you look back at the MCU, that Steve and Tony have been on different paths towards becoming the fullest versions of themselves," Stephen McFeely, who penned the Captain America trilogy and the two-part Avengers with Christopher Markus, told Fandango.

"And Steve's arc is about trying to find some personal life, you know? Like he's been a man for others for so long, when does he get to be a man for himself? And how is that not selfish? How is that just earned?"

Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark goes from "sort of self-interested playboy to a man for others, a man willing to lay his life down," McFeely added, "and so they sort of cross in the middle in Civil War, and the natural end of those arcs seemed to be Tony laying down his life, you know, flying over the wire as it were, and Steve going and getting a life. So where we hit upon it was in order to become their best selves, Steve had to find a life, and Tony had to lose his."

An old Steve Rogers returned to the present-day Marvel Cinematic Universe — in 2023 — to hand the shield to partner Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), passing the torch to the next Captain America.

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