Chris Evans Will Not Return As Captain America, Says He's 'Happily Retired'

Chris Evans puts an end to the rumors of him returning to his Captain America role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Read on to know the details.

Written by Ipshita Chakraborty , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Jan 31, 2025 | 08:44 AM IST | 7K

Chris Evans via Getty Images

Chris Evans will not be picking up Cap's shield anymore. The actor has quashed speculations that he will return as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Evans announced that he is well and truly retired.

The Red One star dismissed reports suggesting he would reprise his role as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday (2026) in a recent Esquire profile on his friend and the new Captain America, Anthony Mackie.

Evans, who had been plagued by the rumors of his MCU return, stressed that those weren't true. He simply chose not to address them any longer. "I’ve just stopped responding to it," he said to the outlet, adding, "Yeah, no—happily retired!"

Evans's last movie as Captain America was Avengers: Endgame (2019). During that, he was handing over the shield to Sam Wilson, played by Mackie. The Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring Mackie and Sebastian Stan, confirmed Wilson as the new Captain. Mackie now leads in the film Captain America: Brave New World, which releases on February 14.

Mackie said that he did not know anything about plans to bring Evans back into the picture. He revealed that he recently spoke to Evans and had received no hint from him of his involvement in any of the projects related to the Avengers.

Mackie recounted, "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 [Doomsday]. Are you coming back?' He goes, ‘Oh, you know, I’m happily retired,'" Mackie added.

While Evans has moved away from the world of Captain America, he recently reprised his other MCU role, the Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm, a.k.a. Human Torch, in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).

Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. will return in both Avengers: Doomsday in 2026 and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027—not as Iron Man, however—but as Doctor Doom, one of the movie's villains.

While Chris Evans enjoys his Marvel retirement, fans can experience an action-packed Valentine's Day with Anthony Mackie's Captain America: Brave New World in theaters on February 14.