We had heard for ages that Marvel Studios had been trying to cook up another Steve Rogers film with OG MCU actor Chris Evans, but this time inhabiting his Nomad persona from the comic books (a second alter ego of sorts that isn’t connected to the U.S. government). This would allow Anthony Mackie to keep the “Captain America” mantle for the foreseeable future and still give Rogers another entry point for more adventures outside the proximity of the other “Avengers.” Now, we’re hearing directly from Evans WHY that project never happened (that was pitched to him by top brass at Marvel) and what made him reconsider his Rogers retirement for “Avengers: Doomsday.“
After the big Marvel presentation in Hall H during San Diego Comic-Con, a bunch of the cast from “Doomsday” sat down to speak with Entertainment Weekly. This is where Evans revealed that pitch for a Nomad movie and what ultimately convinced him to return after multiple offers were rejected.
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“When we finished Endgame in 2018, [Louis D’Esposito] and Kevin [Feige] took me to dinner and said we’d love to keep doing movies with Steve Rogers as Nomad…They showed me a pitch but for whatever reason it just didn’t feel right at the time…over the course of eight years I probably heard at least a dozen pitches…They were all wonderful but It just never quite felt right. And then I got a phone call from my team saying there’s a rumor Downey is talking to Marvel, and I was like ‘It felt right this time,'” Evans said of the multiple pitches he got before he signed on to come back.
Oddly enough, The Russos had sort of already teased Nomad in his introduction for “Avengers: Infinity War” as Rogers and his fugitive cohorts from “Captain America: Civil War” were hiding from authorities only to appear again when they were needed to fight the forces of Thanos. After both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the U.S. government screwed over Rogers, reverting to the Nomad persona wouldn’t be all that surprising. The directing siblings would eventually reunite with Evans for “The Gray Man,” which had current “Ghost Rider” actor Ryan Gosling in the lead role and Evans playing a baddie this time.
From the look of things, perhaps, Rogers going back in time to be with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell is also back for “Doomsday”) could be part of this whole incursion hiccup. One of the teaser trailers has Rogers cradling a baby, which may or may not be his with Peggy. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what called him back from the shadows of the Multiverse to fight against Doctor Doom.
“Avengers: Doomsday” arrives in theaters on December 18, and you can watch that full EW interview with the cast below.
