Chris Evans Is Probably No Longer Captain America After ‘Civil War,’ Teases Anthony Russo [Spoilers]
Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Captain America: Civil War. If you haven’t seen the latest Marvel blockbuster and you want to be kept in the dark about its antics, then you probably shouldn’t read ahead.
By the end of Captain America: Civil War, the entire Avengers posse has gone through some seismic changes, which has left the group in tatters.
This all comes to a head right at the end of Captain America: Civil War, where after learning that the Winter Soldier/a brainwashed Bucky Barnes had killed Tony Stark’s parents, Winter Soldier and Captain America have a huge tussle against Iron Man, who is seeking revenge.
But after Captain America defeats Iron Man, Tony tells Steve Rogers that his father Howard Stark was the one who created and designed the vibranium shield that makes him Captain America. This provokes Steve Rogers to drop the shield down to the ground, and then he walks away alongside Bucky Barnes.
“Dropping the shield is a rejection of the Captain America identity.” Russos on #CivilWar: https://t.co/hSSCiLxnEi pic.twitter.com/mTCTjD7iK6
— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) May 14, 2016
Anthony Russo, who co-directed Captain America: Civil War alongside his brother, Joe, has now admitted that at the end of the film, when Steve Rogers drops and leave behind his vibranium shield, this was Steve Rogers rejecting the Captain America identity and finally becoming Steve Rogers again.
Russo explained to Empire, “Dropping the shield is a rejection of the Captain America identity and a choice to embrace the Steve Rogers identity.”
This is the clearest indication yet that when Steve Rogers next appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is most likely going to be in either Part 1 or Part 2 of Avengers: Infinity War, he will no longer be Captain America.
Comic book readers will know that the Captain America shield changes hands numerous times over the years, which has seen the likes of William Nasland, Jeffrey Mace, William Burnside, and, even Sam Wilson become the superhero.
But those of you that are worried that this means we’ll never see Chris Evans in a Marvel film again can be calmed by the fact that Steve Rogers appears in the comics as Nomad and the Captain after he drops the shield. So this could mean that we have two different Captain Americas in later Marvel films.
Following the end of Captain America: Civil War, Marvel fans will be expecting Chris Evans to pop up on screen at least one more time, either as Steve Rogers or back again as Captain America.
During the same Empire interview, Joe and Anthony Russo admitted that they never had any intention to copy the conclusion of the Civil War comic book arc, which sees Captain America assassinated by Crossbones. Those of you that have read the comic and seen the film know that the two only connect very loosely, and Joe Russo admitted that killing off Captain America seemed too “easy.”
“Frankly, it just seemed like an easy ending,” Joe Russo explained. “We thought a more complicated ending would be more interesting – to see the ramifications of that moving forward. Killing Cap ends that conceptually. There would be guilt on Tony’s part.”
‘@CaptainAmerica #CivilWar‘ is up to $656.4 million internationally https://t.co/m4rckjQpbv pic.twitter.com/vnnVoQ7vv7
— Box Office Mojo (@boxofficemojo) May 17, 2016
This provoked Anthony Russo to describe Captain America: Civil War as a “family fight,” before adding, “The more difficult and more interesting place to leave a family fight is: can these important relationships ever be repaired? Is this family broken permanently?”
These comments all but confirm that Chris Evans will indeed return so that he can iron out some of the issues that Civil War brought to the fore. But we’ll just have to wait and see if he’s wearing the famous Captain America outfit this time round.
[Image via Marvel Studios]
