Comic Book Movies
Chris Evans Reveals How Marvel Kept His Avengers: Doomsday Return Secret
Marvel Studios has become famous for keeping its biggest secrets under wraps, but hiding Chris Evans’ return as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday apparently required more than locked scripts and closed sets. Evans says he had to flat out lie about being involved in the movie.
The former Captain America star has opened up about the secrecy surrounding his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, revealing that Marvel went to some unusual lengths to prevent his involvement from leaking during production.
According to Evans, his character wasn’t even identified as Steve Rogers in the Avengers: Doomsday script. Instead, Marvel gave him the codename “Luke Cage,” a reference to another well-known Marvel superhero.
“Within the script, my character was called Luke Cage,” Evans revealed while discussing the production. The fake name was also reportedly used as an additional layer of protection in case production information found its way outside the studio.
Mike Colter, Luke Cage [credit: Marvel Studios]
But keeping the secret went beyond paperwork.
Evans admitted that he publicly denied being involved with Avengers: Doomsday even after reports began circulating that he would return. With Marvel determined to keep Steve Rogers’ involvement hidden, Evans essentially had no choice but to play along.
“I had to lie,”
Evans said of the situation.
The secrecy makes sense considering how significant Steve Rogers’ return could be. Evans seemingly completed his MCU story in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, when Steve traveled back in time to return the Infinity Stones before choosing to remain in the past with Peggy Carter. An elderly Steve later passed the Captain America shield to Sam Wilson.
Exactly how Steve returns in Doomsday remains one of the movie’s biggest mysteries.
Evans has recently offered another intriguing tease, describing Steve Rogers’ upcoming story as “brutal.” He joked that directors Joe and Anthony Russo have always enjoyed putting Steve through difficult situations because his ability to keep getting back up is what makes the character heroic.
That could be particularly important considering Hayley Atwell is also returning as Peggy Carter. Marvel has yet to reveal whether Doomsday will feature the original Steve Rogers following the events of Endgame, a Multiverse variant, or something considerably more complicated.
Avengers: Doomsday [credit: Marvel Studios]
The movie is already bringing together one of the largest collections of Marvel characters ever assembled. Alongside Evans, the film features Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and several returning members of Fox’s X-Men franchise.
Whatever Marvel has planned for Steve Rogers, the effort that went into hiding Evans’ involvement suggests his return is far more important than a quick nostalgic appearance.
And somewhere out there, Luke Cage probably wants his codename back.
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to hit theaters on December 18, 2026.
Marvel Studios has added another mutant to its upcoming X-Men reboot.
Gen V and Scream 7 star Asa Germann has reportedly been cast as Warren Worthington III, better known as Angel, in Marvel Studios’ upcoming X-Men film.
Germann joins an already stacked new generation of mutants that includes Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue and Maya Boyd as Storm. Adam Driver is also set to portray Mister Sinister. The core cast was unveiled by Marvel Studios at D23 in August.
Interestingly, Germann had reportedly auditioned for Cyclops during the casting process before Connor ultimately landed the role. He’ll instead take on one of the X-Men’s original members.
X-Men Angel
Angel, whose real name is Warren Worthington III, debuted alongside the original X-Men team in 1963. Born into a wealthy family, Warren develops enormous feathered wings that give him the ability to fly.
The character has previously appeared twice in live-action X-Men films. Ben Foster portrayed Warren in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, while Ben Hardy played a younger version in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse.
Thunderbolts* filmmaker Jake Schreier is directing Marvel’s new take on the mutant franchise.
Marvel Studios’ X-Men is scheduled to hit theaters on May 5, 2028.
Fans hoping Tom Holland’s next Spider-Man adventure will arrive quickly after Spider-Man: Brand New Day may be in for a longer wait.
Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Ravi Ahuja has addressed the future of the live-action franchise, confirming that Sony currently does not have a release date set for Spider-Man 5.
Speaking about when audiences could expect another installment, Ahuja said:
“We don’t have a date for it yet. A couple years usually, but there’s a Spider-Verse movie coming next year.”
That Spider-Verse film is Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, the third and final installment in the animated Miles Morales trilogy. Sony has officially scheduled the film to arrive in theaters on June 18, 2027.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day [sony/marvel]
Ahuja’s comments don’t give Spider-Man 5 an official release window, but they make it clear Sony isn’t rushing another Holland-led movie into theaters immediately. With Beyond the Spider-Verse already positioned as Sony’s major Spider-Man release for next year, the live-action sequel appears likely to come later.
Sony has previously used roughly two-year gaps between several of Holland’s solo Spider-Man films, although the studio’s current slate and Marvel Studios’ larger MCU plans could ultimately determine where the fifth film lands.
For now, Peter Parker’s next live-action chapter remains undated.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day continues to rewrite the box office record books.
The latest Marvel and Sony blockbuster starring Tom Holland has now climbed to approximately $2.33 billion worldwide, pushing past Avatar: The Way of Water to become the third highest-grossing movie of all time at the global box office.
The film now trails only Avengers: Endgame and James Cameron’s original Avatar on the worldwide charts.
It is another staggering milestone for Brand New Day, which has been breaking records since arriving in theaters on July 31.
The film opened to more than $360 million domestically, the biggest domestic opening weekend ever, and quickly became the second-fastest movie in history to cross $1 billion worldwide. It later became just the eighth movie ever to reach $2 billion globally.
Its success hasn’t slowed much either. Brand New Day remained No. 1 at the domestic box office for a fifth consecutive weekend, adding another $22 million and bringing its North American total to roughly $892 million.
Sadie Sink, Spider-Man: Brand New Day [marvel studios]
That puts another historic record within reach.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens currently holds the record as the highest-grossing movie in domestic box office history with approximately $936.7 million. Brand New Day is now less than $50 million away from potentially taking the crown.
Worldwide, the mountain is considerably larger.
Tom Holland and Zendaya, Spider-Man: Brand New Day [marvel studios]
Avengers: Endgame sits at roughly $2.8 billion, while Avatar remains the worldwide box office champion with approximately $2.9 billion.
Whether Brand New Day has enough momentum left to challenge those films remains to be seen, but reaching the No. 3 position already puts the latest Spider-Man adventure in exceptionally rare territory.
With nearly $900 million domestically and more than $2.3 billion worldwide, Tom Holland’s fourth solo Spider-Man movie has officially become one of the biggest theatrical releases in movie history.
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