Chris Evans Reportedly Returning to the MCU - Will He Be Evil?

Comic book companies have many ways to work in sync with their corporate overlords. Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been in lockstep since the Mouse bought the House of Ideas. Any non-live action iterations of Iron Man sound like Robert Downey Jr. When Kevin Feige wanted to introduce the Inhumans into the MCU because he didn’t have rights to the X-Men, Marvel books were loaded with their paneled counterparts. A key way Marvel (and other companies) has kept their film and comics synced up is through trade paperbacks.

“Graphic Novel” has become a catch-all term for any comic book that isn’t a single issue. Graphic novels exist, but plenty are made specifically for that purpose (especially outside the superhero comic world). With superhero comics, many “graphic novels” are more accurately called trade paperbacks. A trade paperback is a collection of many single issues that (often) tell one story. Proper graphic novels are predominately self-contained, whereas trade paperbacks can still be full of universe-related continuity.

When the MCU has a new movie coming out, Disney (and DC, and other comic companies) likes to ensure they have a new trade paperback on the stands for people to buy. This way they can be primed on the character beforehand or shell out some shekels after they’ve seen the new flick. Then they can learn even more. It makes a lot of sense. When a character has a new movie, you’ll see them appear in or on plenty of ongoing comics or even be given a new one of their own in anticipation of the film.

Doctor Doom is currently riling up Marvel’s comic universe as the new Sorcerer Supreme, presumably in preparation for Robert Downey Jr.’s take on the character in Avengers: Doomsday. RDJ will play an evil version of Tony Stark who is also Doctor Doom. I’m not saying Downey’s Doom will be Sorceror Supreme, but rather that there will be a new Doom trade collection just in time for the new film. Seeing Doom appearing in more comics makes sense. But my eyebrows raised today when I saw that an evil version of Steve Rogers (Captain America) is returning to the comics in West Coast Avengers #5 in March.

Steve Rogers said the words “Hail Hydra” in 2017 and the reception was bad. He was revealed to be a sleeper agent for the infamous Marvel bad guys and people were pissed. It’s comics, so we would eventually learn it wasn’t the real Steve Rogers but a cosmic cube-created doppelganger but that didn’t earn the character any new fans. He returned later in an X-Men story but has been mostly kept on the shelf. Now he’s back and holy s*** Chris Evans is coming back with him.

Details are still light. Regardless, The Wrap is reporting that Evans has signed on to appear in Avengers: Doomsday in some capacity. Evans already returned to the MCU this summer, albeit as his Fantastic Four character and only briefly, and this could be another elongated cameo. But my money is on Evans bringing Cap’s evil counterpart to life. He may even be in league with RDJ’s Doom. I’d be lying if I said the prospect of that didn’t excite me greatly. If anything, I hope they bring back other original Avengers next and give us an evil team. Why the f*** not?

If Steve Cohen can spend three-quarters of a billion dollars to sign Juan Soto, then Disney can surely do the same to get Jeremy Renner and others (I forget their names). I could be connecting some threads that are pure coincidence, but it sure seems like Marvel is prepping the world for an evil Captain America. It seems timely.