Captain America 4 is reportedly separate from the rumored Chris Evans return

Captain America 4 is reportedly separate from the rumored return of Chris Evans to the MCU. Spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier finale ahead…

According to Deadline, who first broke the news of Evans' rumored return, Captain America 4 could be centered on Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson, and Evans' reported return would be in a different project.

Of course, it's still very early days with Captain America 4, which was recently announced and has yet to be officially confirmed by Marvel. It's very likely the movie will feature Mackie's Sam as Captain America, though. Sam took up the mantle in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's finale (to the internet's delight), and a title card at the end of the episode read "Captain America and the Winter Soldier." With that in mind, it seems unlikely Captain America 4 would pivot to something else entirely.

Deadline also said in their original report that a returning Steve Rogers would have a role in the MCU akin to Tony Stark's post-Iron Man 3, so potentially showing up in other heroes' movies.

However, Evans poured water over rumors of his return, posting a tweet that read simply "News to me," complete with a shrugging emoji. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has also seemed to dismiss the rumor: "I rarely answer no to anything anymore because things are always surprising me with what happens, but that rumor, I think, was dispelled rather quickly by the man himself."

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier went out with a bang, with plenty of plot threads left tantalizingly unresolved: there's Sharon Carter apparently shaping up to be a new big bad in the MCU, while Countess Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, AKA Val, seems to be setting up an anti-superhero squad of her own. 

Then there's also the question of whether The Falcon and the Winter Soldier season 2 will happen as well as the reported Captain America 4, or if the fourquel will incorporate whatever a potential season 2 might have been about. With Evans' rumored return also in the mix, there's plenty of Cap-related mysteries in the MCU to be resolved.  

The next Marvel project hitting our screens is Loki, which is set to debut on Disney Plus this June 11. While you wait, check out everything we know so far about Marvel Phase 4.