Though they weren't part of the first cast announcement, both Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell are expected to reprise their respective roles as Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter for Avengers: Doomsday, and Daniel Richtman is reporting that they have begun filming their scenes.
The chances of catching a glimpse of the actors in set photos seem slim, as Doomsday hasn't been shooting outdoors (or only on well-secured closed sets) since those early shots of the X-Mansion and a downed Sentinel found their way online back in May.
Possible spoilers follow.
Though plot details are still under wraps, rumor has it that Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) will target Rogers for his part in causing the Multiversal incursions when he returned to the past in Avengers: Endgame to live out his life with Peggy. The prevailing theory is that these incursions somehow resulted in a devastating loss for Victor Von Doom, and he is now hell-bent on revenge.
Evans recently claimed that he was "happily retired," and has no intention of reprising his most famous role. During an interview with Screen Rant, the Materialists star remained adamant that he won't be back, while admitting that he's sad to be missing "the party."
"I mean, it's sad to be away. It's sad to not be back with the band, but I'm sure they're doing something incredible, and I'm sure it's going to be that much harder when it comes out and you feel like you weren't invited to the party."
Before the release of Avengers: Infinity War, there was a lot of speculation that Rogers would ditch the Captain America persona and suit-up as Nomad, and while he did wind up embracing the spirit of the wandering vigilante in the movie, he never officially took up that mantle. We have heard that Rogers will take up the Nomad mantle in Doomsday... possible after Peggy's death at Doom's hands?
This would obviously be a pretty dark route to take the story, but it would give the younger version of Rogers an excuse to pick up the shield again, and set up conflict with Doom (we definitely expect some kind of face-off between Evans and RDJ).
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were recently hit with significant delays, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
You can check out the full (for now) Doomsday cast list below.
• Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
• Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
• Tom Hiddleston as Loki
• Lewis Pullman as Sentry
• Florence Pugh as Yelena
• Danny Ramirez as Falcon
• Ian McKellen as Magneto
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky
• Winston Duke as M’Baku
• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Kelsey Grammer as Beast
• James Marsden as Cyclops
• Channing Tatum as Gambit
• Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm
• Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
• Patrick Stewart as Professor X
• Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
• Letitia Wright as Black Panther
• Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor
• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards
• Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm
• David Harbour as Red Guardian
• Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing
• Anthony Mackie as Captain America