Captain America: Civil War spilt the Marvel Cinematic Universe in two and the friendship between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark was seemingly destroyed for good when it was revealed that The Winter Soldier was responsible for the murder of Iron Man's parents (something Cap had kept a secret).
Two years will have passed by the time Avengers: Infinity War rolls around and we know that Tony has a phone which he can use to call Steve at any time, something we have to assume he probably does when he learns from Bruce Banner that Thanos is on his way to Earth to retrieve the Infinity Stones.
In a new interview, Chris Evans was asked how Steve is dealing with the fallout from what happened with Iron Man and just how much of an issue that is when the events of this movie roll around.
"I think Cap knows how to compartmentalize. I’m not gonna speak to what the film addresses, but in terms of my character, I think he is slowly … he’s becoming disillusioned as he gets older. Every single movie, he learns a little bit more that the world isn’t the way he kind of wants it to be, and I think that’s why there’s a connection between him and Black Widow. Black Widow has seen a lot more than he is, and is kind of a little more calloused, and I think in a lot of ways, he looks up to that and learns from that.
"First it was kind of the hierarchy of a government structure that fell apart, and then there was a friendship that kind of betrayed him, or abandoned him, I should say. I think when those things happen, it’s like a destruction of a belief system to some degree, and you can be a little cold as a result. And I think you lean on people that have walked familiar paths, and there’s no denying that Black Widow has certainly faced a lot of those challenges. I think, like I said, long-winded answer, I think he’s compartmentalized it enough to put it as a lower priority than what’s at hand, which is obviously Thanos."
As for what the relationship between the two is like now, it sounds like they'll be able to patch things up. "I don’t think either one of us are ones to hold grudges. I think we operate very binary, utilitarian approach to most things we do, and I don’t think we let emotion dictate our reality. It’s been a couple years, so I think we both, to some degree, not moved on, but maybe buried some things."
There is, of course, a chance that Captain America and Iron Man won't cross paths in this movie so their reunion may be saved for Avengers 4 instead. Moving on to the tattered Avengers uniform Steve is wearing here, Evans went on to offer a very interesting explanation for why he still has that suit.
"I’ve dropped the shield essentially. I kind of went rogue a little bit. But again, I think it’s in his nature to be of service, and I think to some degree in order to maintain sanity, he had to kind of function within a system. That’s how his brain works, there has to be some kind of functioning factory that he can operate within. I think Black Widow kind of, to some degree probably has a similar output, and I think we leaned on each other, especially in the face of that kind of loss coming off of Civil War. And so he’s been running these missions, answering to nobody, really. I mean, it really is the sign of a broken person. But yeah, that’s the wear and tear."
What do you guys think about Evans' comments? Do you think Steve and Tony will ever be able to go back to how things used to be after Thanos' attack? Weigh in with your theories in the usual place.