The single worst possible thing that could happen to Anthony Mackie’s solo Captain America movie is Chris Evans. It was announced yesterday that Sam Wilson was getting his own feature film at long last, having finally and officially inherited the mantle of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s shield-throwing Avenger in the finale of Disney Plus’ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
The show’s executive producer Malcolm Spellman is developing the project and has tapped episode 5 scribe Dalan Musson to help whip the story into shape, but that’s all we know about the film so far. Based on the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s finale, though, there’s every chance that the Thunderbolts could act as the main villains, or even Sharon Carter’s Power Broker, who managed to keep her identity a secret and even embedded herself in the U.S. government for good measure.
There were reports making the rounds a few months ago that Evans had entered talks to return to the MCU as Steve Rogers, leading to a slew of speculation as to how, where and why he would make his comeback. The actor poured cold water on the rumors, and Kevin Feige said it wasn’t on the cards, and while we’re used to hearing those at the top level of Marvel Studios play coy when it comes to these sorts of stories, it was at least notable that the company’s Chief Creative Officer gave a firm ‘no,’ something he rarely does.
However, it’s since been claimed that Mackie’s Captain America blockbuster exists independently of whatever Marvel are alleged to be cooking up for Evans, which is the right call. Sam literally just became Cap yesterday, and having stepped out of Steve’s shadow, it would only take attention away from him if the original vintage were to play any sort of significant role in his solo debut.