“Captain America: Brave New World” is finally upon us, properly introducing the MCU’s new Captain America, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). But if you’re here, you might be wondering: what happened to Chris Evans?
The fourth installment of the Cap franchise sees Sam Wilson fully in his groove as the hero, using both the shield and his trusty Falcon wings to help him in battle. After all, he’s not actually a super soldier like Steve Rogers was. Sam is just a normal guy, stepping into a super role.
And really, there are a couple of pieces to answer why that is. But worry not, it’s nothing scandalous. The change is simply the natural evolution of the character, and happened over the course of two earlier MCU projects.
When did Chris Evans stop being Captain America?
At the end of “Avengers: Endgame,” Steve Rogers was tapped to go back in time to return the Infinity Stones to their proper timelines. It was meant to be a quick journey that he’d almost immediately return from. But he didn’t.
Instead, in the film’s closing minutes, Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and Sam notice an old man sitting nearby. As they walk over, they realize that the old man is actually Steve. When he finished returning the stones, he stayed in the past to have a life with his longtime love, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell).
He returned to that location at the right moment to assure his friends he was OK — and to make a hand-off.
During the conversation, Steve hands his shield to Sam and asks him how it feels. Sam replies “Like it belongs to someone else,” but Cap cheekily shoots back that “It doesn’t.” In short, this is Captain America naming his own successor.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier
The thing is, Sam Wilson does not immediately become Captain America after that. In fact, he turns down the role, which leads to the U.S. government instead choosing their own Captain America in the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
Their choice is John Walker (Wyatt Russell) who, like Sam, is just a regular military man with no super powers — at first. Eventually, John does take the super serum, and as Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci) warned way back in “Captain America: The First Avenger,” it amplified the worst in him.
So, Sam and Bucky set out on a mission to take John Walker into custody and take back the shield. In the end, Sam finally agrees to become Cap himself, learning how to fight with the shield, but also incorporating some of his Falcon tech.
By the end of the series, he is suited up as the Captain America we see in “Brave New World.”
“Captain America: Brave New World” hits theaters on February 14.
