Cap is back — and it’s Dad!
The first trailer for “Avengers: Doomsday” revealed that Steve Rogers, the star-studded Avenger played by Chris Evans, will return in the upcoming Marvel team-up adventure, scheduled for release on December 18, 2026. In a twist, Captain America is the father of a newborn baby.
Marvel is gearing up for the first official “Doomsday” trailer with this Cap-focused teaser attached to screenings of “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” There would be more teasers focusing on other characters in the coming weeks.
This teaser, set on a peaceful farm, begins with Steve riding a motorcycle home while a piano rendition of the “Avengers” theme plays in the background. His blue helmet recalls his Captain America costume, which he takes out to admire with reminiscence. He holds a newborn baby in his arms and looks at it proudly, as the teaser ends with “Steve Rogers will return for ‘Avengers: Doomsday.'” A countdown begins at the end and will expire in a year when “Doomsday” hits theaters.
Marvel fans last saw Captain America, the founding Avenger, in the final moments of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.” After saving the world from the purple villain known as Thanos, Cap makes it his personal mission to return the missing Infinity Stones to their rightful place throughout time. After completing his time travel mission, an aged Steve returns to the main MCU timeline and passes his red and white Vibranium shield to his former sidekick, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), transitioning him from the Falcon to the new Captain America. After granting Sam his shield, Steve then travels back in time to reunite with his beloved Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell).
After Steve disappeared and was frozen in ice in the original “Captain America” movie, Peggy grew older but never stopped loving him. Now, thanks to Quantum Realm time travel technology, the two were able to marry and live out their lives together over the decades.
Does this teaser mean that Steve is somehow returning to the main MCU timeline to join the Avengers? Is this the same Cap, or is he a variation of the elderly hero from the “Endgame” finale? And who is the baby? Does he have super-soldier powers like Cap?
Technically, this isn’t the first time Evans has returned to the MCU since “Endgame.” In the 2024 hit film “Deadpool & Wolverine,” he returned for a hilarious cameo as Human Torch, his original superhero role in Fox’s 2005 film “Fantastic Four.”
Evans isn’t the only original “Avengers” star returning for “Doomsday.” Robert Downey Jr. returns, but not as Tony Stark. Instead, he swaps out his Iron Man armor to play the ultimate villain, Doctor Doom, in the multiverse-crossing film. Other returning heroes include Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Sebastian Stan, Paul Rudd, Tom Hiddleston, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Simu Liu, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen and Lewis Pullman. From the “X-Men” universe, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Kelsey Grammer, Alan Cumming, James Marsden, Channing Tatum and Rebecca Romijn will join the MCU.
