Can the Russos find a good reason for Chris Evans’s return to Marvel?

Ever wondered what the multiverse might look like if Marvel just used it to bring back popular superheroes the studio regrets writing off? Welcome to the Russo Brothers’ Avengers: Doomsday ...

First there was the revelation at San Diego Comic-Con that Robert Downey Jr is returning to the fold as Doctor Doom (though rumours since have suggested this will be some kind of freakish Stark variant with heavy Doom overtones). And last week we heard that Chris Evans, AKA Captain America mark one, will also be taking part in the Russos’ return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in an undisclosed role.

For all we know Evans could be coming back as a Rogue Trooper-inspired sentient shield with Evans’s face on it, or a washed-up version of Steve Rogers who now works as a multiversal tour guide, pointing out key moments in Marvel history while deadpanning, “It was exactly at this point that it all started to go downhill.” Given Evans popped up briefly in Deadpool & Wolverine as a version of the Fantastic Four’s Human Torch, it would hardly be a surprise if he were back again as a version of Johnny Storm who’s now fireproof but entirely incapable of flying, making him essentially a human campfire. While a Deadline report revealing that Hayley Atwell’s Agent Carter will also be back in Doomsday hints that Evans will play at least a version of Rogers, the possibilities are more infinite than the number of nostalgic plot contrivances Marvel can churn out before Kevin Feige wakes up one morning and discovers he has accidentally rebooted Howard the Duck.

Is this a sign of strength or weakness for the Disney-owned studio? On the one hand, bringing back beloved characters could reignite the fervour that propelled the MCU to stratospheric heights during the Infinity Saga. On the other hand, it feels suspiciously like rifling through the attic to find something shiny for the audience while you figure out what to do next. It’s as if Marvel is saying, “We know you’re not loving our new heroes, so here’s Chris Evans, who you definitely liked. Please keep watching.”

Perhaps the Russos simply noted the remarkable reaction among Marvel fans to the restoration of multiple villains from the early Spider-Man films to No Way Home, and thought “just how hard can it be”? And yet a cosmic lost-and-found for retired superheroes is hardly the synapse searing blockbuster we’re all been primed for.

What next? Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow as a cosmic bartender serving emotional support cocktails to broken multiverse variants? Josh Brolin’s Thanos as an adorable purple infinity-nappy-wearing toddler who throws cosmic tantrums whenever someone denies him his juice box? Maybe Ultron could return as the Avengers control room’s IoT-enabled fridge, his robo-sociopathy replaced by an expensive line in passive aggressive lifestyle advice – less destroying mythical eastern European nation states, more berating Thor about his unhealthy late night beer runs and reheated sarwarma.

Evans’s return this time round needs to feel worthwhile, to avoid the cameo overload we saw in Deadpool & Wolverine. Is this why Marvel is adapting Secret Wars, a comic book in which Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are all transported to a mysterious, weapon pre-loaded planet named Battleworld (imagine Fortnite with superheroes) for Doomsday’s sequel? Because that scenario doesn’t feel too far off the Void (introduced in the Loki TV series and revisited in Deadpool & Wolverine), a place that’s nowhere and everywhere all at once and is therefore ripe for any multiversal shenanigans that the screenwriters can throw at it, safe in the comfort that nothing that happens there means much in the “real” world.

Both spaces feel like thrilling playgrounds of limitless possibilities, but could easily become a lazy safety net if overused – a place where dead characters come back, retired actors reappear, and timelines are casually redrawn. Both are cosmic sandboxes so ripe for unfettered repeat turns that nobody needs to bother about an actual story, Deadpool & Wolverine’s major flaw.

If done well, and with subtlety, bringing back Marvel stars of yore could be welcome nods to the excellence of the studio’s first decade. Carried out poorly, as with Deadpool & Wolverine’s glut of largely meaningless star returns, and Wade Wilson’s line about being Marvel Jesus might start to look like a grim prophecy carved into the multiversal tombstone of originality.