Avengers: Doomsday Sidelines Chris Evans — But Steve Rogers Still Dooms the Universe

Marvel rumor season is doing what it does best: exploding. An alleged Avengers: Doomsday trailer leaked online and, yes, it looks like Chris Evans is back as Steve Rogers. The footage is sweet, simple, and designed to make the fandom lose its mind. After that, the insider chatter kicked into high gear and started sketching out a very specific role for Steve that might surprise you.

What the leaked trailer supposedly shows

In the clip making the rounds, Steve Rogers comes home to the same house we last saw with Peggy in Avengers: Endgame. He picks up a sleeping baby. Cut to black. Then a title card: 'Steve Rogers will return to Avengers: Doomsday,' followed by a countdown to the release date. If you were not expecting the baby, you were not alone. The implication lines up with the Endgame epilogue a lot of fans have argued about ever since.

What the rumor mill is saying

• Insider James Mack (@jamesmackwl) says Steve is not the movie's lead. According to him, Steve is a crucial plot piece, not the protagonist, and his life with Peggy - including kids - is what broke the multiverse. He adds that Doctor Doom takes issue with that and goes after Steve.
• Scooper MyTimeToShineHello backs up the Doom angle with a sharper claim about the fallout from Endgame:

  'When Steve went back in time to go live with Peggy he created the Incursions so now Doom wants him dead.'

• This has snowballed into a Robert Downey Jr. vs Chris Evans theory, with chatter that Downey Jr.'s Doom might actually win. Big stakes, bigger flex if true.
• Daniel Richtman says Marvel's first official teaser is Steve-centric and confirms Evans' return, specifically to set him up as the lead in Doomsday. He also previously reported Evans filmed scenes in the U.K. That obviously clashes with the 'not the protagonist' line above, which is pretty on-brand for this stage of the hype cycle.
• Kristian Harloff said there are multiple versions of the trailer coming. One cut allegedly features Steve and Peggy together, out of costume, in a scene meant to echo Endgame. That would track with the leak and with the idea that Steve's decision in Endgame is the spark for this movie's mess. On the same show, John Rocha said he's heard that's exactly why Doom is angry: what Steve did in Endgame.
• Evans was not on the official Doomsday cast sheet, but multiple insiders have been insisting he's a key piece of the film anyway.
• Worried this undercuts Anthony Mackie's Captain America? Mack is in the Doomsday cast and, per James Mack, Steve showing up does not bump Sam Wilson out of the mantle. He also called the hand-wringing over Evans' return unnecessary, to put it mildly.
• One more deep-cut tease from James Mack: expect a bunch of Captain America variants in the Void. If you watched Loki, that location name probably rings a bell.

So what does this all add up to?

If the leak is legit, Marvel is laying a big emotional breadcrumb trail with Steve and Peggy to hook the general audience while the hardcore fans argue about timelines and Incursions. The insider claims largely agree on the big picture: Steve's Endgame choice broke something, Doom hates it, and Steve is the fuse that lights the story. Where they disagree is how central Steve is to the whole movie. One camp says he's the lead; the other says he's the catalyst, not the captain. Both can technically be true depending on editing and marketing, so take a breath.

About Sam Wilson

Short version: Anthony Mackie's Cap is still Cap. Even the folks pushing the Steve rumors are adamant Sam is not getting sidelined. If anything, a Steve-centric problem could set up Sam to lead the actual Avengers response, which is a neat way to thread that needle.

Avengers: Doomsday is currently dated for December 18, 2026. Expect Marvel to try to get ahead of this with an official teaser soon, especially if the leaked cut keeps ripping across X. Until then, assume nothing, enjoy the chaos, and keep an eye out for that Peggy-and-Steve scene if multiple trailer versions really are in the chamber.