Avengers: Doomsday Teases Captain America's Hidden Heir — 6 Leading Contenders, Ranked

So, that leaked Avengers: Doomsday teaser? Yeah, it looks like Chris Evans' Steve Rogers is off the battlefield, living quietly, and rocking a newborn in his arms. Which instantly set the internet on fire with the obvious question: who is Captain America's kid?

The comics give Marvel a lot of options here, from alternate realities to full-on timeline chaos. And because the MCU loves to remix, multiple candidates actually make sense. Also floating around: the heavy rumor that Doctor Doom in Doomsday is a Tony Stark variant, which adds extra emotional shrapnel to any story involving Steve's family and Robert Downey Jr.'s character.

Six possible identities for Cap's baby, ranked from long shot to strongest bet

1. A variant Steve Rogers Jr.

   Yes, there is a Steve Rogers Jr. out there in the wider lore, but the MCU could spin up a totally new one: a kid from a universe where Steve never went into the ice. That butts heads with Endgame's ending (Steve peels off to grow old with Peggy, creating a branch), but this franchise deviates from print all the time.

   Why it plays: the RDJ factor. If Doom is a Tony Stark variant, introducing the son of Captain America who does not recognize our Avengers is a brutal way to rattle him (and us). Picture a peaceful, well-adjusted kid suddenly shoved onto a battlefield like his dad once was, trying to prove himself after a life without war. No comics precedent, but very MCU.

2. Ian Rogers

   Straight from Rick Remender's Captain America Vol. 7: Steve gets stranded in a savage realm called Dimension Z, where years pass for him while only minutes tick by in the real world. He raises a boy there, Ian Rogers, who later takes up the Nomad mantle.

   Ian is a hardened survivalist with a fish-out-of-water vibe that Joe and Anthony Russo love to play with. A Steve-raised heir who has seen nothing but grit and danger feels like a clean fit for a darker, battle-ready Rogers kid. He could also be our way into Doom if the movie keeps Doom's backstory close to the vest.

3. Sharon Carter's secret child

   In the MCU, Emily VanCamp's Sharon Carter (Agent 13) is Peggy Carter's great-niece and, yes, Steve's on-and-off love interest in some comic runs and briefly in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. More recently on Disney+, she turned up as the Power Broker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which puts her in the orbit of high-end genetics and super-soldier tinkering.

   A Steve-and-Sharon son engineered with top-shelf serum science would be a sharp thematic mirror for Doom. If Doom is ego and science fused, a designer child twisting Steve's pure, selfless legacy into something built for power is a very MCU temptation. Dramatically, that puts father and kid on a collision course, with the extra sting of a genetically superior son forcing Steve into some painful bonding moments.

4. Grant Rogers

   This one's messy, but juicy. In Ultimate Marvel (Earth-1610), Steve unknowingly leaves a girlfriend pregnant before he goes into the ice in 1945. The baby, Gail Richards' son, is taken by the government and raised in a lab with doctors and zero father figures. In the comics, that kid becomes Red Skull.

   The MCU could flip that: a secret Super Soldier who grew up idolizing his 'dead' dad, only to crash into the truth. If Doom really is a Tony Stark variant, this path gives the movie a personal, painful reason to go after him beyond the usual save-the-world mission.

5. Sarah Rogers

   From an alternate reality where the heroes never left a place called Battleworld, Sarah Rogers is the daughter of Steve Rogers and Rogue. Battleworld, for anyone not neck-deep in the comics, is a patchwork world of nonstop war with heroes and villains mashed together. In Marvel lore, Doctor Doom is the architect of Battleworld.

   Given that Avengers: Doomsday is positioned as a lead-in to Avengers: Secret Wars, a Battleworld-adjacent character is not a crazy bet. Sarah would bring Steve's Super Soldier strength plus Rogue's flight and near-invulnerability, which is exactly the kind of power set you want if Doom is the end boss.

6. James Rogers

   Best-known from the Next Avengers timeline, James Rogers shows up prominently in the 2008 animated film Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, where the original Avengers are dead and their kids have to take down Ultron. In various tellings he is the son of Steve Rogers and Black Widow; the MCU could reframe that to Steve and Peggy, which frankly plays cleaner on screen right now.

   James has something the others don't: a full, already-proven arc about being Captain America's kid. The plasma shield, the natural leadership, the baked-in pathos — it is all very cinematic. And if Doom is a Tony Stark variant, there is a small, nasty twist available: a flicker of sympathy for his friend's son, plus the knowledge that somewhere out there is another Steve Rogers, which would mess with RDJ's Doom in a very watchable way. If you want the most likely and the most movie-ready option, this is it.

What Marvel is (and isn't) telling us

Avengers: Doomsday is directed by Joe Russo and Anthony Russo, with Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth headlining. Marvel Studios has it dated for December 18, 2026. The Doom-as-Tony-Stark-variant rumor is just that — a rumor — but a lot of these baby theories get even spicier if it holds. And with Doomsday setting the table for Secret Wars, expect at least a couple of deep-cut reality plays before this all wraps.