When Chris Evans initially signed his Marvel Studios contract for playing Captain America, it was for six movies that would have ended with the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, opening in theaters on May 4, 2018. So why did he decide to do a seventh film, the untitled Avengers 4 coming on May 3, 2019? Talking to The Telegraph, Evans explains.
“I had six films in my Marvel contract, so I could have said after the third Avengers I was done, but they wanted to make the third and fourth Avengers films as a two-parter,” he said. “They said they had so many other characters to fit in – Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Ant Man – and couldn’t get them all into one movie.”
He added that he agreed to the two-film arc, “because it made sense. It’s going to wrap everything up.”
What’s not clear is if he’s talking about the Captain America story arc or the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it up to that point.
Directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who return after Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, will direct both Avengers: Infinity War and the untitled fourth film which are written by screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Filming officially started on Monday, January 23, 2017 for the Avengers sequel, which sees Earth’s Mightiest Heroes teaming up with the Guardians of the Galaxy to take on Josh Brolin’s Thanos.
The film is set to feature an extensive cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olson, Chadwick Boseman, Sebastian Stan, Don Cheadle, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Pom Klementieff, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Holland.