By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Marvel sparked significant fan interest with the news that Robert Downey Jr. would return to the MCU in doomsdaybut not as Tony Stark…instead he will somehow play Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom. Since then, it has been reported that Chris Evans and Haley Atwell will also be returning, and while most fans assume they will also play Variants, one tantalizing Marvel fan theory says otherwise. According to this theory from Reddit user WillemDaFriends, their portion of the film will take place in the alternate past that Steve Rogers traveled to in End of gameand his temporal shenanigans created the alternate Earth setting of Fantastic Four.
The theory
To understand the role of Chris Evans and Haley Atwell’s characters in this Marvel theory, you may need an introduction to the past and future of this cinematic universe. In End of gameCaptain America used the Quantum Realm to travel through the past and return each Infinity Stone to where it came from. But then he becomes a romantic thug and stays in the past to enjoy a life with Peggy Carter…the life he essentially missed out on once he was frozen in ice only to wake up in the present.
Now the next part doesn’t directly involve Chris Evans, but rather this Wonder the theory addresses a possible explanation for the unfolding of the next Fantastic Four movie. We don’t know much about the first movie featuring Marvel’s First Family, but we do know that it’s a ’60s period piece set on an alternate Earth. Presumably some of the shenanigans to come in doomsday will explain (perhaps with a hardware or software reboot) how characters from half a century ago and a multiverse find themselves today (not to mention the dimension) of the Avengers and other MCU heroes.
There are many ways to Fantastic FourThe multiverse could have been created. However, this Chris Evans Marvel theory holds that the Fantastic Four The universe is an alternate reality that he accidentally created while traveling back in time to spend his life with Peggy Carter. This really makes sense, since the Fantastic Four The film is set in the more retrofuturistic 1960s, the kind Captain America could have created by providing advanced knowledge of the future.
In the world of Star TrekChris Evans’ character doing this would be a big no-no, but we can only assume he’d be willing to change the future to save countless lives. How much pain would the MCU be spared if someone could warn them of Hydra’s infiltration of SHIELD or the arrival of Thanos? It’s easy to imagine Cap doing everything he can to save lives and incidentally creating a very different universe, both because of his direct actions and because various scientists could study the leaking super-soldier serum in his veins.
Certainly, this Chris Evans The Marvel theory isn’t perfect… it doesn’t explain, for example, why an elderly Steve Rogers appears at the end of End of game when he’s supposed to be stuck in a different dimension. Of course, we could witness occasional stories at work, and events of Fantastic Four: first steps And Avengers: Judgment Day will perhaps explain its appearance. Either way, we desperately want this theory to be true, because that would mean seeing the “real” Cap and Peggy in the next movie rather than another meaningless multiversal variant or disappointing knockoff.
