Chris Evans Responds to Speculation He’ll Return to Marvel Role: ‘Sam Wilson Is Captain America’

Anthony Mackie takes the lead in Captain America’s upcoming fourth installment in the MCU, after taking the hero’s shield from Chris Evans in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame

Chris Evans has hung up the red, white and blue shield.

The actor, 41, appeared to shoot down speculation that he’d return for Captain America’s fourth solo outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after The Hollywood Reporter announced that Julius Onah would direct the next installment.

“It is unclear whether Chris Evans would reprise his role of Steve Rogers, AKA the first Captain America,” the outlet wrote, to which Evans responded in a tweet: “Sam Wilson is Captain America.”

He was referring to the events of the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, in which Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) finally embraced the Captain America shield after serving as the first Captain’s sidekick Falcon.

Mackie, 43, takes the lead in the new MCU film. He previously spoke to PEOPLE about why he loves playing Sam, an Air Force veteran who uses his military skills to become Falcon.

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“I love the fact that he’s a normal guy. He has no superpowers, he has no serums and all this stuff,” he explained. “He’s just a regular guy who wants to do the right thing.

“When we first meet him, he’s a counselor for soldiers. Then he’s picked up by Captain America to be an Avenger. And it’s just like, he’s on this whirlwind adventure. And the adventure just grows more and more. The discovery of it is something I really enjoy,” Mackie added.

Falcon and the Winter Soldier creator and head writer Malcolm Spellman will reportedly pen the script for Captain America 4. It’s unclear if Mackie’s Falcon costars Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus will join him in the movie.

Evans previously made his first appearance as the patriotic superhero in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger and played the role in seven MCU titles. He ultimately retired the character in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, when the character passed the shield on to Sam.