Captain America Chris Evans

As we move towards the much-anticipated premiere of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ at movie theaters across the country this weekend, one of the most pressing questions on fans’ minds is the fate of their favorite characters; specifically, who will survive this first-round matchup with Thanos and who won’t?

Much speculation has been bandied about specifically regarding the potential demise of those Avengers whose stars’ contracts are coming to an end.  ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and its follow-up, the still-untitled ‘Avengers 4,’ brings to a close the contracts of Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye, who has yet to be officially confirmed to even be present in Infinity War).  There seems to have been recent confirmation of a Black Widow solo film, so Johansson will be sticking around; Chris Hemsworth seems to have a renewed interest in Thor after the recent well-received Thor: Ragnarok, and Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) seems to be in a perpetual state of indecision with his future in the MCU.

Which brings us to Chris Evans, big-screen portrayer of Captain America.  The popular rumor right now is that Cap will perish fighting Thanos, thereby providing a convenient “out” for Evans’ escape from the MCU.  In a recent interview on Good Morning America, Evans had the following to say about his Marvel-centric status:

“The contract is done. A lot of our contracts are through. Myself, [Robert] Downey [Jr.], [Chris] Hemsworth, we all kind of started roughly at the same time, and I think we all, through Avengers 4, kind of wrap it up. So at this point, I don’t know what’s next, but yeah, by 2019, that’s it.”

Interviewer Michael Strahan pressed Evans for more info, saying “We hope that’s not it – we hope there’s more.”  Evans responded:

“We’ll see, we’ll see.”

The actor went on to further elaborate his stance and the current business situation:

“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. 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.  It made sense [to add Avengers 4]… it’s going to wrap everything up.

“It’s really not up to me. My contract is up. I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘No more.’ I think Hugh Jackman has made 47 Wolverine movies, and they somehow keep getting better. It’s a character I love, and [Marvel Studios is] a factory that really knows what they’re doing. The system is sound, over there. They make great movies. If they weren’t kicking out quality, I’d have a different opinion. But, everything Marvel does seems to be cinema gold.”

This discussion will likely become much clearer after the fate of Captain America is determined as ‘Infinity War’ is released.

Avengers: Infinity War will hit American theaters in a wide release on Friday, April 27, 2018.