These Steve Rogers Doomsday Theories Might Be Better Than The Real Story

Published Jul 26, 2026, 10:30 PM EDT Liz Declan is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant, primarily covering movies. She is a massive fan of Star Wars, the MCU, and Supernatural. In addition to writing, Liz loves attending and covering conventions and interviewing actors. Find her on TikTok and Instagram @va.va.vera As a brand-new installment in the larger Avengers franchise, Avengers: Doomsday was always going to have a host of surprises. Thus far, teasers of the movie, as well as the recently released trailer, have confirmed that to be the case, and there are no doubt many more unexpected reveals to come in the movie itself. Among the most shocking revelations thus far has been confirmation that Chris Evans' Steve Rogers is back, following his decision in Avengers: Endgame to go back in time and (seemingly) live a life with Peggy Carter. Perhaps even more surprising, an early teaser showed Steve holding a baby, who is presumably his and Peggy's, although that's not yet confirmed. More recently, the first official Doomsday trailer showed Steve back in the present day, no longer the old man he had appeared as at the end of Endgame but rather as the version of him that fought alongside the Avengers. In the scene, Steve comes face-to-face with Thor, who is, understandably, in denial that this return could even be possible. Despite the various clips of Steve in Doomsday that have been shown thus far, fans largely continue to share Thor's incredulity over this turn of events. Surely, Doomsday will have an explanation for how Steve is back, and hopefully, that explanation will be convincing enough that fans aren't frustrated by this apparent retcon. Among the possibilities are two fan theories in particular, but with such little indication from Marvel regarding how, exactly, Steve is back, there's a major chance that these theories will actually end up being better than what Doomsday ultimately reveals—and that would be bad news for the movie and the larger MCU. Bringing Steve Back Is A Risky Move While bringing Steve Rogers back may be viewed as fan service, and that was almost certainly one aspect of Marvel's decision to bring Steve back and give Doomsday an automatic boost (the same could be said of Robert Downey Jr. returning as Doctor Doom), this is also an incredibly risky move. For one, there are some within the fanbase who are going to immediately reject this decision strictly because it feels like fan service—and they likely already have—which is a ding in and of itself. Yet another camp may be withholding judgment until they see whether this move was worth it or whether it was a way to cover holes in a plot that needed work. While the success of this decision therefore remains to be seen, and that is something that can really only be answered when the movie itself comes out, it's clear that there is a high risk and high reward tied to Steve's return. Granted, there are ways that Steve's appearance in Doomsday could actually work, many of them referenced in compelling fan theories that have come out over the last several months. The question is: Will these theories prove true, or will fans have crafted a story better than the actual one in Doomsday? Fans Think Steve Rogers Might Actually Be Loki Specifically following the most recent trailer, which gave audiences an even closer look at how Steve Rogers appears in Doomsday, a major theory regarding this return is that Steve is not actually Steve, but is rather Loki taking on his appearance. The logic is that, following the conclusion of Loki, which saw Loki become the God of Stories and be truly redeemed, Loki would see what was going on in the fight against Doom and would want to be involved, but he would know that the Avengers would likely never truly trust him. For that reason, the theory posits, Loki would instead take on the look of someone the heroes would immediately trust. There is another reason that this would make sense, too, which is Loki potentially not wanting to throw Thor back into his grief. After Avengers: Infinity War, which saw not only Loki's death but also the loss of half of all life, Thor was left feeling truly broken. In fact, at the beginning of Avengers: Endgame, he is nearly unrecognizable, and he has fallen far from the god he once was. Throughout Endgame and even continuing into Thor: Love and Thunder, Thor was working to recover and become the powerful god he had once been. By the end of Love and Thunder, he had more or less accomplished that, and he was on a new path with his daughter, Love. Having Loki come back as himself and reveal that a version of Thor's brother still lived would almost certainly throw Thor right back into the emotional, unstable self he had previously been, and Loki would absolutely want to avoid that. This would also be a shame, in a sense, first because it would be nice for these two brothers to be reunited and for Thor to realize that Loki had finally truly changed, and second because it would also mean less Tom Hiddleston screen time. However, this would be an interesting way for Doomsday to bring "Steve" back without requiring some major plot manipulation or explanation full of possible holes. Another Doomsday Theory Suggests This Could Be Captain Hydra Yet another fan theory about Steve's return, and arguably the more interesting of the two, is the idea that this is not actually the Steve Rogers that audiences know and love but is rather Captain Hydra, a version of Steve from the comics that, as the name fans use for him suggests, was indoctrinated by Hydra (like Bucky was in the main MCU timeline). This would also require some sort of explanation, especially because Steve already showed up in Endgame as an old man, but there are surely ways for this to work, and it would be absolutely fascinating. For one, getting to see Chris Evans play an MCU villain would be exciting—not unlike what audiences are now going to get with Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom—but this would also be a genuinely innovative way for the MCU to bring "Steve" back without potentially coming across as a last-ditch effort to give the fans what they want. Of course, this would also add a layer of complexity to the narrative, as this would mean yet another villain, so it would need to be handled carefully. If it were written in such a way that these narratives were woven together, though, this theory has massive potential. Now, it's just a waiting game to see which, if any, of these fan theories Avengers: Doomsday goes with or if this is really just Steve Rogers, somehow back again, just the way that he was before—which, arguably, would be the worst possible way for this beloved character to return. Release Date December 18, 2026 Runtime 165 Minutes Director Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Cast Vanessa Kirby Sue Storm / Invisible Woman Johnny Storm / Human Torch Ebon Moss-Bachrach Ben Grimm / The Thing Writers Stephen McFeely, Michael Waldron, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee Producers Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Kevin Feige Prequel(s) Spider-Man: Brand New Day Sequel(s) Avengers: Secret Wars Franchise(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers, Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Thor, X-Men