Avengers fans claim Chris Evans’ face has changed – but there’s a reason

This December, Earth’s mightiest heroes will face armageddon when they assemble for Avengers: Doomsday.

Yesterday (July 20), Marvel Studios gave us our first official trailer for the upcoming Earth-shattering epic.

It seems like the Avengers, the Thunderbolts, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four will be teaming up to stop the dastardly Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr) from making multiversal mischief.

However, while some fans were distracted by Doom’s bombastic baritone, the biggest talking point was the return of none other than the original star-spangled man with a plan, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans).

Oddly, though, fans weren’t shocked to see Cap back in the saddle; they were surprised by Evans’s physical appearance.

‘Maybe this is pedantic, but that’s not him,’ wrote @Goldxn_Violin on X. ‘That doesn’t look like him. That looks like Chris Evans.’

Meanwhile, @hanithology asked: ‘I’m sorry, did Chris Evans just have his first glowdown’

@RestlessEmRose added: ‘Wtf is this 😑 that’s not my Steve! This literally just looks like Chris Evans! I actually hate this so much.’

Yet as shocking as it might be seeing the first Avenger with a mullet (avenging up front, party in the back), there might be a very good reason for Steve’s grungier look.

According to a fan theory doing the rounds online, the Steve Rogers we see in the Doomsday trailer isn’t the Captain America we know and love; it’s actually an evil variant from some dark corner of the multiverse.

This ‘evil Steve’ (Stevil from now on) has presumably been brought to our dimension by Doom to help him with his nefarious plan.

@Sksj002 spelt out the theory on X, writing: ‘Long-haired Steve Rogers isn’t our Steve; he’s Hydra Cap.

‘Hydra could be working with Doom. Thor looks genuinely shocked when Steve appears…

‘If true, that would be one of the biggest MCU WTF moments.’

@comicsexplained agreed, saying, ‘That is definitely Hydra Cap.’

@HarleyQuinn720 added: ‘Maybe I’m crazy…ok no I am, but I don’t think that’s a good Cap. I think that’s Hydra Cap infiltratin’ the hero’s teams n’ winnin’ trust all for Doom.’

Of course, there’s one big problem with this theory: if that is actually Stevil, then how can he lift Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir?

Well, this is where it pays to read comics.

You see, in the storyline where Stevil was introduced, Secret Empire (2017), some magical chicanery changed the enchantment so that he was capable of lifting Mjolnir despite being a literal Nazi.

So is that Stevil?

Is that Steve?

We’ll just have to take a trip to the cinema when ‘time runs out’ this December to find out.

Avengers Doomsday will crash into cinemas on December 18.