Why Captain America 4 Can’t Be An Avengers Team-Up

While Captain America 4 is in development, it can’t be another Avengers team-up, like Captain America: Civil War was. After defeating Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, that became Steve Rogers’ final adventure as Captain America. Rather than coming back to the present after returning the Infinity Stones to their timelines, Steve decided to stay in the 1940s and live a happy life with Peggy Carter. With Steve having aged in the present, the first Avenger passed the shield over to Sam Wilson, choosing him as his successor. This set up The Falcon and The Winter Soldier events where Sam ultimately embraced the responsibility and became the MCU’s next Captain America.

The same day as The Falcon and The Winter Soldier finale was released on Disney+, it was revealed that Marvel Studios is already developing Captain America 4. While no director is attached currently, showrunner Malcolm Spellman and staff writer Dalan Musson are penning the script. Even though they haven’t come out and said it officially, the fourth installment is obviously going to be about Sam as he is now keeping Steve’s legacy alive, while also being his own Captain America. Despite plot details and cast information being under wrap, Captain America 4 can’t by any means be another platform where it serves as an Avengers team-up. Sam may have finally become the new Captain America, but the finale was only the beginning of his next chapter. Getting the shield and a new suit is only part of Sam’s journey.

Even though Sam has been established in the MCU for several years, Captain America 4 will be his first proper time getting to have a Captain America story of his own. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier primarily dealt with why John Walker was the wrong person to take on Steve’s legacy while also following the Flag-Smashers. After Sam took on the title publicly, the next installment needs to give the former Falcon his own storyline and main antagonist. The last thing Captain America 4 needs is a bunch of Avengers to either help him or take away time that should be focused on him. As Falcon and Winter Soldier showed, Sam being the first Black man to be Captain America comes with its own entirely new set of challenges, and Sam Wilson should be the main character centered.

To a degree, that is a problem Captain America: Civil War faced by making Steve’s trilogy finale be about the larger MCU. While the impact of the Sokovia Accords naturally would affect everyone, Civil War would have easily worked as a separate Avengers film. Had they gone in a direction like that, it would have allowed Captain America 3 to be a more traditional trilogy closer. Captain America 4 will ideally kick off a sequel trilogy for Sam, meaning this film need to be primarily focused on him. To have the Avengers be part of it would be the worst way to truly launch Sam’s role as Captain America after The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

It would also suggest there is a need to have other heroes aid Sam with whatever villain he is up against in the film and undermine him standing on his own. If Captain America 4 were to have any allies by Sam’s side, the only one who makes sense is Bucky Barnes, even though he’s no longer the Winter Soldier following the events of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Since the show further fleshed out their relationship, it would only make sense if Captain America and the Winter Soldier are the ones that the fourth film features, with Sam as the primary protagonist, similar to how Black Widow backed up Steve Rogers in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. There will be plenty of opportunities and films for Sam to be teamed up with the Avengers, but it shouldn’t be in Captain America 4.