Wyatt Russell Returning For Captain America 4?

Will Wyatt Russell's U.S. Agent be coming back to tangle with Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson in Captain America 4?

By Nathan Kamal | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

wyatt russell captain america 4

The mantle of Captain America has fully been passed from Steve Rogers to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, especially if you ask Chris Evans. By all reports, the upcoming next installment of the franchise with the Marvel Cinematic Universe will focus entirely on Anthony Mackie, which makes it entirely possible that Wyatt Russell may be returning in Captain America 4. Marvel Studios has gotten even more paranoid about leaks in the last several years and there are few details about the next Captain America, so it seems even the U.S. Agent himself is waiting by the phone to hear if he will be starring in the Marvel Cinematic Universe again anytime soon. 

Per a recent interview with Collider, Wyatt Russell is not exactly sure if he will be appearing in Captain America 4. Russell first joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in one of the first Disney+ Marvel series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. His character John Walker was introduced as the U.S. government’s handpicked successor to Steve Rogers as Captain America, despite Sam Wilson being entrusted with the role (and the shield). Over the course of the series, the initially heroic John Walker grows increasingly unstable and violent under the pressure of being Captain America, especially after taking a recreation of the original Super-Soldier Serum. By the end of the series, he has gone full villain, which is most likely how we would see Wyatt Russell in Captain America 4

However, if we do not see Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent in Captain America 4, there is another chance for him to pop up soon. Marvel Studios has been developing a Thunderbolts feature film for a while now and has enlisted Jake Schreier as director. In the comics, the Thunderbolts first appeared as a supposedly heroic new superteam, only to be revealed as a collection of re-branded supervillains. With the number of morally ambiguous characters like Wyatt Russell’s John Walker and Florence Pugh’s new Black Widow that the MCU has been introducing, it seems likely they could be featured in the Thunderbolts film. 

On the other hand, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier definitely left Wyatt Russell and Sam Wilson in a pretty antagonistic place, which is a built-in hook for Captain America 4. There is no currently released premiere date for the next Captain America movie, and it appears to not be under the movies labeled as Marvel Phase Four films. Wyatt Russell takes a moment to mention that he has lost “every ounce of muscle and physique” he built up to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so he might need a bit of time to bulk back up to take on Anthony Mackie.


Marvel’s Phase Four has come under criticism for lacking a central focus (at least as compared to the previous Thanos-centric narrative), which Kevin Feige has promised is going to get cleared up pretty soon. If part of the clarity is Wyatt Russell appearing in Captain America 4, we are certainly not going to have a problem with it.