'I Had to Lie': Chris Evans Reveals How Marvel Kept His Avengers: Doomsday Filming Secret, And His On-Set Codename
Chris Evans has described how Marvel kept Steve Rogers' return in Avengers: Doomsday a secret during filming, via the use of a codename that fans got a whiff of last year.
Speaking during Fan Expo Boston, Evans said that his then-secret filming for Avengers: Doomsday was kept successfully hidden, though admitted having to lie during press interviews for his A24 romantic comedy Materialists.
"When we filmed in London, I rented a house an hour away from the studio, the other direction from London," Evans began, as revealed by X / Twitter user @drdoomarchive. Here, he is likely discussing the period last summer when shooting took place in London's Great Windsor Park, where the house we saw him living during the finale of Endgame was rebuilt.
"We were in the middle of nowhere. We'd go to set, [then] home. Set, home," Evans continued. "When we were on set, they changed — within the script — my character was called Luke Cage just in case things leaked. Callsheets, I was called Luke Cage. Even on set, if I was going to set, they'd be like [mimics speaking into a walkie talkie] 'Luke Cage is travelling.'"
If that name sounds familiar (other than the obvious reason), then that's likely because you remember IGN's report last summer stating that a set named "Luke Cage's house" had been identified as part of a filming leak. Rather than the location being linked to the actual Marvel hero Luke Cage, however, this was indeed Steve Rogers' house all along. (Ironically, of course, Luke Cage has now also returned to the MCU after popping up again in Daredevil: Born Again.)
New look at the 1960s-style ‘Luke Cage’ house on the ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ set!Captain Marvel’s ship will soon be built and attached to the set.(via: https://t.co/3jACkZkvS3) pic.twitter.com/rs1TzWAHnV— Avengers Updates (@AvengersUpdated) June 22, 2025
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New look at the 1960s-style ‘Luke Cage’ house on the ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ set!Captain Marvel’s ship will soon be built and attached to the set.(via: https://t.co/3jACkZkvS3) pic.twitter.com/rs1TzWAHnV
"It was such a locked down thing," Evans concluded. "And y'know it was tricky because I had to do press for Materialists, and people would ask me 'Are you in [Doomsday]?' and I had to lie."
Evans' involvement in Doomsday was finally revealed officially in the first of several short teasers for the film, confirming that he would return to the role of Steve Rogers — now a father. Earlier this week, Evans revealed that Steve Rogers was in for a "brutal" time in Avengers: Doomsday, when it arrives on December 16, 2026.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social