Avengers: Infinity War — Yes, Captain America’s beard means something

A grizzled Steve Rogers appeared in the Avengers: Infinity War trailer. Yes, even facial hair signifies something in the overanalyzed, two-minute, 25-second trailer.

As ScreenRant pointed out, Steve Rogers’ fresh beard in the Avengers: Infinity War trailer was one of its most-discussed topics. Not Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet, Vision having the Infinity Stone ripped from his head or Peter Parker’s Spidey-Sense, but the facial hair on the most patriotic Avenger.

At the 1:26 mark, Captain America arrives in the trailer, followed by Black Panther’s now famous line, “Get this man a shield!” It’s Cap’s first Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance since the end of Captain America: Civil War, when he broke his fellow Avengers, who fought with him in the airport fight scene, out of their holding cells and took off to Wakanda. He appeared with Black Panther and the Winter Soldier before the film closed.

Rogers is still considered a criminal, given everything he did in Civil War. So, by the time Infinity War hits theaters, he’ll be in hiding for two years (if the movie plays to the exact timeline). That potentially means he never suited up in that span, staying out of sight and in the darkness. Thus his arrival out of the shadows, with a full mustache, beard and all.

Though, if Captain America only dropped Bucky off in Wakanda and left, where did he go? Maybe we learn in Black Panther that he’s in T’Challa’s country, but nowhere to be found, only to appear out of the shadows in Infinity War. New York City is another option but might be too open of a setting for Steve, even if Tony Stark held the phone he was delivered near the end of Civil War.

The beard tells a fascinating story about Rogers’ two-year journey, wherever he may have ended up, and something Avengers: Infinity War could uncover. That may happen in Wakanda, which we know he teams with Black Panther, Okoye, Black Widow, Hulk, Bucky, War Machine and an army of Wakandans against what’s presumably Thanos’s group. So, Cap will reconnect with a handful of faces he hasn’t seen in a few years, maybe break out the shield and be a “Nomad.”

If “Nomad” sounds familiar, it’s a comic arc and nickname Rogers took. Due to government corruption, he dropped the “Captain America” moniker and took on the “Nomad” title. The situation differs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as he refused to sign the Sokovia Accords, assisted Bucky and broke his friends out of prison, but it was all against the government’s desires and made him into a criminal.

So, expect this new moniker to be name-dropped at least once in Infinity War. Chris Evans’ character certainly doesn’t look like the clean-shaven, All-American hero from the previous seven years (by the time this movie airs), so he could be in disguise and far away from the United States for most, if not all of this MCU blockbuster.

Next: 50 greatest super heroes in comic book history

Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4, 2018.