MCU: Chris Evans Reveals Why He Initially Hesitated to Play Captain America

There’s a whole roster of actors that went through the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. Some of them became worldwide-known stars thanks to their MCU roles. One of them is Chris Evans, who rose to fame thanks to the role of Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, which he played between 2011 and 2019. It’s not that Evans wasn’t known before he played Captain America, but if you show Evans’ picture to anyone and ask them to guess who he is, a good amount of people will tell you: “That’s the guy that played Captain America.”

Evans started his career in the early 2000s by starring in teen movies. In 2005, he gained attention for his role as Johnny Storm, aka Human Torch, in Fox’s ‘Fantastic Four’ movie and its sequel ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’ in 2007. Fox’s franchise didn’t live to see the threequel, but Evans was given another shot to play an iconic Marvel character when he debuted as Steve Rogers in 2011’s ‘Captain America: The First Avenger.’

Chris Evans reveals why he almost refused to play Captain America.

Although the role of Captain America eventually rose him to worldwide fame, it’s known that Evans almost refused to play the role until ‘Iron Man’ star Robert Downey Jr. convinced him to sign the contract. The thing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that main actors usually sign multi-picture contracts, which can oblige them to make six or seven movies, which can be pretty scary for actors because signing such a contract makes them commit to the franchise for a very long time.

Evans recently revealed he had that same worry when he was first approached to play Captain America.

“The biggest thing I was worried about was making shitty fucking movies. I don’t want to make shitty movies and be contractually obligated to make garbage.”

Chris Evans (via Vanity Fair)

At that time, no one knew that the MCU could become a cultural phenomenon, and Marvel Studios initially offered him a six-picture contract. Evans eventually agreed, and the movies he appeared in are among the best MCU movies today, particularly 2014’s ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and 2018’s ‘Avengers: Infinity War.’

2019’s ‘Avengers: Endgame’ marked Evans’ last appearance as Steve Rogers, who, after returning Infinity Stones to their right places in the timeline, decided to go back to his time and live a happy life with Peggy Carter. Steve Rogers passed his shield to Sam Wilson, who became the new Captain America in 2021’s Disney+ series ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.’ Anthony Mackie will return as the new Captain America in next year’s ‘Captain America: Brave New World.’

Since he finished his MCU journey, Evans starred in 2019’s ‘Knives Out,’ 2020’s Apple TV+ series ‘Defending Jacob,’ 2022’s The Gray Man and 2023’s ‘Ghosted.’ He also voiced Buzz Lightyear in 2022’s ‘Lightyear.’ His upcoming projects are Netflix’s ‘Pain Hustlers’ and Amazon’s ‘Red One.’

Do you miss Chris Evans as Captain America? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

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