Chris Evans Reveals Why He Was Initially Hesitant To Play Captain America

Along with Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans has become somewhat of a poster boy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Having played Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, as well as the two Avengers movies, Evans has undoubtedly established himself as a Hollywood powerhouse. In a recent interview with the Telegraph, however, Evans revealed that he was initially afraid to take the role of Captain America.

The 35-year-old actor officially joined the MCU seven years ago back in 2010. The then 28-year-old Evans signed a deal that would have him appear in a total of six Marvel movies as Captain America. This included both solo as well as ensemble films, such as the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War. Ironically, this was the exact reason why Evans was hesitant to take the role of the superhero at first. In the interview, Evans explained that he was afraid that the movies would turn out to be a massive success and that he would have to actually commit to the role long term.

“One of my biggest fears was that the movies were going to be good. Because if things worked out, I’d have to do all six of them. And at the time, that was the most terrifying aspect of it. That it was going to be so dominating, all-encompassing.”

Captain America wasn’t Evans’s first superhero role, though. The actor previously appeared in 2005’s Fantastic Four, as well as its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, in which he portrayed the Human Torch, also known as Johnny Storm. Both films were met with mixed reviews and had lackluster performances at the box office.

Now that the MCU is one of, if not the hottest movie franchise in Hollywood, Evans’s fears certainly have become reality. Regardless, the actor insists that he is proud of his work in the MCU films and has no regrets about joining the Marvel family. And while he did praise the Captain America films, Evans also admitted that he missed the organic and intimate feel of “a smaller film.” The actor even went as far as comparing the Marvel film sets to giant factories and claimed that he and his fellow co-stars were idle for a good chunk of the time. Superhero films, of course, consist of a huge amount of logistically complex action sequences that take a lot of time to shoot and require the involvement of numerous crew members. As such, it isn’t too much of a surprise when Evans revealed that the cast and crew usually only get “through two pages per day” on a film like Captain America.

“Those Captain America movies are great, and I’m proud of every one of them, but on set they’re giant f______ factories, and we spend a lot of time sitting around.”

In contrast, Evans says that working on a film like Gifted actually made him feel like he “got to act.” Looking at Evans’s filmography, the actor has truly had a good mixture of both blockbuster and what he refers to as smaller movies. In fact, Evans has done well not to have fallen victim to typecasting. Even his first superhero portrayal as the cocky Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, was the complete opposite to his heroic and upright Captain America.

Evans will once again reprise his role as Captain America in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. He will also appear in the fourth and, as of now, untitled Avengers movie, which is set to hit the big screens in 2019. With many fans speculating that Captain America might end up dying in one of the upcoming films, it remains to be seen whether Marvel Studios will extend Evans’s contract and what will happen to his character.

[Featured Image by Marvel Studios and Disney]