“I just wasn’t sure”: Why Was Chris Evans Unsure About Joining $29B MCU as Captain America Before Becoming the Face of the Franchise?
Having stepped into show business in 1997, Chris Evans started getting attention following his portrayal of the Marvel Comics character Johnny Storm aka Human Torch in the superhero movie Fantastic Four which was released in 2005. He gained worldwide recognition for his role as Steve Rogers aka Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Captain America: The First Avenger.
Chris Evans reprised his character Captain America in several MCU films, establishing his name as an A-lister in Hollywood. He was one of the most beloved characters of the MCU and many mourned his departure from the franchise after his final appearance in Avengers: Endgame. Evans once doubted if he was the right for the iconic role of the shield-wielding superhero. Now, however, it is hard to even so much as imagine someone else playing that role.
Chris Evans Almost Declined To Portray Captain America
The MCU’s Captain America: The First Avenger was released to mostly positive reviews and grossed $370.6 million worldwide. The film introduced one of the six original Avengers. Chris Evans who played the titular character in this movie had declined the offer three times before finally agreeing to sign a six-movie deal with Marvel.
In an interview with GQ, Evans explained why he kept trying to avoid doing the role. He said:
“I remember in my late 20s having a real shift in how I felt on set, how I felt promoting films: a little more anxiety, a little more uncertainty. You always end up questioning, Is this what I should be doing?… I just wasn’t sure if I was moving closer to myself or further away. And something inside me kept saying that I was getting further away—that something about this industry wasn’t healthy.”
Chris Evans was not too far from the truth, he had an inkling of what this industry can do to a person. While the pros of being famous in show business are numerous, the cons are not something that can be ignored. The constant media scrutiny and invasion of personal space is not something any celebrity has appreciated. So, while the Gifted star was not entirely wrong, it’s good to see how far he has come from there.
Chris Evans Was The Perfect Captain America
Casting Captain America turned out to be an incredibly tough task for Marvel. From The Office‘s John Krasinski to Parks and Recreation‘s Chris Pratt, no one felt the right fit for playing the character, and when the studio finally found the right fit, the actor refused to even audition for the role.
According to Vanity Fair, Marvel casting director Finn believed that Evans was the perfect Steve Rogers because not only he was American but also charming, affable, and funny. She went on to say:
“But then beyond the obvious qualities, I think there were the other ones that were a little harder to discern: his humility, the sense that he had a moral compass, that he was very relatable. He has this vulnerability as well as strength, so we could take him from skinny Steve to Captain America.”
When the Ghosted actor kept refusing, the studio got Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. to ring him up. Downey assured Evans that the fame that this role would bring him would be beneficial for his career as it would attract more studios to cast him.
Source: GQ, Vanity Fair
