Chris Evans Loved Captain America Right Away | Screen Rant
After turning down the role multiple times, Chris Evans says he quickly fell in love playing Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Chris Evans quickly fell in love playing Steve Rogers/Captain America in the MCU. After almost a decade of playing the character, the actor finally retired from the gig but not before passing the shield at the end of Avengers: Endgame to Anthony Mackie, whose Sam Wilson will be the next Captain America. However, as fans wait for Marvel Studios to move forward with Phase 4, which has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, fans are looking back at the Infinity Saga and Evans' recent comments are making them more nostalgic.
Joe and Anthony Russo's Endgame was the culmination of MCU's overarching narrative starting from 2008 via Jon Favreau's Iron Man. It also marked the final chapter for some of the universe's founding members including Steve, who may have not ended up dying but decided to retire from his superhero gig. The Super Soldier got the happy ending, returning to the 40s to reunite and live a full life with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Evans was so effective in the role but had things turned out differently, he may have not been in the MCU.
Speaking with THR's Awards Chatter Podcast while promoting his new Apple TV+'s project, Defending Jacob, the actor looked back at his stint as the MCU's Captain America, including the part where he almost missed the role. Evans has been vocal about turning down the gig multiple times because he's afraid of the multi-film contract that will tie him to the part among other fears. However, he's happy to announce that none of those issues came to fruition, in fact, he loved playing the part immediately.
It was the best decision I’ve ever made, and I really owe that to [Marvel chief] Kevin Feige for being persistent and helping me avoid making a giant mistake. To be honest, all the things that I was fearing never really came to fruition. I fell in love with Steve Rogers pretty quick.
Marvel Studios saw other actors for the role as Evans continued to turn them down. Those who were considered for the part included John Krasinski and Daredevil season 3 actor Wilson Bethel. However, Feige and his team just had their sights set on the actor. They even recruited Robert Downey Jr. to reach out to Evans and amended his initial contract in the hopes of potentially changing his mind. The actor's mom also motivated her son to take on the gig given how earnest Marvel Studios was in recruiting him. Evans' initial apprehension playing Captain America is understandable considering his less than ideal experience playing Johnny Storm in Fox's Fantastic Four films in the mid-2000s. At this point, everyone is just happy that he ultimately took the risk, resulting in one of the best superhero runs on the big screen in general.
Casting has always been a strong point for the MCU, and it plays a big role in their success with the franchise's characters functioning as its backbone. Fans continue to watch Marvel movies because they are fully invested in the heroes' journeys with the actors' playing them effectively portraying their respective parts. It's difficult to imagine any other actor playing Captain America considering how well Evans did in the past decade. Fortunately, he decided to change his mind, otherwise, people may have a very different opinion about the character.
Source: THR