Chris Evans Initially Turned Down the Captain America Role

Imagine a world where Chris Evans did not play Captain America. It's hard to do, borderline impossible. And yet, that's the world we were almost living in.

In a recent interview with GQ, the actor revealed he originally turned down the Captain America role, saying "no a few times before he said yes. Negotiated down the commitment, in terms of how many movies he was going to owe Marvel."

While Evans has quite the lineup of acting credits, there's no question that his acting in the MCU is what he is known best for, completely changing his fame trajectory had he stayed adamant about not taking on the character. This then leaves the question: Why would he say no in the first place?

"I was really apprehensive about taking the role initially," 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."

In terms of looking at the pros and cons of saying yes, he said, "The pros were that I’d be able to take care of my family forever; the cons were that I would become deeply, deeply unhappy with fame and loss of control."

As we all know, he ultimately decided to put on the suit, a decision he doesn't regret. 

"I love playing that role," he said. "I feel connected to it in a way that when you revisit a character so many times you can’t help but try to absorb some of their traits and measure yourself against them."

The Avengers movies, their spin-offs, and the MCU franchise would forever change Hollywood and completely set the bar for any future superhero movie. Reflecting on the part he had played in all that, Evans felt gratitude to be a part of the journey, though he does not see himself as the central player to it all.

"You kind of feel like you were just lucky enough to go along for the ride," he said. "It’s like winning the Super Bowl, but you weren’t Tom Brady. I mean, you were on the team. You might have had a couple good plays, but it’s not your victory to own. You are a part of it, which is wonderful. And you’re a part of a cultural phenomenon."

Following his successful run with Marvel, Evans took on a few other projects, including Pain Hustlers (2023), Red One (2023), and The Gray Man (2022) — the latter of which co-starred Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, and Rege-Jean Page.

This year, Evans hasn't taken on any new roles, a choice he intentionally made after being booked and busy in 2022. "I haven’t worked all year and I don’t plan to, which has been lovely," he told GQ.

Even then, he's still managed to make headlines as he recently said "I do" to his now-wife Alba Baptista during a private wedding ceremony. The intimate affair was kept on the down-low as guests reportedly had to sign NDAs and couldn't use their phones. Beyond family and friends, celebrity attendees included Evans' Marvel co-stars such as Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, and Jeremy Renner.