Chris Evans handed over the shield of Steve Rogers/Captain America in 2019 with his appearance in Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Endgame” marking the end of almost a decade of playing the character.
The result will see the upcoming “Captain America: New World Order,” the fourth film in that particular franchise, being the first without him as Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson/Falcon takes over as Captain America.
Even so, every now and then Evans still gets asked if he would consider a return to the role – we are in the Marvel multiverse after all with multiple incarnations of characters popping up, so an alternative universe Steve Rogers is hardly out of the question.
Speaking in a long interview with GQ this week, Evans was asked about the possibility of a Marvel Cinematic Universe return and from the sounds of it, he is in no hurry to go back to the role:
“Yeah, maybe. I’ll never say never, just because it was such a wonderful experience. But I’m also very precious with it. It’s something that I am very proud of. And like I said, sometimes I can’t believe it even happened. And I wouldn’t want the black eye if it felt like a cash grab or if it didn’t live up to expectations or if it just felt like it wasn’t connected to that original thing. So, no time soon.”
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate the time he had with the role, in fact he goes on to discuss how lucky he was to be a part of that period:
“You kind of feel like you were just lucky enough to go along for the ride. 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.
That was the beauty of working on Marvel films. You never really had to be front and center. Even in your own films sometimes. Quentin Tarantino said it recently, and I was like, you know, he’s right. The character is the star. You’re there, but you don’t feel the burden of it.”
Evans left the MCU whilst in its glory days, his exit coming as Marvel’s fourth and current fifth phase has seen both critical and box-office drops suggesting the shine has come off the MCU to some extent.
Evans also says he plans to act less regularly in the future, saying: “It’s really about: What time of year are we filming? Am I gonna miss autumn? You know, I don’t want to miss autumn. I only have so many of them. I could make furniture for nobody & be happy.”
Evans can soon be seen in David Yates’ “Pain Hustlers” film which hits cinemas on October 20th and Netflix on October 27th.
