Chris Evans Would Prefer Another Marvel Return Over Captain America

What does the future hold for Chris Evans and the Marvel Cinematic Universe? If rumors are true, the actor has been ready to suit up as Captain America again for over a year. He himself has denied that, and Marvel Studios doesn’t address rumors, but in a new interview the man behind the shield warmed up to an even more unorthodox return to the MCU.

Back in 2005, years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe would truly take off, Evans plays Johnny Storm, one of the members of the Fantastic Four, in a Fantastic Four movie. He then reprised the role in 2007’s sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer which, again, predated the current MCU. However, with Phase Four now in full swing and the multiverse opening up infinite possibilities, we’ve already seen several actors return as their pre-MCU roles (such as Patrick Stewart as Professor X in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home) so Evans was asked about not returning as Cap, but returning as Johnny.

“Look, I would love it. I would love it,” Evans said to MTV News. “ That would actually be an easier sell to me than coming back as Cap. You know what I mean? Cap is so precious to me. And you know, I almost don’t wanna disrupt what a beautiful experience that was. But Johnny Storm, I feel like he didn’t really get his day. That was before Marvel really found its footing. So, I loved that role and, you know, who knows?”

As fun as the idea sounds though, there are two big issues. One, there’s a Fantastic Four movie already in the works and two, no one has ever asked Evans about it. “God, wouldn’t that be great?” Evans added. “ No, no one’s ever come to me about that. I mean, I don’t exactly look the same anymore. That was 15, almost 20 years ago. Oh my God, I’m old. But I really love that character, but I think… aren’t they doing something now with Fantastic Four?” Here’s the full interview, with the above quotes about 8 minutes in.

Having played Captain America through several movies and multiple years, Evans is very seasoned when it comes to answering these kinds of questions. That said, the fact he’s so willing to entertain this possibility is almost proof itself that it would never happen. It seems much more plausible we’d see him as Captain America returning all the Infinity Stones, or in some capacity in the story of the new Captain America, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). Especially because he’s not talking about those things. But hey, why not both?

Evans can currently be heard in Pixar’s Lightyear. We’ll next see him in Netflix’s The Gray Man, directed by his Avengers: Endgame directors, the Russos Brothers.

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