Chris Evans Shares Why He Left the MCU Behind
For any Hollywood actor, the chance of playing one of the world’s most iconic superheroes is a big break they can only dream of. This opportunity can change your career and make you a household name.
This reality didn’t stop Chris Evans, who played Marvel’s Captain America for nearly a decade, from walking away from his impressive multi-million-dollar contract.
The 42-year-old actor undoubtedly did justice to his role and became one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actors. He burst onto the scene in Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011 and bid farewell to his role after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, the highest-grossing super film of all time.
In his cover profile with GQ Magazine, to be released this October, the actor reflected on this major decision affecting his career and personal life. He also talked about finally hanging up his superhero costume and the possibility of turning his back on Hollywood.
Chris said, “I was really apprehensive about taking the role initially. 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.”
The highly successful actor, who also starred in the Snowpiercer movie in 2013 and the upcoming release Pain Hustlers with Emily Blunt in 2023, shared how he had begun questioning and asking himself if being an actor was really what he should be doing.
He also admitted that as his career started skyrocketing, so did his anxiety. According to Chris, there were moments when he felt that the pressure on him became almost crippling. This is one reason he decided to leave Los Angeles and return to where he grew up in Boston, Massachusetts.
After this move, Chris was still full of questions. One he shared was, “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.”
Furthering pondering his decision, he said, “[It] takes me back to a place when life was not just simpler—that’s too reductive—but to a time where I was more pure, I guess; where my ego and my insecurities weren’t such a dominant force that I had to push against.”
Not many people know this, but Chris nearly quit acting because of his severe anxiety, which was escalated by the blockbuster Marvel film franchise he was part of.
In the same interview, Chris was asked the multi-dollar question of whether he would ever come back as Captain America and to the Marvel Universe. The actor said, “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.”
Continuing, “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.”
