Why Chris Evans Will Rock As Captain America

For years comic fans have been debating who would be called to play the iconic role of Captain America in a major motion picture. Many were hoping that the task would fall to Brad Pitt, one of the most iconic American actors of the last 20 years. Others always expected that, no matter what, it would be a big name star; a Hollywood A-lister with oodles of work under their belt and a huge fan following. When Marvel announced last week that the role would instead be played by a relatively new actor named Chris Evans, comic fans were both surprised – and relieved.

To date, Evans hasn’t really done anything incredibly noteworthy. He hasn’t won any awards or starred in a film that he had to carry all on his own. Captain America is his break-out role. If he can do this, and does it well, his career will be set for the next 10 years. People already know Evans can play funny. His work in Fantastic Four is evidence enough of that. What few people know is that Evans can also do drama – and do it really damn well.

Chris’s work in Danny Boyle’s science fiction classic Sunshine puts him in a much different light. He plays the character Mace with the same cocky attitude you see in Johnny Storm, but there’s also something deeper and darker going on. Mace is a true asshole and Evans makes you hate him, right up until his moment of heroism and salvation. That is the Chris Evans I want to see play Captain America.

I have no doubt that Evans will play the Captain’s alter ego Steve Rogers well. The sickly and meek Rogers is a character that’s easy enough to play. How he chooses to play Captain America is an entirely different animal. The Captain can’t be as brooding as Batman or as goofy as Iron Man. He must be on an even keel. Despite the fact that Evans wasn’t a fan of comics growing up (see the video section for our interview with Evans for Push) I think he’s got what it takes. If there’s anything I’m worried about it’s the interpretation of Captain America that Evans will have to portray.

On the screenwriting side of things, the first Narnia film was praised for sticking close to the canon of the book, and the second was labeled as too scary and violent for kiddies. To me the writers of those movies sound like a great team to be writing a comic book film; and that’s exactly who we’re getting. I have faith that whatever Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus created will be well written.

The real problem that Captain America faces is the vision of its director Joe Johnston. The last decent movie Johnston helmed was 1995’s Jumanji. A few people found something to like in 2001’s Jurassic Park III, but it was far from memorable, and none of Johnston’s work to date could be considered as good as The Dark Knight or Iron Man. That being said, none of his movies could ever be called terrible. He gets a pass on The Wolfman since you could argue that he came into the project when it was already a mess, but at its very worst his body of work could be called typical.

Here’s hoping that between Evans’ talent and the Narnia brothers script-work Captain America will be a film worth watching. After all, there’s really only one sin they could commit that would ruin the movie for all time… putting lightning bolt antlers on the Cap’s helmet.