Chris Evans agrees that Marvel movies aren’t about the actors, is okay with that

Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino is among the many members of the cinematic old guard who have a distaste for the modern blockbuster machine, the one that churns out 30 movies about superheroes a year and that often pushes new voices and stories out of the room.

Among Tarantino’s complaints is that he thinks Marvel movies have eroded the idea of the movie star. “Part of the Marvel-isation of Hollywood is you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” he said on Tom Segura’s 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast. “But they’re not movie stars, right? Captain America is the star. Thor is the star…[I]t’s these franchise characters [that] become a star.”

"Back in 2005, if an actor stars in a movie that does as good as the Marvel movies do, then that guy’s an absolute star. It means people dig him or her and they like them and want to see them in stuff. Sandra Bullock is in Speed and everyone thought she’s amazing in it. Everyone fell in love with her … They were excited by Sandra Bullock and wanted to see her in something else. That’s not the case now. We want to see that guy [keep] playing Wolverine or whatever."

I agree with Tarantino here. It’s not that there aren’t movie stars anymore — Keanu Reeves, Ryan Reynolds and the Rock come to mind — but Hollywood does puts more of an emphasis on IP these days than it does the actors bringing that IP to life.

Chris Evans agrees with Quentin Tarantino’s critique of Marvel movies, but sees an upside

So things are different, but different doesn’t necessarily mean bad. Just ask Chris Evans, the man who played Captain America. Speaking to GQ, he cosigned Tarantino’s opinion, but he sees an upside to it:

"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 also says that, before he accepted the role of Captain American, he was afraid that he “would become deeply, deeply unhappy with fame and loss of control.” He’s “happy to be in an ensemble.” It makes sense that someone of Evans’ temperament would be okay with becoming famous for his association with a specific character rather than as a movie star in the old mold, where the public cares just as much or more about your personal life as your work.

That said, not everyone agrees that Marvel actors aren’t “movie stars” in the classic sense. For instance, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige thinks Evans is fooling himself.  “I think it’s something he was telling himself, and I think it’s something many of the Avengers, including Robert [Downey Jr.], would tell themselves, which actually was very helpful to the process,” Feige said. “But in certain cases, including Chris’s, it’s not entirely true.”

It’s true that Evans has done well since outside his role as Captain America; his role in 2019’s Knives Out comes to mind. He’s a gainfully employed working actor. But it’s also true that people seem more interested in seeing him return as Captain American than they do whatever solo project he has coming up next.

Would Chris Evans play Captain America again? “Yeah, maybe”

Speaking of returning as Captain America, Evans is open to it…in theory. “Yeah, maybe,” he 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. 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.”

"Ultimately, I really hope to just maybe act a little bit less in my life. I have a lot of other interests. Look, by no means have I climbed any sort of a mountain in this field. I have no Oscars and I’m not lumped with other names that are at the top of the mountain in any way. But I also feel very satisfied."

Evans is still appearing in stuff, including the romantic action-adventure comedy Ghosted, which came out on Apple TV+ earlier this year. He’ll also reprise his role as Lucas Lee in the Scott Pilgrim animated series.

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