Hanging up Captain America’s shield after a decade of Marvel movies was a weight on Chris Evans’ shoulders both figuratively and literally.
“I’ve lost about 15 pounds,” Evans told Us at a recent press event for his new Disney-Pixar animated spinoff. Light year. “Every time people see me they’re like, ‘Are you okay? You lost a little weight. I didn’t have to hit the gym that hard.
Evans was in top form through seven starring roles in Marvel Cinematic Universe entries, starting in 2011 Captain America: The First Avenger and ending on a bittersweet note as his once-frozen 1918-born super-soldier Steve Rogers finally ages gracefully into an old man in 2019 Avengers: Endgame.
“You know, it’s different,” Evans says of life after Cape Town. “For 10 years, you always have a movie around the corner. For 10 years you finish one, your life is programmed by, ‘OK, in six months we have the press, six more months we start the next movie.’
“To kind of have some open waters… there are parts that are enjoyable, and there are parts that I really, really miss because it was a role that meant a lot to me. And I love these people. And it will be the best 10 years of my professional life without a doubt, forever.
Captain America, however, will live on in the MCU. Anthony Mackie – Evans’ friend who long played Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, in the film series, picked up the baton to much fanfare in last year’s Disney+ streaming series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
“Nobody better to do it,” Evans tells us. “I mean he does him justice and I’m so proud of him and can’t wait to see what they do with him in the future.”
A fourth Captain America movie starring Mackie is reportedly in the works at Marvel, which will be scripted by Falcon and the Winter Soldier writer/creator Malcolm Spellman and series writer Dalan Musson.
Light year opens Friday in theaters.
Watch the trailer:
