Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige Compares Chris Evans' Captain America To Christopher Reeve's Superman

Throughout the course of the 17 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the series of movies has, at times, struggled to accurately depict its beloved characters. Possibly the MCU's greatest and most reliable asset is Chris Evans' Captain America, with each of his appearances heightening a movie. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige revealed how much he can rely on Evans for wholly embodying the character in the way Christopher Reeve did in his Superman films.

"He's a reluctant star, but I think he's become—and I've said this to him—for as amazing as all of our actors are at embodying these characters, every single one of them, he's one that reminds me, alongside Christopher Reeve, as just like 'these are the characters,'" Feige told Vanity Fair.

Separating the character from the actor might be a difficult task after Evans has appeared in six films as Captain America, but Feige wasn't always so sure he was the right man for the job.

"Casting Captain America was super hard. I started to think, 'Are we not going to be able to find Captain America, and if we can't, what are we going to do with Avengers? Is the whole thing going to fall apart?'" Feige confessed. "And, then, finally opening ourselves up to Chris Evans, who we had initially sort of just looked past because he was Johnny Storm in a Fantastic Four franchise. Then, bringing him in and showing him the artwork, showing him what was happening in this movie, and he took a weekend to decide."

Coincidentally, Evans isn't the only character to have portrayed the Human Torch in a Fantastic Four film to eventually make his way into the MCU. Michael B. Jordan starred as Johnny Storm in 2015's Fantastic 4 and will make his MCU debut in next year's Black Panther as Killmonger.

Now that Evans has become an integral facet of the MCU, Feige points out that the distinction between his on-screen persona and real-life personality is hard to differentiate.

"I think he's a great actor, and I think he can do whatever he wants to do, but even when you look at his Twitter account and taking a stand on things, it's like, 'Is he becoming Captain America?'" Feige points out. "Which I think is great. People forget that we started filming Avengers before either Thor or Captain America were released. What if people hated Thor? What if people thought Loki was ridiculous? What if people didn't buy this super soldier frozen in ice? We were in the first quarter of production on a giant movie at that time, and we weren't going to stop. It was sort of all in at that point."

Captain America will next be seen in Avengers: Infinity War, which hits theaters on May 4, 2018.

[H/T Vanity Fair]