Chris Evans Prepares for Life After Captain America

Like an aging, veteran quarterback walking away on his own terms — after a Super Bowl victory in his final season — it appears that Chris Evans‘ time as Captain America, leader of The Avengers team, is going to come to a close with him going out on top. But only after the two biggest box office wins in Marvel history, of course.

In an interview with the New York Times, Evans said that he is done filming his scenes, baring re-shoots, for the sequel to Avengers: Infinity War. It is the last of his contractually obligated movies for the Marvel Cinematic Universe; it may also be his last in the red, white, and blue.

“You want to get off the train before they push you off,” he said.

Evans has been the the catalyst for expansion in the super hero genre since he first appeared in the 2011 release of Captain America: The First Avenger and has had played a role in every subsequent year for nearly a decade since.

He was a central piece in Marvel’s The Avengers (2012); had a brief appearance in Thor: The Dark World (2013), before starring in Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). He made an appearance in the post-credit scene in Ant-Man (2015); lead the way in Captain America: Civil War (2016) and then had another brief appearance in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). Evans will soon be in Avengers: Infinity War on April 27, 2018 and then reprising the role again in the currently untitled sequel for 2019.

The incredible rise to stardom from his early days as just a pretty face with an impressive physique — yes, Jake Wyler from Not Another Teen Movie!, we remember you — to an ill-fated entrance in the genre as Johnny Storm in 2005’s Fantastic Four, has not been lost on Evans as he reflects back on what was, while also looking ahead to future projects.

He told the paper that he was neither anxious nor concerned about what comes next for him, even as it may mean retiring his shield.

“I used to have thoughts of wanting to climb to the top of something, or wanting to be somebody,” he said. “But when you get the thing that you think you want and then you wake up and realize that you still have pockets of sadness, and that your struggle will reinvent itself, you stop chasing after those things and it is liberating, because you realize that right here, right now, is exactly all I need.”