With Captain America: Brave New World, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson finally gets to become the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newest Captain America on the big screen. Wilson follows a theatrical cinema legacy defined heavily by Chris Evans as the last Captain America, Steve Rogers. Evans played this figure not only in the Avengers movies but a trio of solo Captain America films that turned this patriotic crime-fighter into a modern household name. Just as Mackie is now inseparable from Wilson, Evans and his irony-free approach to Rogers was a critical component to making Captain America work.
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Before a fresh era of Captain America cinema begins with Brave New World, it’s important to remember that Evans wasn’t always destined to play Captain America. On the contrary, the role of Steve Rogers/Captain America was an incredibly difficult one to cast. Kevin Feige and other Marvel Studios brass have spun many yarns about the endless challenges found in finding the right person to bring the iconic Avenger to life. Below are just five of the many people who auditioned to play Cap well over a decade before Brave New World was even thought up.
John Krasinski

Among the many names explored for Captain America was John Krasinski, who has imparted many stories over the years about his audition process for this character. Specifically, Krasinski’s enthusiasm for this part allegedly evaporated when, while auditioning for Captain America, he ran into Chris Hemsworth. This bulky Australian was so far removed from Krasinski’s physicality that this Office veteran immediately realized this part was not right for him.
Garrett Hedlund

At the dawn of the 2010s, Tron: Legacy Garrett Hedlund was on the rise as an in-demand leading man. This was crystallized when reports emerged that Hedlund was one of the three finalists for the Captain America role, along with Evans. After Evans secured his second major Marvel Comics role, Hedlund revealed that he’d been repeatedly offered Captain America but kept passing on it. Scheduling conflicts were the primary reason, but Hedlund also felt he didn’t need to play another blockbuster hero thanks to his Tron: Legacy role. Clearly Evans, despite already playing Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, didn’t feel the same way!
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Zachary Levi

Long before a solo Shazam! movie was on anyone’s radar, Zachary Levi auditioned for the role of Captain America. With his NBC program Chuck still on the air at this point, taking on Captain America could’ve been a big opportunity for Levi to strut his stuff as a theatrical cinema leading man. This role didn’t work out, though that didn’t stop Levi from trying to get his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He would later take on the part of Fandral in Thor: The Dark World and tried his hand at auditioning for Star-Lord when Guardians of the Galaxy came around a few years later. It would take leaping over to DC, though, for Levi to finally headline a superhero movie blockbuster.
Channing Tatum

Channing Tatum certainly looks like he’d be the result of a scientific experiment to produce the perfect human specimen. No wonder, then, that Tatum was a major figure that Marvel Studios pursued for Captain America. No reason was ever given for why Tatum passed on the role, but it almost certainly had to do with salary. Evans only got paid $300,000 for headlining The First Avenger. Considering, by the time The First Avenger was casting, Tatum had headlined major box office hits like Dear John, there’s no way this beefcake was going to take such a paltry salary, even if he did look like a dead-ringer for The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan.
Dane Cook

Marvel Studios has famously found superheroes in comedic leading men like Paul Rudd and Chris Pratt. However, the concept of Dane Cook playing Captain America sounds like a bridge too far even with all those other comedy cinema veterans in the MCU. Rather than being some joke, Cook did indeed audition for the Captain America role. In fact, Cook publicly revealed on social media in early 2010 that he’d bulked up specifically to audition for this superhero. This got him into so much trouble with the deeply secretive folks at Marvel Studios that Cook sent them a letter apologizing for his snafu. Unsurprisingly, the Good Luck Chuck leading man never got to throw that famous shield around at Nazis.
Captain America: The First Avenger is now streaming on Disney+, Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on February 14.