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Chris Evans says Robert Downey Jr.'s return made everything "feel right"
The Captain America star says he rejected more than a dozen Marvel comeback pitches over eight years before Robert Downey Jr.'s return and the Russo brothers' pitch finally changed his mind.
- PUBLISHED: Tue 28 Jul 2026, 10:57 AM
Chris Evans has revealed that Robert Downey Jr.'s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was the deciding factor in convincing him to reprise his role as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly at San Diego Comic-Con, Evans said Marvel Studios had been trying to bring him back ever since Avengers: Endgame, but none of the ideas felt like the right fit.
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"When we finished Endgame in 2018, Lou D'Esposito and Kevin Feige took me to dinner, and they were like, 'We'd love to keep doing movies with Steve Rogers as Nomad,'" Evans recalled. "And I said, 'Okay, well, what do you got?'"
Although Marvel presented several ideas over the years, Evans said he wasn't ready to return.
"They showed me a pitch, and it was a great pitch, but for whatever reason, it just didn't feel right at the time," he said. "I wanted to. I was a little precious. I wanted to preserve it. But I just said, 'Please keep pitching.'"
According to Evans, Marvel continued to develop new ideas over the years, but none convinced him to suit up as Captain America again.
"Over the course of eight years, I probably heard at least a dozen pitches, and they were all wonderful. It just never quite felt right."
Everything changed when he learned that Robert Downey Jr. was in talks to return to the MCU.
"I got a phone call from my team saying there's a rumor Robert Downey Jr. is talking to Marvel, and I was like, 'What does this mean?'" Evans said. "And all of a sudden it felt right. Joe Russo gave me the pitch, and Downey was baying. It just all of a sudden it was like, 'This is it.'"
Robert Downey Jr. is set to return to the MCU not as Tony Stark, but as Victor Von Doom, the iconic Marvel villain Doctor Doom, in Avengers: Doomsday. Evans' return as Steve Rogers reunites two of the franchise's most recognizable stars for the first time since Avengers: Endgame.
Despite agreeing to return, Evans said he remains protective of Captain America's legacy and isn't interested in returning simply for the sake of it.
"I guess it's a never-say-never, but certainly not willing to just jump back in for anything because I think everyone here is precious with their role in the universe," he said.
Mariam Alrashdi is a lifestyle and entertainment reporter at Khaleej Times, with a focus on local trends, Emirati culture, and the arts.