Chris Evans break silence on ‘Avengers: Doomsday' comeback

Chris Evans did not rush back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe–he made Marvel work for it.

Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con, the actor revealed that returning as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday was not a snap decision. 

In fact, he spent years saying "not yet" despite Marvel repeatedly trying to lure him back after Avengers: Endgame.

“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?’”

The ideas kept coming–but none felt like the perfect fit.

“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 kind of wanted to… I was a little precious. I wanted to preserve it. But I just said, ‘Please keep pitching.’”

That patience paid off.

“Over the course of eight years, I probably heard at least a dozen pitches,” Evans said. “And they were all wonderful. It just never quite felt right.”

Everything changed after one unexpected phone call.

“I got a phone call from my team saying there’s a rumor [Robert Downey Jr. is] talking to Marvel, and I was like, ‘Uh, oh. What does this mean?’” Evans shared.

“And all of a sudden it felt right. [Doomsday co-director Joe Russo] gave me the pitch, and Downey was baying. It just all of a sudden… it was like, ‘This is it.’”

Even with his return confirmed, Evans insists he won’t suit up just 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.