Of all the leading Hollywood Chrises—Hemsworth, Evans, Pine, and Pratt—Evans likely sits at either number one or two, depending on who you ask. I’m Australian, so it would be categorically un-Australian of me to not put Hemsworth in pole position, but Evans comes in a very, very close second. Reasons for this are as follows: his infectious laugh, his obsession with his fur-son Dodger, he doesn’t hesitate to call out conservatives on social media, plus he just seems like a genuinely nice guy who is grateful and humbled by all his success.
He makes some pretty great movies too. Some that will go down in history as the biggest blockbusters of all time, like those in the Avengers franchise, in which he plays Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, but also some heartwarming, slice-of-life stories. Now that his tenure as Cap has come to an end (a role that occupied much of his career with a whopping 11 appearances in eight years), he’s able to sink his teeth into new projects, like The Gray Man, which just launched on Netflix and in cinemas. Let’s look back over our favorite Chris Evans movies, and be prepared for a lot of Marvel content.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
The rules of journalism prevent me from speaking in absolutes, but I’ll say there will probably never be another moment like this in cinematic history. Actually, two moments that brought together close to a decade of superhero narrative. The first, when Captain America wields Thor’s mighty hammer; second, when Cap finally says “Avengers, assemble.” Couple that with the crescendo of Alan Silvestri’s musical score and you’re talking full-body chills and eruptions of applause in movie theaters the world over. You can relive it all in a collection of Endgame reaction videos on YouTube.
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Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The film that started it all and catapulted Evans into superstardom. This is the origin story of Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America. It’s 1941, and a skinny young man from Brooklyn wants to do his part in the war. Deemed too small and frail for the army, he gets selected for a secret military program that administers Super Soldier Serum—a concoction designed to turn scrawny into brawny. Queue the jaw-dropping moment his transformed (and rather glistening) muscular bod is revealed, and we see our superhero for the first time.
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Steve Rogers is adjusting to life in the 21st century after the events of The Avengers. As an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. alongside Falcon and Black Widow, he’s tasked with hunting down a mysterious assassin known only as the Winter Soldier, who will prove to be a worthy adversary as he possesses similar super-strength and speed to Cap himself. It’s the sequel to The First Avenger and undisputedly the best of solo films in the MCU (don’t fight me on this).
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Gifted (2017)
A film that allows Evans to showcase his dramatic chops, Gifted follows Evans’s Frank, a single man raising his niece Mary after her mother (his sister) passes away. It’s discovered she’s somewhat of a prodigy, with the ability to solve complicated math problems well beyond the means of an ordinary seven-year-old. But soon conflicts arise within the family as to how the child should be raised. It’s a moving story and served as a catalyst for the IRL romance between Evans and Jenny Slate, who plays Mary’s teacher. The couple unfortunately broke up in 2017.
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Knives Out (2019)
Evans stars as the grandson of Harlan Thrombey, a writer found dead under mysterious circumstances, in this delightful whodunit directed by Rian Johnson. His character, Ransom Drysdale, is obnoxious and sly but has an undeniable taste in knitwear. Known as the Sweater That Launched a Thousand Memes, the actor’s cream-colored cable-knit caused similar styles to sell out shortly after the film came out. So frenzied was social media that the Knives Out official Twitter account temporarily changed its name to the Chris Evans’ Sweater Stan Account, and indie cinema the Alamo Drafthouse hosted a special sweaters-only screening of the film.
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Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
There were a few years in early-2000s movie history where parody was the name of the game. Not Another Teen Movie was Chris Evans’s breakout roll, starring as your typical jock Jake Wyler in a plot that mocked teen classics like She’s All That, Varsity Blues, and 10 Things I Hate About You. Deliberate stereotypes and clichés abound in a comedy that really stands above all the other parodies of the decade. Chris Evans might not look back fondly on it—“You do what you gotta do,” he’s said—but we certainly believe this parody comedy earns a spot as one of the best.
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
From the fast-paced, distinctive stylings of director Edgar Wright is the adaptation of the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Musician Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) has a crush on Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), but to date her, he must first defeat her seven evil exes in a retro video game-style battle. Styled with a permanently furrowed brow and some pretty mean sideburns, Evans plays one of the exes, Lucas Lee, in this unique and entertaining film.
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Snowpiercer (2013)
Before he directed the Oscar-winning, history-making Parasite, Bong Joon-ho brought us Snowpiercer, based on the French dystopian comic book Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, set 18 years after failed action against climate change delivers a new ice age. The remnants of humanity live on a circumnavigational train where passengers are segregated: elites in the front and the poor crammed into squalid conditions with armed guards in the back. Evans plays the revolutionary Curtis Everett, who leads a rebellion against the train’s mysterious autocrat, Mr. Wilford.
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The Gray Man (2022)
Released last month, The Gray Man is an exhilarating spy thriller about a CIA agent, played by Ryan Gosling, who accidentally uncovers agency secrets and the rogue operative Lloyd Hansen (Evans) contracted to hunt him down. It debuted on Netflix to pretty positive public reviews, and although critics think it’s riddled with clichés, it’s still a fun watch and nothing you have to think deeply about. Just a good action movie with a decent ensemble cast that includes Regé-Jean Page and Ana de Armas. It just got the green light for a sequel too.
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