Chris Evans Says He’s Up for More Captain America after Avengers Finale

To borrow a turn of phrase from Mark Twain, the rumors of Captain America’s death have been greatly exaggerated. At least, Chris Evans‘ version of the character (the comic book version has died before and will likely die again) is not headed to that great Avengers Mansion in the sky just yet.

For a couple years now, rumors of Cap’s death have been tied to Evans’ reluctance to continue not only playing the Star-Spangled Avenger, but acting, in general. Evans has frequently expressed his desire to move on to other roles or to sideline his acting career in favor of directing. In a recent interview with Telegraph, Evans explained that his early trepidation stemmed from the “all-encompassing” nature of Marvel’s multi-picture contracts.

One of my biggest fears was that the movies were going to be good. Because if things worked out, I’d have to do all six of them. And at the time, that was the most terrifying aspect of it. That it was going to be so dominating, all-encompassing.

Evans went on to reveal that he has extended his original six-picture contract (which doesn’t include his cameo in Thor: The Dark World) for a seventh film because the third Avengers movie was split into two parts.

I had six films in my Marvel contract, so I could have said after the third ‘Avengers’ I was done, but they wanted to make the third and fourth Avengers’ films as a two-parter…They said they had so many other characters to fit in – Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Ant Man – and couldn’t get them all into one movie.

With his contract up after the Avengers storyline, many assumed that Marvel might go the route of the comic book story line that saw Cap taken out by an assassin and Bucky Barnes stepping in to the role, something which Bucky actor Sebastian Stan has hinted at on numerous occasions. But, it’s highly unlikely that Marvel will go that route unless it feels forced to do so, in light of the fact that the franchise has generated more than $3 billion worldwide and Evans hasn’t sworn off signing a new contract.

I think it’s almost like high school. You’re kind of always looking ahead, about when you’ll graduate, but then when graduation day arrives you kind of don’t want to leave. I AM gonna try and focus on directing a bit more, but by no means am I done acting. And if they’d have me back, yeah, I’d probably consider it.

The Avengers: Infinity War opens May 4, 2018, and the as-yet-untitled sequel is slated to open May 3, 2019.