It feels strange to think back on this now given how far superhero movies have come, but there was a time when the casting of characters like Captain America and Thor was taking the internet by storm. The announcement that Fantastic Four‘s Chris Evans would star in Captain America: The First Avenger came as a huge surprise, especially given the shortlist which had been doing the rounds.
Included on that list was The Office‘s John Krasinski, someone who pretty much no one was able to picture in the role at the time. Since then, he’s obviously showed his action star credentials in the 13 Hours and the upcoming Jack Ryan TV series, and the actor has now opened up for the first time about how close he came to playing the Star Spangled Avenger.
“It was a big deal for me, because first of all I love those Marvel movies. I love superheroes. I love imagination. When they asked me to test they actually allowed me to put on the suit. I was on a set, it was all very interesting. I feel like as I’m talking about this someone from Marvel is going to — [spit noise] — just dart me, I’m not allowed to talk about it at all. The only bummer of it was I was putting on the suit, just watching it like ‘This is so amazing,’ and I got to right about my waist, I was still shirtless, feeling pretty good about myself. I wasn’t 13 Hours yet, but I felt pretty good and all of a sudden Chris Hemsworth walks by as Thor and he’s like ‘Hey mate,’ and I went ‘I’m good. This is stupid. I shouldn’t. It’s okay, I’m not Captain America. It’s fine.'”
It’s fair to say that Marvel Studios made the right decision by casting Evans as Captain America, but it would have been fun to see how Krasinski would have fared in the role. Whether or not he’ll now end up starring in a comic book movie remains to be seen, but it would be great to see him added to the Marvel or DC Films Universes at some point.
Interestingly, Krasinski’s wife, Emily Blunt, also nearly joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe when she was eyed for the role of Black Widow, but she too has yet to join a superhero movie. Had things panned out a little differently, we would have seen them standing side by side in The Avengers and Captain America franchises.
