Chris Evans Wasn’t Originally Going to Play Old Man Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame

Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Anthony Mackie has revealed that Marvel once considered casting someone other than Chris Evans to play old man Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame.

During an appearance on The Jess Cagle Show, Mackie briefly touched on whether or not Falcon would be taking up Captain America’s shield in the future, which made him reflect on the original casting of Cap; in particular, the older version of the character who featured in the closing moments of Endgame. He revealed that, at one time, there had been talks of casting someone else to portray the aged hero.

“They actually wanted to cast an old dude to play Chris Evans,” Mackie revealed. “So they brought in like three actors. They’re like, none of these, like, this isn’t how Chris will look when he’s old. Like, he’s gonna be, he’s like George Clooney. He’s going to be 95 and still like handsome, you know? So, they brought in a makeup team and prosthetics and makeup and made him into an old man. And how good of an actor Chris is, it actually worked. He pulled it off with his voice and everything. He did a great job.”

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Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo wrapped up Steve’s MCU journey on a very definitive note, with Steve travelling back in time to return the Infinity Stones to their original places and then choosing to remain in the past to finally take up the dance that he promised Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger.

However, when he returns to the rest of our heroes, he is an old man. The Russos used a combination of facial prosthetics and CGI to transform Chris Evans into a senior citizen because they wanted to achieve the “perfect” look to make sure that they didn’t “undermine the emotional intention of the scene” between old man Steve and Sam Wilson aka Falcon.

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Mackie is reprising his role as Falcon in the upcoming Disney+ original series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, opposite Sebastian Stan, who plays Bucky Barnes. The six-episode series is set to debut on Disney+ on March 19, as part of an ambitious new lineup of TV series’ designed to be more closely integrated with Marvel’s movies.

For more about the studio’s future slate of projects and releases, read our breakdown of the biggest and most noteworthy developments in the MCU, on Disney+ and in Marvel’s comics this year.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.