2016’s Captain America: Civil War fractured The Avengers in half. Even though the “losing” side found themselves in prison at the conclusion, the title hero appeared in the final seconds of the movie and was prepared to start a new, secret team.
Flash forward two years, since most Marvel movies typically take place around their release date, and Avengers: Infinity War is on the horizon. So what’s the character been doing this entire time?
“I’ve dropped the shield,” star Chris Evans tells us on the set of the film. “I kind of went rogue a little bit. But again, I think it’s in his nature to be of service, and I think to some degree in order to maintain sanity, he had to kind of function within a system. That’s how his brain works, there has to be some kind of functioning factory that he can operate within. I think Black Widow to some degree probably has a similar output.”
That’s right, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow has been by Cap’s side during his globetrotting black-ops exploits.
“I think they’ve kind of been sort of flying under the radar but still taking care of business in the way that they know how to do,” Johansson adds about where the pair have been. “And I think when we find them in this film, they are just a fine, well-oiled machine. They sort of have a seamless communication between them. But they’re more hardened.”
She goes on to say that the two of them are starting to feel unappreciated in a world that no longer knows they’re out there helping.
“Not that they need to have any sort of back-patting or recognition exactly, but I think when you’re fighting for something that you know is important but is not being really recognized or supported by a larger organization or even society as a whole, I think that it takes a certain toll, and you can get feelings about it in a way. So that’s kind of where we find them.”
Evans also says that the pair have gotten closer as partners, but their relationship is still strictly platonic, but he’s learned a lot from her across the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Every single movie, he learns a little bit more that the world isn’t the way he kind of wants it to be, and I think that’s why there’s a connection between him and Black Widow,” Evans reveals. “Black Widow has seen a lot more than he has, and is kind of a little more calloused, and I think in a lot of ways, he looks up to that and learns from that… I think we leaned on each other, especially in the face of that kind of loss coming off of ‘Civil War.’ And so he’s been running these missions, answering to nobody, really. I mean, it really is the sign of a broken person. That’s the wear and tear.”
The wear and tear is no more clearer than on Cap’s uniform, once pristine and crisp with a white star for the USA. It’s now dirty, frayed, and torn free of its star. Plus, somebody should get this man a shield…
Avengers: Infinity War arrives in theaters on April 27.
Check back here on Monday for our interview with star Danai Gurira (Okoye) from the set of Avengers: Infinity War!
