Chris Evans nearly turned down his star-making role of Captain America because of fears of “losing anonymity.”

The Marvel actor first played the part of Steve Rogers in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, and appeared to end his run in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

However, the actor’s mother Lisa Capuano Evans has revealed in a new interview with Esquire that her son initially said no to the part.

“His biggest fear was losing his anonymity,” she explained. “He said, ‘I have a career now where I can do work I really like. I can walk my dog. Nobody bothers me. Nobody wants to talk to me. I can go wherever I want. And the idea of losing that is terrifying to me.’”

Capuano Evans further recalled that her son would “call and ask for my advice”, she in turn telling him the opportunity would give him the opportunity to work as an actor for the rest of his life.

“I said to him, ‘Look, you want to do acting work for the rest of your life? If you do this part, you will have the opportunity. You’ll never have to worry about paying the rent. If you take the part, you just have to decide, It’s not going to affect my life negatively — it will enable it.’”

Meanwhile, last year Evans suggested the door was still open for him to reprise the role of Captain America in the future.

Speaking to Marvel co-star Scarlett Johansson, the actor admitted: “You never say never. I love the character. I don’t know. It’s not a hard no, but it’s not an eager yes either.

“There are other things that I’m working on right now. I think Cap had such a tricky act to stick the landing, and I think they did a really nice job letting him complete his journey. If you’re going to revisit it, it can’t be a cash grab.

“It can’t be just because the audience wants to be excited. What are we revealing? What are we adding to the story? A lot of things would have to come together.”