Chris Evans has a long history with superhero movies, not only as Captain America, but also before and after the MCU. At a time when many actors are expressing their wish to play a comic book character, not many actors can brag about playing two major Marvel superheroes, plus a reimagined version of a classic Pixar character. Chris Evans, on the other hand, has had that privilege over the last 17 years.
While audiences may associate Chris Evans with MCU's Captain America, the first Marvel superhero the actor played was Johnny Storm. The Fox Fantastic Four duology predates the MCU for a couple of years, and while it was never as successful as the Avengers movies, it helped launch Chris Evans' career. The Steve Rogers role in Captain America: The First Avenger would then start Evans's eight-year journey as one of the pillars of the MCU, culminating with his Avengers: Endgame sendoff.
Most recently, Chris Evans was the voice of Buzz Lightyear, the "real" version of the character and not the toy, in Pixar's Lightyear. While Buzz Lightyear is not a comic book character like Captain America and Human Torch, the Toy Story spinoff reimagines Buzz as a real space ranger – making him a kind of superhero by all means. From Fantastic Four (2005) to Lightyear, here's every Chris Evans superhero movie ranked from worst to best.
Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer (2007)
The first Fantastic Four movie is far from being perfect, but it does have its strengths. However, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer sees more of the mistakes of the first movie than the qualities, making the sequel a far less enjoyable movie. As exciting as a Fantastic Four movie featuring Silver Surfer, Doom, and Galactus sounded, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer was made at a time when pulling off such an event was nearly impossible – as proven by the infamous Galactus' cloud look. Chris Evans is still great as Johnny Storm, but his best moments do not shine like the ones from the first movie.
Fantastic Four (2005)
Fantastic Four (2005) may not have been as remarkable as Sam Raimi's Spider-Man or the beginning of a franchise as long-lasting as X-Men, but the movie managed to capture the essence of the Fantastic Four at a time when comic book adaptions were much more difficult to pull off. That said, aside from the inspired cast, there is nothing particularly memorable about Fantastic Four. The dynamic between the Fantastic Four was spot on, but the blank Doctor Doom appearance and the dull action sequences place Fantastic Four behind most of Chris Evans' superhero movies.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Of all Chris Evans' MCU movies, The Avengers, and it does not add anything new to the dynamic of the Avengers. Ultron was not as compelling as Loki or Thanos, and the Battle of Sokovia felt like a rehash of the Battle of New York. That said, Avengers: Age of Ultron is still a solid Avengers movie, far better executed than the Fantastic Four films.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger checks all the boxes of a solid origin story. It quickly sells that Chris Evans is Captain America, despite being released relatively not too long after Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and it introduces a lot of characters and elements that would become crucial in the MCU. Agent Peggy Carter, Bucky Barnes, and the Tesseract are the most notable examples. However, Captain America: The First Avenger is not as remarkable as the first Iron Man movie was, and it falls in comparison with the other two Captain America movies that would follow it.
Lightyear (2022)
Buzz Lightyear may not be a superhero in the same sense as Captain America and Human Torch, but Lightyear can be seen to present the character as one. The Pixar reimagination of Buzz sees Chris Evans as the "real" space ranger from the in-universe movie that inspired the Toy Story. The price, however, is a movie far too common and similar to other superhero and sci-fi stories. Chris Evans had the difficult mission of playing an alternate version of such an iconic character, but the actor delivered.
The Avengers (2012)
Captain America: The First Avenger introduced Steve Rogers, but it is really in The Avengers that Captain America first shined in the MCU. Balancing the storylines and the screen time of six superheroes, four of which were coming out of solo films, was not easy, and that is why The Avengers' feat remains impressive. The scale of the movie, especially in the Battle of New York, managed to translate a superhero comic book fight to the screen, something that the X-Men and Fantastic Four films had always struggled with. Marvel Studios had already made its mark with Iron Man in 2008, but it was after The Avengers that the MCU truly became a box office titan.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
"Avengers Assemble" line, and playing an old version of Steve Rogers. If Endgame was the last Chris Evans MCU movie, then the actor went out on a high note.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Captain America may not have had as much presence in Infinity War as he did in Endgame, but the 2018 movie is still the best of the two-part conclusion to the Infinity Saga. Infinity War saw Thanos at the high of his confidence, delivering a more interesting villain than any others in the MCU. Infinity War saw third-act level battles throughout the entire film, and almost every Avenger or Guardians of the Galaxy got their time in the spotlight. Unlike Endgame, which focused only on the original Avengers, Infinity War had to deal with dozens of characters, which makes the final result more impressive.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier does not have the crossovers and huge-scale fights that Civil War or Infinity War had, but it has a better story. The Winter Soldier marks the first of the Russo Brothers' MCU films, and it proved how important the duo could be to the future of the MCU. Chris Evans' Captain America is placed in an interesting moral dilemma about a hero who is not sure who he is really fighting for, allowing the actor to give one of his best performances as Steve Rogers. The spy-thriller atmosphere worked perfectly, and the Winter Soldier's unique fight scenes were the final detail to make Captain America: The Winter Soldier the best Chris Evans superhero film.
