While the role ofCaptain Americacan be filled by other characters, it’s hard to picture anyone except Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, the noble man who carried that iconic shield. Of course, other actors were considered for the part, including Jake Gyllenhaal, who was actually used as the model for the character in the early days of the MCU.
As part of the celebration for 10thanniversary of the release ofCaptain America: The First Avenger, the movie’s screenwriters, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, spoke to Yahoo Entertainment’s Kevin Polowy about the Phase 1 MCU movie. Polowy shared via his Twitter their discussion of other actors who were considered for the role of Steve Rogers,including Wyatt Russell, who played John Walker inThe Falcon and the Winter Soldieryears later. The writers also recall that during those early stages of production, Gyllenhaal was frequently used as the model for Steve Rogers in the movie’s concept art.
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They don’t confirm whether or not Gyllenhaal was actually offered the role of Captain America, but this would not have been Gyllenhaal’s first brush with playing an iconic superhero. He was famously lined up to take over the role of Spider-Man fromTobey Maguire in Sam Raimi’sSpider-Man 2when it seemed like an injury would prevent Maguire from returning. Of course, Gyllenhaal would later join the MCU in a terrific role as Mysterio inSpider-Man: Far From Home.
In the same interview, Markus and McFeely revealed they did have a chance to seeSebastian Stan’s auditionfor Captain America before he was cast in another key MCU role as Bucky Barnes. They claimed there was a darker aspect to Stan’s take on Steve Rogers that they noticed Stan carry over to his role as Barnes inThe First Avengerand especially when the character became The Winter Soldier.
It’s always interesting to hear about other actors who nearly played iconic roles. Gyllenhaal is an amazing actor and one of the best of his generation. It’s hard not to imagine how his Steve Rogers would have been a different and interesting take. But once again, Evans now feels like the definitive actor for that part, as impossible to recast asRobert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.
Gyllenhaal still has an incredible career even without a big superhero franchise. But with the multiverse now a big part of the MCU in Phase 4, maybe it is possible that Gyllenhaal could appear as some alternate version of Captain America, as unlikely as that sounds.
