As the actor who embodied the emotionally charged Steve Rogers for nearly a decade, Chris Evans knows how to turn on the waterworks on-screen — and it’s clear that he’s comfortable shedding a few tears once the cameras turn off too. After a special, celebrity-laced screening of “Avengers: Endgame” four days before the movie officially premiered, Evans told Variety, “I have a lot of my friends and family here tonight, and a lot of them are right up here. We have this bond that transcends what we do for a living … I cried like six times [tonight].
Although the actor didn’t clarify if all of those times were while watching the movie or if some of them came during the mingling and conversations that inevitably take place at prestigious A-list Hollywood premieres, we know that at least one of them was: Evans cried during Captain America’s big scene with Mjölnir. “Even though I knew the moment was coming, I still got emotional,” he recalled.
First viewing aside, Evans found the entire experience of both making and watching “Endgame” sentimental and overwhelming. In a making-of featurette for the film that Marvel Studios posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the star-spangled actor explained, “You anticipate it being an emotional experience, but then when they actually say, ‘Chris, you’re wrapped’ and it’s done, it’s like that graduation day: You know it’s coming, but then when it hits, you can’t prepare for it. It was more emotional than I expected.”
Evans’ tears aren’t reserved for the MCU … or for himselfMarvel
Studios/DisneyWhile Chris Evans cried on multiple occasions the first time he saw “Endgame,” his tears flow far beyond the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For example, the actor regularly gets choked up by another area of the House of Mouse’s expansive catalog. “It doesn’t take much for me. Pixar does an amazing job,” the actor said in response to a question from MTV News about which Pixar films have made him cry. “All the ‘Toy Story’ movies. [‘Toy Story’] 2, 3, and 4 will rip your heart out,” he specified, adding “Inside Out”, “Up,” and “Coco” to the list as well.
Evans has been known to jump-start others’ tear ducts too. In an interview with Esquire, the star revealed that when his mother saw him as an old, weatherworn Steve Rogers at the end of “Endgame,” she burst into tears due to the picture-perfect resemblance to his late grandfather. Another “Endgame” example is the emotional message Evans penned as he wrapped filming. His tweet thanking his followers and the MCU fandom in general for the honor of playing Captain America prompted some to ask what gave him the right to make them cry.
Whether his own or others’, Pixar or the MCU, Evans is a man associated with tears. But there’s only one movie, to date, that we know made him cry not once or twice but six times — and that’s “Avengers: Endgame.” We love you 3,000, Chris.