So, like alot of people, I was very shocked when I heard the reports circulating that Chris Evans had supposedly snagged the part of Captain America. I can also assure you that I was very much NOT pleased with the choice at all, but I held my opinion on the matter until I would have the time to write this. The fact of the matter is that I am, well, quite frankly I'm pissed about it. I personally feel it's a terrible casting to go with, one that has way more bad going for it than good, and so I'd like to give a few examples as to why I think so.
1.) He's already played a superhero.
I'm going to just get this one out of the way right now because I know that it's always one of the more focused upon issues of the matter. Now, alot of people are on opposite sides as to their opinions on the Fantastic Four movies (I personally loved them and have no clue why people so vehemently hate them as much as they do). But one thing that alot of people, if not mostly all, agree on is the opinion that Chris Evans was a perfect Johnny Storm. In fact, most people go out of their way to say that he and Michael Chiklis were the single best parts of the movie. I could understand if he did a very poor job at a character and people thought "Eh, give him another chance." But the fact that he had already found so many new fans and praise for one superhero role makes the whole thing seem a bit unnecessary. You already got your medal, now let someone else have a chance.
This was my same feeling when Ryan Reynolds got cast as Green Lantern. The guy already is getting so much love from fans as Deadpool, so why go out of your way to pursue another project that will keep you from fulfilling that? Because at this point it's painfully obvious that the Green Lantern movie will take precedence over the Deadpool one at the speed that it's going, even though we were promised a Deadpool movie to come out before it. This brings me to my second point:
2) Fan alienation.
It's no surprise that I'm not the only one who doesn't like this idea. And it's no exaggeration that a good 1/2, 3/4, or even 5/6th of people weren't happy either. It wasn't just that someone who was in the running that they didn't want got it. It was that someone literally showed up right before the end of running and got it, after all the campaigning people did for their personal choices, who were also in on the March Madness level of fan rivalry that was the Quest for the Cap Casting. And yes, I know that people are going to go on with "But the FF movies are getting rebooted" or "They weren't even part of the Marvel Studios movieverse". And while those ARE true, you have to keep in mind that it doesn't begin and end with the movies.
There are literally millions of fans who try to express they're love for the movies through the works of their fandoms, whether it be in art, films, or what have you. For example. Consider all the people who have a hobby of making fan-made trailers for movies. You could go on Youtube and find at least several dozen fan-made trailers for Civil-War alone. And even if it's not that, what about simple team-up videos? What are those people supposed to do when they want both Johnny Storm AND Cap in them? Wait until the FF reboot comes out? How is THAT fair?
Or what about that new trading card game that's been periodically marketed on this site that's based on the movieverses? Because I read my comics today and I saw an ad for it that said they were going to be incorporating the Marvel Studios movieverse, meaning that we can have Hughverine, Iron Downey Jr, Evans Torch and... Evan Cap? What the hell? I'm supposed to have two completely superheroes on my team with the exact same face? I would expect that from a lazy comic book artist or video game designer, but a group as big as a major movie studio being that lazy? No thanks!
3) We were promised an unknown.
Seriously, I can't stress enough how much this part irks me the most. We got an American. Yeah, that's great and all, but I was never REALLY worried about it. But I was so excited for the chance to see an up and coming young actor finally make it big and land their breakthrough smash hit of a role under the mantle of Captain America, not only because of the fact that you can say the same for any breakthrough performance and that it's always great to see new talent get the recognition they deserve, but also the fact that it's such a great metaphor for the actual story of how Steve Rogers became cap: a relative nothing becomes not gust somebody, but THE body!
I look at at actors like Sharlto Copely or Dev Patel, and it always makes me feel happy and even a strange sense of pride as a movie fan that I get to see these actors suddenly become hot commodities and win awards after wowing audiences on their first time in a major movie. So imagine how excited I was that they said they would be doing it for Cap as well! And then over the course of time, we'd get more and more additions to the list. We had Garret Hedlund, Ryan McPartlin, Jensen Ackles, Scott Porter, Robert Buckley, Mike Vogel, all who would've been totally down for it! Chris Evans even went on reportedly said he was really hesitant about playing another superhero. Is that really the kind of actor you'd want to entrust a role like this to? Especially compared to the other actors like Porter, Buckley, and McPartlin who said they really really REALLY wanted the parts? It kinda seems a bit messed up to cast a known after saying you'd cast the opposite. But to cast someone who considered no? Someone who was willing to not do it? I'm sorry, but that just makes me really uncomfortable thinking that the guy who's playing this role, or ANY role for that matter, isn't at least %110 up to it. Not only that, but now there are rumors going around that contract went from 9 movies to 3. So what, we get less Cap because the actor just wasn't up to it? Gee, way to take one for the team there, Evans.
So yeah. Those are basically my concerns with this whole thing. Hopefully the fact that we've yet to hear anything official from Marvel or Evans suggests that this is a rumor getting blown out of proportion.