Before Marvel's Avengers was released, trailers for the game revealed that Captain America died on A-Day (which is why Earth's Mightiest Heroes disassembled). The game itself [Spoiler Alert] reveals that Steve Rogers has, in fact, been kept alive by A.I.M., and when he does return, the stakes are upped massively as the action becomes truly epic.
Recently, we caught up with Captain America actor Jeff Schine to discuss what it was like to keep that big return under wraps before Marvel's Avengers was released earlier this month.
"Josh, that was like the hardest thing man," he admitted. "It was so, so hard. You get used to, after a certain period of time, being under NDAs for projects, and I have the utmost respect for the way companies and productions want to meter out information how they want to do it and when they want to it. I get it. You just know that you work on something, you don't talk about for a little while, and then you get to."
"With this one, in particular, it was was hard to not...I just wanted to tell everybody," Jeff continues in the video below. "It's so cool and really one of those bucket list jobs. The hardest moment was when we would be at a Comic-Con where people know I'm in the game, but I literally have one talking point I can say and that's it and then it's done and I have to shut down every other question. It's challenging, but worth the wait."
During the game's final act, Captain America returns to action in a big way, and plays a key role in setting the stage for Ms. Marvel to take down M.O.D.O.K. Before that, Steve gets to say the iconic "Avengers Assemble" line (and a second time in a secret post-credits scene).
So, how did that feel?
"You know, it's one of those moments I think that you...you don't know you'll ever get the chance to do something like that. How many of those lines are there in entertainment? There's not that many," the actor reflects. "To get to say it at any point in time is an incredible honour. I remember seeing it on the page for the first time and being like, 'Whoa, so that's going to happen. We're going to have to do that line.'"
"So, there's never a shortage of small little moments where you re-remember that you're playing Cap. I was always trying to forget as often as I could on set and let it go. And then, there are moments where you say, 'Phew, okay, I'm gonna really have to Cap it up today.'"
Marvel's Avengers is available now on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia. If you haven't checked it out, we highly recommend you take a look at our review here.
Check out our full video interview with Jeff Schine about Marvel's Avengers below: