Chris Evans spent almost 10 years playing Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the end of Avengers: Endgame, the actor hung up the shield and said goodbye to the franchise. But Captain America wasn't the only comic book character that Evans played.
Fans may remember he was the Human Torch in the early Fantastic Four films, but he's been in a surprisingly high number of comic book movies, even when you take out the MCU. As many on Letterboxd will tell you, not all of these are triumphs.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) - 2.2
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer sees the titular Silver Surfer come to Earth to prepare it for Galactus' arrival. The Fantastic Four try to stop him but the Johnny gets some of his cosmic abilities which allows him to trade powers with any of the other members of the team. Before they can stop Galactus, they have to have to stop Doom.
Letterboxd fans, like most, don't really care for this one and its predecessor. There are some who think it's an improvement over the first, but the interpretation of Galactus hurts it even then. Chris Evans, and indeed the rest of the cast, deliver some good performances as Marvel's first family and have really settled into the roles.
Fantastic Four (2005) - 2.3
The first big-screen adaptation of Marvel's first family is an origin story about Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm and how they got their powers. The film deals with Ben's struggle as a rock monster and ultimately how each character becomes a hero. Victor Von Doom, having also gained powers tries to kill them once and for all.
Before Kevin Feige worked on the MCU, Fantastic Four was one of the Marvel films he worked on, It's not considered a horrible attempt at the Fantastic Four, but Fantastic Four has a lot of shortcomings. As stated before, the film is well cast and Chris Evans was a pitch-perfect Johnny Storm. It, unfortunately, suffers from the same issues that a lot of pre-MCU Marvel films did by not taking the characters seriously.
TMNT (2007) - 2.7
The 2007 CG-animated film TMNT picks up long after the Turtles have defeated their arch-nemesis Shredder. Since his defeat, the Turtles have grown apart and now live new lives. April and Casey, their old friends, find them when evil demons begin showing up in New York and they have to band together again to defeat them or else the world will be over-run.
The previous TMNT movies are considered classics but this one tends to be forgotten. There are still plenty of fans to be found with it, however. The voice cast is something that people praise in almost every review, it's stacked with star power, not the least of which being Chris Evans as Casey Jones.
Push (2009) - 2.7
Push is not a comic book movie, however, most people consider it one thanks to a prequel comic that was released by Wildstorm the same year. Push is about a man named Nick Grant who's a "mover". He and others have various super-human abilities that make them targets for a secret government organization called Division.
Most reviews on Letterboxd point out how derivative this film is. It feels like the David Goyer superhero film Jumper, which came out a year prior. It feels similar to other independent superhero concepts happening around the same time. Chris Evans is charming enough to carry the film though and he does a good job selling the action and drama.
The Losers (2008) - 2.8
The Losers stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, Zoe Saldana, and Idris Elba before they were big stars. The team of Losers was betrayed and now seak to take out the one who betrayed them before he can send the world into a high-tech global war.
The cast is stacked but Chris Evans gets to really shine in this one. Letterboxd users fell in love with his unhinged performance as Jake. There's some good action and humor and it's a fairly faithful adaptation. The only thing that holds it down, is that it's a fairly paint-by-numbers action-comedy even by the standards of the time.
Snowpiercer (2013) - 3.7
When the world's answer to global warming turned back on them, the only salvation was to board a massive train. This is the world of Snowpiercer, the Bong Joon-Ho adaptation about a group of people stuck at the back of a train who rebel against the rich at the front.
Snowpiercer is based on a 1982 graphic novel series by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette and stars Chris Evans as the leader of the revolution. The film was hit with critics and audiences at the time and Evans has received plenty of praise for his performances as Curtis Everett.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) - 3.9
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World follows the journey of Scott Pilgrim, a young man who lives in Canada and falls in love with Romona Flowers. Unfortunately for him, if he has any shot at dating Romona, he has to go up against her seven evil exes. These exes, which include a movie star named Lucas Lee, have teamed up in order to make sure Romona returns to Gideon Graves.
This movie is filled with stylish action and standout performances. These days Scott doesn't come off quite the hero the film intends him to be, which is one of many unpopular opinions that Reddit has about this movie. But the members of the League of Evil Exes are all fun and Edgar Wright infuses the film with a colorful, comic book-influenced style. Before Evans would impress as Captain America, he impressed everyone as Lucas Lee, the movie star ex.