Old Man Cap In Avengers: Endgame Was Supposed To Be Totally Different
In a movie full of heartbreaking and inspiring moments, 2019's Avengers: Endgame ends on a touching note when an elderly Steve Rogers hands off the Captain America shield to Sam Wilson, aka Falcon. Part of what makes it work is how believable actor Chris Evans is as an aged Cap.
As you'll likely remember, at the conclusion of Endgame, Cap time-travels to the past to place each Infinity Stone in their intended location. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Sam (Anthony Mackie), and Steve's best friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) wait for his return in the present, but he's a no-show. Then, they notice an older man sitting on a nearby bench. Sam approaches, and encounters an elderly Steve, who tells him that he remained in the in the past to enjoy some of the good life with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Steve then presents his shield, asking Sam to take up the mantle of Captain America.
The scene is powerful one, especially because of the onscreen history between Mackie and Evans. Plus, it also sets up the upcoming series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, premiering on Disney+ on March 19. However, in a new interview with The Jesse Cagle Show on SiriusXM, Falcon actor Anthony Mackie revealed that the initial plan for this Endgame scene was totally different.
According to Anthony Mackie, Marvel tried to cast an 'old dude' as aged-up Cap
As Mackie explained, the Endgame team originally intended for someone else to play the older version of Steve. "It's funny — they actually wanted to cast an old dude to play Chris Evans," Mackie told The Jesse Cagle Show co-host Julia Cunningham when she asked about the shield-passing scene featuring Old Man Cap. "So they brought in like three actors [but] they're like, 'This isn't how Chris will look when he's old ... he's like George Clooney, he's going to be 95 and still handsome.'"
Instead, as Mackie detailed, they brought in a makeup team and used prosthetics and CGI on Evans to turn him into "an old man." Mackie said with a laugh, "And how good of an actor is Chris [that] it actually worked? He pulled it off with his voice and everything. He did a great job."
Cunningham then jokingly but accurately observed that the illusion of an elderly Steve would have been ruined if the muscular Evans had stood up and revealed his large frame and broad shoulders. In response, Mackie acknowledged that the Endgame crew thought of that, and basically made it a rule that Steve would be sitting on the bench rather than standing. "It was agreed upon from jump he'd be sitting on the bench," Mackie said, before quipping, "And being an old man, he's gotta take his rest when he can."
As mentioned, in a feat of special effects wizardry, Evans was aged up not only through makeup and prosthetics, but also through CGI work by Lola VFX (via Appocalypse.co). Additionally, an actor named Patrick Gorman was used as an older body double and on-set reference, as reported by Daily Express.
Looking back, it's hard to imagine anyone else but an aged-up Evans in the scene. And after spending so many years in the role of Captain America, it's only right that Evans got to bring the character's story to its final end.
Hosted by SiriusXM's Chief Entertainment Anchor Jess Cagle and co-host Julia Cunningham, SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show airs weekdays at 2 PM ET.