Here are some pictures of Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and Sam Jackson at some shopping mall event in Beijing for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This was a press conference in a shopping mall. No wonder Chris had to pair his sunglasses with his new beard. The crowd must have been overbearing. He’s a massive contrast to Sam Jackson’s “take no sh-t” presence. Sam is the coolest.

The last time we talked about Chris (beyond superficially rating him at premieres), he was complaining about how his heart wasn’t into Marvel superhero films. Then he sort of clarified (but not really) by saying, “I gotta watch what I say.”

Now that Cap 2 is almost here, Chris is laying the remorse on thick. He sat down with the Guardian, which describes Chris as “happy to be a cog in the machine.” For real.

The journo tells Chris he’s affable: “Good. That’s the goal. You want to strike that happy medium: the balance of being able to find creative satisfaction in your profession, be able to afford a roof over your head but still have the freedom to live a relatively normal life.”

His notorious neuroses: “There was big apprehension on my part whether or not to do the movie. It was a six-picture deal and the problem is, if one of these pictures is a big success and it changes your life, you may not cope with it as well as you expected. There certainly was some fear involved initially. But then you just think, ‘If that’s what I’m scared of, maybe that’s exactly what I should do’, and, in retrospect, God, I’d be kicking myself if I hadn’t done it.”

On Avengers vs. Superman/Batman: “Obviously, it’s an easy parallel to draw. It’s not that I’m glad to see a movie not succeed. I’m just honoured when ours do.”

On working for Marvel: “Oh, it’s a cool corporation,” he says, eagerly. “It’s got the Midas touch. It would be one thing if they were kicking out crap but they’re just consistently making good movies that are consistent successes. And they’re people who really care about movies. I saw this great documentary about indie movies and they made this analogy to restaurants. You want to eat at a restaurant where the people who own it really enjoy good food, where they’re not just doing it for the money. You don’t want to go to the [US restaurant chain] Olive Garden where the model is low cost/high income. Marvel, even though they’re these massive movies that should just be a money-making machine pumping out product, at their heart they’re comic-book fans.”

On working with the ensemble vs a Cap movie: “It’s so nice,” he says, sighing almost wistfully. “I love getting to be in The Avengers. You just breathe a little bit. It’s not all about you. It’s so nice to have other people bearing the burden of responsibility. Anyone who knows me knows I’m perfectly happy with less is more. Whatever you want me to do. I’m happy to be here. I’m not trying to steal the show. I tend to shy away from — I don’t want to say the spotlight — how about responsibility? It’s just very daunting. These movies are very intimidating. Captain America. This is the stuff I struggle with.”

Why has HE starred in so many comic-book roles? “There just happens to be a big influx of comic-book movies, but the truth is, it’s much like making a movie based on a book. There’s great stories, there’s developed characters, there’s structured arcs, there’s a built-in audience. It makes sense that a studio would want to make films out of those pieces of work. It just worked out coincidentally that I was in a string of them.”

Will superhero fatigue hit? “Possibly. But I would also say that a lot of people who see superhero movies for the first time don’t have much prior knowledge of the characters. So in a lot of ways, if a superhero movie is done well, it’s not just about the fact that they have powers. There’s a human element there as well. There’s a connection to the character. You liked the first Iron Man movie not just because Tony Stark flies around; you like Tony Stark. You might as well ask me whether there’s going to be movie fatigue.”

[From Guardian]

I’m almost embarrassed for Chris after reading this. The guy is obviously backtracking on what he said about Marvel a few weeks ago. He’s not even acknowledging his PR faux pas. He’s fervently hoping that we’ll forget about it. He’s absolutely petrified. He’s just not into this anymore.

Oh well. I’ve beat up on Chris enough lately. He does seem like a good guy who ended up in a high-pressure career and can’t figure out how to downshift. Now he’s pretending to be okay with it all. I get the feeling that he’s counting the moments until he can take a nice long break from press conferences and feeling like a cog. The thing is … everyone at Marvel is a cog. Chris should feel lucky that he’s one of the higher-paid cogs.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN