Lightyear star and Marvel Cinematic Universe icon Chris Evans recently opened up about which of his MCU costars taught him the most.
During a "Plays with Puppies" interview with Buzzfeed, Evans simply said, "Probably Downey." He added, "You know, He's seen a lot, been through a lot, and he's so talented. I'd be a fool to not listen."
Evans first appeared in the MCU as Steve Rogers in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger. His debut as Captain America came three years after Robert Downey Jr.'s own as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in the hero's self-titled 2008 film. The two appeared in seven MCU feature films together, from 2012's Avengers up through 2019's Avengers: Endgame, the latter of which gave both stars their respective exits from the franchise.
According to other MCU stars, Downey certainly left his mark. Actor Karen Gillan, who portrays Nebula previously said, "I don't know if you saw Endgame, which seems like [laughs]. That's a ridiculous question. But basically, all of the stuff with Robert Downey Jr. [who portrays Tony Stark/Iron Man] at the beginning was like, that whole montage was improvised. Because all that was written was oh, they play football. They eat, they do this. And then we kind of ended up getting to improvise because he's an amazing improviser."
Evans is currently starring in Lightyear, a spinoff based on the exploits of the titular character made famous by Tim Allen in 1995's Toy Story. Lightyear director Angus McLane explained Evans' casting in the lead role over its original voice actor, saying that "The tone [of Lightyear] is a lot different [to that of the Toy Story movies]. Tim is hilarious, but this character wouldn’t work as well with him doing the Space Ranger voice. It would not be as emotional. It just changes the tone of the movie. We were going for more of a classic sci-fi film."
Evans himself remarked on picking up Allen's nearly 30 year legacy, as well as Buzz Lightyear's iconic catchphrase "To infinity, and Beyond!" Evans admitted that, "As proud as I am to play this role and as honored as I am to be a part of this universe now, that line belongs to someone else. It almost kind of felt like I was wearing someone else's clothes or something, you know? So you do your best to honor it and put your own spin on it." He added, "But let's be honest, that's Tim Allen's line."
Lightyear is in theaters now.
Source: YouTube