… But I kind of knew, this wasn’t happening.” But it was fun, I don’t remember too much. (He’s not too far off: Will Smith, Sam Worthington, Garrett Hedlund, Chad Michael Murray, Channing Tatum, John Krasinski and even Sebastian Stan were among the many actors who reportedly tried out for the role.) “It was like anyone who had legs and could walk and could talk auditioned to play Captain America. “I think I was just brought in to read, they probably auditioned a million people,” Russell says. He originally auditioned to play him over a decade ago before Evans was cast in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is actually Russell’s second flirtation with Captain America. I am not here to say, ‘You should like him!’” You go out and you do it, and however you feel is how you’re supposed to feel.

“I don’t like telling people how to feel because it’s like explaining your art,” he says. Some True Believers are decrying “the fake Cap, ” longing for the return of Chris Evans and, as more than a few tweets fantasize, punching John Walker in the face. The response to Russell’s Walker has been, how shall we say, passionate. While all indications point to Wilson, not Walker, ultimately becoming Marvel’s new Cap by series' end, right now the current Star-Spangled Avenger isn't exactly winning over fans. In Disney+'s Marvel Cinematic Universe series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Russell, 34, plays John Walker - the decorated Marine entrusted with Steve Rogers’ indestructible red, white and blue super shield after Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) turns it down. Of course, his run as a superhero - one of the most iconic of all time, Captain America - will in all likelihood be short-lived. When I was a kid, I didn’t know anyone who read comic books,” the hockey player-turned-actor told Yahoo Entertainment (watch our interview with Russell and co-stars Erin Kellyman and Amy Aquino above). “I didn’t know comic books were still a thing. Wyatt Russell didn’t grow up idolizing superheroes - or dreaming of someday playing one.

Wyatt russell captain america