Marvel

Chris Evans lauds Marvel co-star Sebastian Stan as "really fearless" and "takes big swings"

By Sophia Soto | Last updated Apr 22, 2025 6:26 PM ET

Sebastian Stan is having an incredible year, winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a musical or comedy for his role in A Different Man and earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actor thanks to his performance in The Apprentice.

"Sebastian has always been really fearless," Chris Evans, who has worked with Stan repeatedly in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, told Vanity Fair. "You can see that in his choices. He takes big swings. When that Trump movie was kicking around, I remember thinking, I wonder who is going to take this job? It’s just got so many strings attached to it. And I was so unsurprised when I heard it was Sebastian."

It turns out that Jessica Chastain actually enouraged Stan to take the risk, sharing, "When we were on set for The 355, that’s when he first told me he had had the offer to play Donald Trump. A thing about Sebastian that people might not realize is he’s very, very thoughtful, almost to a point where he overthinks things. It could cause a little bit of stress. He was like, 'Well, what do you think? What would you do?' I said, 'Do it.' I was like, 'What do you have to lose? Take a risk.' As long as it doesn’t cause you physical danger, if something scares you—do it."

Presenting our May cover star, Sebastian Stan.

Playing everyone from Bucky Barnes to Donald Trump and Tommy Lee, Stan has emerged as one of Hollywood’s most daring shape-shifters. “Sebastian has always been really fearless,” says his Marvel costar Chris Evans.

For VF’s May… pic.twitter.com/EjfOr0xoEE
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) April 21, 2025

"When so many people are trying to make you this conventional movie star, it’s a risk to do something that isn’t that," she continued to say. "He’s willing to play unlikable characters. I find that executives have trouble with characters that may be complex and have dark sides to them. He really embraces that. He’s not happy to just be a conventional movie star."

Before booking the role of Bucky Barnes in 2010, the actor was struggling with work, explaining, "I had just gotten off the phone with my business manager, who told me I was saved by $65,000 that came in residuals from Hot Tub Time Machine."

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige reflected on his casting, expressing, "You could see that he has so much inside him and so much behind his eyes. I’ll never forget that. I said to Stephen Broussard, who was one of the producers on Captain America, 'He’s going to be a good Bucky, but he’s going to be a great Winter Soldier.'"

Stan will next be seen in Thunderbolts*, which will be released in theaters on May 2, and he is confirmed to reprise his role in Avengers: Doomsday.

Sophia Soto

Sophia Soto is a writer and interviewer with a passion for all things entertainment. She is a Senior Reporter at The Nerds of Color and contributes to Yardbarker, Screensphere, Den of Geek, What to Watch, Nerdtropolis, and Temple of Geek. You can see her past work on Remezcla, Young Hollywood, Looper, Paste Magazine, Primetimer, Soundsphere, and Starry Constellation Magazine

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