Is Chris Evans to Captain America what RDJ is to Iron Man?

Yes

Not even in the same league

Yep

Better

I think so

No. Chris Evans can totally be replaced. All you have to do is find someone who is generic white bread but still likable.

RDJ on the other hand defined the role unique to him.

No because I can see other actors in the role as well, can't say the same for MCU Iron Man, RDJ can't be replaced

Better imo

Not even close.

Hell yes.

He is the perfect Captain America.

Oh, definitely.

Captain America is Chris Evans

I think, with Civil War and Winter Soldier, he may have passed RDJ imo.

I don't think people get what makes RDJ so special in the role. It's more than just being great in the role, or even perfect. If that were the case, then Gadot, Holland, Pratt, Rufallo, Affleck, McAvoy and Fassbender would all be as good as RDJ. RDJ as Tony is more than a good performance. RDJ's performance is:

• So good, he made the role his own, to the point where no one can see anyone else as the character.
• His performance was so good and so influential that he defined and changed the way people interpret Tony as a character. Tony wasn't seen as a funny character, until RDJ. Now everyone associates Tony with humour. I don't think Evans changed the way anyone looks at Cap as a character.
• This isn't even factoring in Robert Downey Jr's bigger star power and the fact he's in every other MCU film now, getting paid more than Cap and Spidey in their own movies.
• And even if we're talking as a standalone performance, RDJ's performance is a lot more compelling than Evans as Rogers. Nothing Evans has done comes close RDJ in the bunker scene in Civil War. Don't get me wrong, Evans is a good Cap, but his performance is pretty one-note and he rarely has to show strong emotion. RDJ is a lot more fascinating because one moment he'll have you laughing your ass of and then he'll surprise you by exposing his inner demons the next scene. RDJ draws from his real life experiences and it shows.
• Also, last but not last, RDJ's performance was so good it kickstarted the biggest franchise in the film history. Can you imagine if they picked the wrong actor for Iron Man in 2008? Let's just say you'd probably be looking at DC and Fox dominating the CBM genre, which would've even be as big of a genre if not for the MCU.

So yeah, not even in the same league. TBH, the only superhero actor alive who can be compared to RDJ as Iron Man, is Jackman as Wolverine. If I worked at Fox, I would be shitting myself trying to think of who I can possibly recast as Wolverine.

Yes.

Yes. RDJ was IronMan from the jump but Chris has grown into the role and made Captain America his. I couldn’t really see anyone else playing Cap

@theamazingspidey: too late, but you would have made me change my vote.

I agree with your analysis.

I don't really get this. I mean I definitely agree RDJ has single handedly redefined the cool in a superhero movie or character. We always have a tendency to like and root for the bad boys. Always

RDJ played the eccentric billionaire genius with a drinking problem very brilliantly. But if you look at it, Its not a very hard thing to do. Not even close to stuff like playing the Joker. The role suited RDJ because he's Tony Stark in real life. He himself has been through that phase in life, intense stardom, female fans, drug abuse and what not. But doesn't mean anyone else couldn't have done the same. We now feel RDJ is irreplaceable because we've seen him in a lot of movies playing Iron Man. He's played different phases of life of the character. He acts like Tony stark in real life. He dresses the same, has the same facial hair And Playing Tony Stark was his breakthrough role that made him popular almost everywhere in the world. there won't be anyone who doesn't recognize RDJ or Iron Man now. RDJ is associated with Iron Man and will be till he dies.

But attribution of how he's associated with a particular role to how well an actor he is isn't always right. I think Sam Rockwell did a fantastic job as Justin Hammer in the Iron Man series. If he'd have played the role of Tony Stark, I'm sure I'd have felt the same today, that Sam Rockwell is an embodiment of Tony Stark.

I'm not taking away RDJs credits. Once again, he is absolutely fantastic as Iron Man. but saying he's not replaceable is exagerrating things a bit.

That being said, Chris Evans isn't close to RDJ if we compare their performances of their respective characters. I firmly believe, Tony overshadowed Cap in Civil War. RDJ was spellbinding. Evans isn't exceptional. He's just very good. Better than the other guys in the MCU. He seems to have adopted the righteous side of Cap's character more in his version of Cap. I liked him in The Winter Soldier movie. I think that one had a great Cap performance. I'm not spellbinded by Evans. I'm just satisfied that Marvel found a good actor to portray Cap and many people have come to really like him as Cap and he can at least stand on the same ground as RDJ now. But in every scene where Tony and Cap interact, I've always felt RDJ always out performs Evans by a slight margin. And this is coming from a MCU Cap fan.

Easily

Fantastic post

@dernman: Bingo.

I was with you until you said that about Jackman ans Wolverine. I never thought he was right for the role.

@dernman: in my opinion jackman's only real 'fault' as wolverine is that his just too tall, though as LOTR has shown us, nifty camera tricks can help quite a bit with this.

It didn't work well when they did the Hobbit though.

I'd say more so than RDJ.

@dernman: Well, hobbit was a complete mess when it comes to production. No, surprise that post-production was equally messy.

@theamazingspidey: That's high praise to RDJ. I agree.

A closer comparison is Heath as Joker.

He’s a fantastic actor and great in the role, but I don’t think so. Imho Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man/Tony Stark is up there with Adam West as Batman or Christopher Reeve as Superman, Hugh as Wolverine. He’s so synonymous with the character, often I don’t even see Robert Downey Jr doing an interview or late night show, I see Tony Stark....it’s weird, but I can’t even help it

No.

In my opinion, the iconic actors for superheroes are Heath Ledger, Christopher Reeve, Adam West, and Robert Downey Jr.

While Chris Evans is good, there's nothing complex about the character of Captain America. He's the same in every scenario. Tony Stark's character fluctuates a lot more and actually has internal conflicts.

Not even close RDJ could role a billion dollars in a horrible solo film Cap couldnt hit anywhere close to a billion in his solo films and he has one of the best MCU films in the series being TWS

nah, I can both see someone else playing cap, and could see Evens playing someone else

I can't say the same for RDJ

If they recasted Cap in-between TFA and Avengers I wouldn't really mind. I mean they recasted Hulk ( sometimes I still wonder what it would be like if Norton remained the Hulk). Can't say the same about RDJ though. Also, if Evans didn't grow into the role after being him since 2011 we would have problems.

theamazingspidey continues to be amazing :)

@farkam: Thank you ??

*Cap is to Human Torch as what RDJ is to Iron Man

Fixed

Nah , RDJ is Ironman , Chris Evans ain't Captain America.

It's a resounding yes from me. Evans nailed the part, arguably more than RDJ did Iron Man. I could not see someone else taking the role and doing nearly as well. Hell, he even looks like what I imagine Steve Rogers would look like IRL.

No and it's not even close

Yes.

If by that you mean is he the definitive Captain America actor? Damn right he is. And I would say he is even a better written character since MCU Tony's attitude kinda made people believe he's a jerk while he's not. MCU Iron-man is still nigh perfect in my opinion, but Evans' portrayal is flawless.

No

Yes, he's a perfect choice to play Cap. MCU Cap really resembles his comic counterpart.

Nahh you could replace him eaisly... IM on the other hand.