Chris Evans Shares Hilarious Story About Meeting Paul Rudd for the First Time on Marvel Set

By John Ross Bradford Updated:
Paul Rudd on left, Chris Evans on right

Being around for as long as they have been, Marvel Studios has got a lot going for them, with no signs of slowing down. One of the many credits of the mass success they've seen goes to the fact that the cast loves what they do. Playing a Marvel hero (or villain) is one of the most coveted roles in Hollywood these days, but that isn't just because of the money and the fame.

The actors and actresses that have brought Marvel characters to life on the big screen haven't been shy in letting people know that they love the environment that Marvel Studios provides while making their films. And even speaking from the outside, the studio appears to foster one of the healthiest atmospheres in the film industry. Everyone gets along with one another, and some are even close enough to get matching tattoos !

Despite this, walking onto a Marvel set for the first time can seem daunting, to say the least. Ant-Man actor Paul Rudd recently shared how he felt when he teamed up with the rest of the Marvel crew for the first time, which then prompted his MCU co-star Chris Evans to share one of the greatest stories ever told about the Avengers bunch.

NEWS

A recent post on Tumblr from a Chris Evans fan account shared an excerpt from an unreleased virtual Variety segment titled Actors on Actors , which paired up actors Paul Rudd and Chris Evans whom have now co-starred in two MCU films (three, if you count Ant-Man 's post-credits scene).

The post lays out the part of their conversation where Rudd recalls meeting Chris Evans for the first time, on his first day on set for 2016's Captain America: Civil War . Evans explained how he and the Avengers cast were eager to add Rudd to the group, which prompted Rudd to admit how nervous he actually was to join them, playing into the "real kind of nervousness about Scott Lang" to help him navigate through the new experience.

Thinking back to that day, Evans then remembered a great story about the fun-loving Avengers cast, and shared how Rudd went right along with the fun on his very first day aboard.

Below is the full excerpt of Rudd's conversation with Evans:

CHRIS EVANS: Even in the “Avengers” world, it was kind of like welcoming you into the fold, but very quickly. I can’t imagine you not gelling with the group. You’re like sorbet, just a palate cleanser. It’s an always welcome addition.

PAUL RUDD: When I was working with you on “Civil War,” for that first scene that we had where we were in the car parked —

EVANS: That was the first day I met you.

RUDD: Yeah. And there was a real kind of nervousness about Scott Lang, and I just really kind of played into that because that was part of what I was feeling anyway. I’d look around and think, “Whoa, there’s Chris Evans and there’s Sebastian Stan, and wow — and there’s the suits.” Do you remember there was like a little makeshift locker room? We’re all kind of changing into things, and I saw the suits on the racks. It felt like being in a locker room of a Super Bowl-winning football team.

EVANS: I don’t know if you remember this. On that day, it was literally the day I met you, [Anthony] Mackie and I and Scarlett [Johansson] got in our head that we were going to shoot — this is so hilarious — a little video just for the Marvel gang, like a little culmination, like a yearbook video, set to that song from “Grease.” “We go together, like rama lama,” whatever that song is. We were just going to go around, take little clips of videos of people dancing and cut it all together. The first day I was like, “All right, I’ll start collecting some of this footage.” I have the footage.

I was like, “Hi, nice to meet you. You don’t know me, but can I get this?” It was you, Mackie, I think [Jeremy] Renner, Sebastian, and I just said, “Look, everyone, just dance for 30 seconds,” and you did it. You were a great sport. You willingly danced with little explanation from me, and then I never completed the video. I just abandoned it. But I got that footage of our first day of meeting of you dancing.

RUDD: I must’ve blocked it out. I don’t remember it at all.

WHAT THIS MEANS

Starting with the fact that the environment of the Civil War set was relaxed enough for Evans to be goofing around with his camera, it's easy to tell that Marvel Studios has a way with making the actors actually want to be there. And with directors as dedicated as Joe and Anthony Russo, combined with the titan of superhero films that is Kevin Feige, it's admirable that they are able to find such a healthy balance of work and play, and still deliver one powerhouse of a film after another.

What makes Evans' story even greater is not that Rudd decided to follow suit and dance along with his new cast mates, but rather the fact that Rudd doesn't even remember doing it. Rudd is a team player for sure, but it is hilarious to hear that this came so naturally to him, so much so that he can't even pull that occurrence from his memory. This only further instills that Rudd really is the ductile, live-in-the-moment type of guy that Scott Lang is in the films, which helps explain why fans just can't get enough of him.

- About The Author: John Ross Bradford
John Ross Bradford is an editor and writer at The Direct. He has contributed to content ideation and development across multiple branches of the company's website since it launched in 2020.