Former Avenger Chris Evans will soon swap sides for Netflix’s upcoming spy thriller The Gray Man, which will see the Captain America star become the villain of the piece, Lloyd Hansen. Speaking with Empire Magazine, Evans has offered some insight into the bad guy of The Gray Man, who has been described as “a sadistic, narcissistic, sociopathic manhunter who relishes the nastiest parts of the job.” Quite the change from Steve Rogers, then.
“It does seem that I’ve aggressively gone 180 [degrees] from Steve Rogers. But it just kind of unfolded that way.”
The Gray Man is being directed by The Russo Brothers, who have worked alongside Evans before throughout the MCU in the likes of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Heaping praise on the directing duo, Evans revealed that Lloyd Hansen is unlike any character he has played before. Something that the actor was more than happy to relish in.
“I love the Russos, and I’ll pretty much do anything they ask me to do. And this is a character I’ve never been able to play. He’s so liberated, and free, and honest. What I like about him is that you should almost fear his smile more than his scowl. I think he understands that what he does is bad and harmful, but I think he considers himself necessary. He thinks he’s a disrupter.”
As well as learning about how different the character will be from Chris Evans’ usual heroic fare, The Gray Man co-writer Stephen McFeely also discusses the anarchic impact of Lloyd Hansen saying, “He’s a trainwreck of a human being. That guy can be anything in any scene, because all he wants is anarchy.”
It’s Ryan Reynolds Versus Chris Evans in The Gray Man
Based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Mark Greaney, The Gray Man centers on Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), the CIA's most skilled mercenary whose true identity is known to none, who accidentally uncovers dark agency secrets. Soon, he finds himself pursued by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a psychopathic former colleague, who puts a bounty on his head, setting off a global manhunt by international assassins.
The plan is for The Gray Man to launch a new franchise for the streaming platform, with The Russo Brothers already thinking about what will come next. “We never want to jinx it. But we’re already thinking through where it goes from here,” Joe Russo explained recently. “We like to build out worlds, and we would rather gamble on the upside and put the energy and time in to build out that universe prior to the release, so that the ideas are more germane and organic. That’s how you build out a more complex mosaic narrative.”
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and from a screenplay the brothers co-wrote alongside Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, The Gray Man stars Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Regé-Jean Page, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Billy Bob Thornton, and Alfre Woodard.
The Gray Man is scheduled to land on Netflix on July 22, 2022.