Jensen Ackles Wants to ‘Mix It Up’ with Chris Evans, and the Internet Agrees

There is something almost poetic about the idea of Jensen Ackles and Chris Evans sharing a screen, two actors who spent years unknowingly circling each other in Hollywood’s endless casting carousel, now on opposite ends of the most irresistible superhero rivalry the internet never knew it needed. Ackles built his legend over fifteen seasons as Dean Winchester on ‘Supernatural’, the role that made him a genre icon and, as fate would have it, the very scheduling conflict that kept him away from the Captain America conversation entirely.

For years, rumors swirled that Ackles had been in serious contention to play Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a role that ultimately went to Chris Evans. Those rumors resurfaced with full force when Ackles was cast as Soldier Boy on ‘The Boys‘, playing what many described as an antagonistic, darkly comic version of Cap. The timing felt loaded with irony, and fans ran with it.

The truth behind those audition rumors turned out to be more complicated. In a candid sit-down with Entertainment Weekly, Ackles confirmed he never actually auditioned for the role, with the magazine noting he may have been in brief consideration but it never went that far. “Did I audition for Captain America? No, I did not,” Ackles told the outlet, adding that his ‘Supernatural’ schedule made availability impossible. But the history between the two actors runs deeper than a missed callback.

That history is exactly what makes the quote circulating from The Wrap so charged. Ackles addressed the idea of a Soldier Boy versus Captain America face-off directly, saying he would love to mix it up with Chris Evans, describing him as someone he and Evans go way back with, and calling the character matchup genuinely interesting. Ackles has previously confirmed that he and Evans frequently competed against each other for the same roles earlier in their careers, saying, “Chris and I used to go against each other for quite a bit on a lot of different things back in the day.”

Ackles plays Soldier Boy in ‘The Boys’ as a dark mirror of Steve Rogers, introduced as a warped version of Evans’ morally upright Avenger. Where Captain America is defined by virtue and self-sacrifice, Soldier Boy leans into violence and bad behavior, making him a pointed satirical contrast to everything the Star-Spangled Man represents. The character was designed to unpack what heroism actually looked like before it was polished for public consumption.

Showrunner Eric Kripke described Soldier Boy as the figure who was essentially Homelander before Homelander, a man shaped by a different era but carrying the same ego and unchecked ambition. Ackles himself put it bluntly, describing the character as what Captain America might look like if he gave up super-heroism and became your drunk and inappropriate uncle. The comedic savagery of that framing is precisely what made his casting feel so perfectly cast and perfectly cruel at once.

When previously asked by Yahoo Entertainment whether he thought Soldier Boy could take Captain America in a fight, Ackles was surprisingly self-aware, conceding that Evans would win. “No, he’s got magic powers,” Ackles said. “And his shield can return to him. My shield is just a blunt object. He wins.” The fact that Ackles is now openly expressing interest in that exact showdown, even in a hypothetical capacity, has sent fans into a spirited debate about what that crossover could look like.

Whether a face-off between these two patriotic super-soldiers ever materializes in any form is anyone’s guess, but the conversation alone is half the fun. If you had to pick a winner between Soldier Boy and Captain America, whose side are you on?