Y'all, the hotly anticipated comedy Free Guy came out this past weekend, and it's a super-fun time — but one, singular moment from the movie has the internet in a bit of a tizzy. You see, there's an unexpected cameo from an all-time Marvel Cinematic Universe original!!!
So, with that in mind, now would be a good time to remind you that there are SPOILERS in this post. There are major SPOILERS in this post for the movie Free Guy. There are major SPOILERS incoming in 3, 2, 1.5, 1...
...Chris Evans. It was Chris Evans.
For context: The cameo takes places after the titular "Guy" struggles to defeat the final boss (a buffer, scarier version of himself, aptly named "Dude"). He then begins pulling out all the stops against his nemesis weaponry-wise, which included a lightsaber, a Hulk fist, and Captain America's shield.
Now, how did a 20th Century Studios–produced comedy get permission to use such precious and beloved iconography from the Disney brand? Well, 20th Century Studios is now owned by Disney, duh!
"Once we realized, wait, Disney now owns the studio that owns our movie, we were like, well shoot, they have the greatest toy chest around," Free Guy's director, Shawn Levy, told ETOnline while discussing the scene. "And if I were Guy and if I could gather any piece of weaponry that I ever dreamed of, it would definitely include a lightsaber. It would absolutely include Cap's shield."
"So, we wrote a letter to Disney and said, 'Hello, I am Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy. We are making Free Guy, as you know. You now own us. Can we please use one of these fancy iconic devices?'" he continued. "And we got a response and the answer was, 'Yes.' And we sent an email back saying, 'Sorry. To clarify, which one?' And we got an email back saying, 'All of them. You can have all of them.' We were beyond stoked."
"Once we had that, then Ryan was like, 'Wait a second, Chris Evans is in the same town we are shooting his Apple show, Defending Jacob. I'm going to text him and ask him if he'll come by and be in the movie.' I guess that's a thing movie stars do. 'Hi, movie star. I'm your fellow movie star. Want to come be in my movie?'"
"Chris Evans, being a cool, good guy, was like, 'If I can come by and literally be in and out in 10 minutes, I think I can slip it in.' So, that's what happened," he finished. "That's how we ended up with Chris Evans, in addition to a lightsaber and a Hulk fist and Cap's shield."
And, of course, fans absolutely LOST THEIR DARN MINDS over it:
#FreeGuy spoiler - - - - - caps shield and the avengers music literally made me feel like it was endgame all over again and then CHRIS EVANS SHOWED UP N I LOST MY SHIT and so did my theatre
me when i saw chris evans in free guy
#FreeGuy WAS SO FUCKING GOOD! New favorite movie, istg. I can't remember a time I got so intensely invested in a movie SPOILERS BELOW . . . . . And when the Chris Evans thing happened, I swear everyone started clapping and whistling like during the Mjolnir moment in Endgame 😂
Chris Evans in Free guy: What the shit! My pure mouthed Steve Rogers loving mind immediately goes-
So, uh, yeah! That's how they managed to pull off one of the best surprise cameos in years! What'd you think of Free Guy? Share all of your thoughts and feelings in the comments below!
