How The Office’s John Krasinski Knew His Captain America Audition Was a Bust

Alternate Hollywood universes in which major movie roles are played by different actors are often the universes I sometimes wish I were living in. We all love Chris Evans as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—but isn’t part of you dying to know what the Captain America films would have been like if Jim from The Office were playing the titular role?

That’s right, back in the day, John Krasinski was actually one of the top candidates to play Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger. Krasinski did a screen test for the part and even got to wear the suit for his audition. But as Krasinski told Conan O’Brien, he quickly realized he wasn’t really right for the part:

“The only bummer of [the audition] was, I was putting on the suit…and I got to right about my waist, I was still shirtless, feeling pretty good about myself—it wasn’t 13 Hours yet—but I felt pretty good, and all of a sudden Chris Hemsworth walked by as Thor and he’s like, ‘Hey, mate,’ and I went, ‘I’m good. This is stupid. It’s okay. I’m not Captain America.’ ”

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What a shame. If everyone turned down a role because they weren’t as jacked as Chris Hemsworth, there would be, like, no movie roles for anyone else. Krasinski would eventually get really buff for his role in the Bayghazi movie, but we know deep down sometimes he wonders what it’d be like to wield a red, white, and blue shield on that movie poster.