A salute to a hero’s hiney
Captain America’s “got a nice butt.”
In “Avengers: Endgame,” the superheroes assembled in one astonishing finale. But there’s one asset that can help assuage our sadness about the team’s final ascension.
The existence of Captain America’s butt. Or, as Ant-Man describes it, “America’s a--.”
And I salute the hero’s hiney. Cap’s butt is just like his valiant persona: Firm but not too severe; simultaneously comforting and demanding of loyalty. It’s a behind you want to follow into battle, because you want to protect it and also because you want to keep looking at it. It’s more a ripe plum than a peach, and it’s certainly in season right now with droves of fans tweeting about their love for Cap’s best end in the game.
It’s “all natural,” his stunt double Daniel Hargrave tells USA TODAY. “I have to focus on a lot of squats” while working with him. “He’s got a nice butt.”
It’s not that he has a huge rear, but it’s a pleasantly bubbly one. Ashkan Ghavami, a plastic surgeon who specializes in buttock augmentation, agrees that Cap’s bottom is “nice” – “not over- or under exaggerated,” he says. “On a white male, a lot of times you don’t even see this (much booty).”
Still, Anthony Mackie, who plays Falcon, lovingly calls Evans “Captain Small A--,” as he told PopSugar in 2014.
Perhaps because Cap’s butt is a product of government-backed Super Soldier Serum, America does feel ownership over that derriere, and what must be its golden ratio of glute definition to fleshiness. Cheering for Captain America and his triangular proportions (which have been compared to those of a Dorito chip) feels patriotic. It’s like rooting for Team USA.
In “Endgame” alone, Cap’s bum gets plenty of screen time. It’s shown off in tight khakis, black workpants and upgraded super-suits from angles that might seem gratuitous were it not for Evans’ unspoken covenant with viewers that his butt is for sharing.
“I feel so seen,” TV writer Alanna Bennett says on Twitter, because “they talked so much about Captain America’s butt in that movie.” Film journalist Anna Menta adds that she was “overwhelmed” at the amount of attention Cap’s buttocks received onscreen, writing, “I never expected this gift” and applauding “the fan service.”
Another fan, @suleiman_yara, echoed the sentiments of many, tweeting, “We will forever stan Captain America’s (butt).”
It seems that Evans has been willingly letting fans adore his posterior since 2001, when he showed his nude backside in the outrageous comedy “Not Another Teenage Movie.” Three years ago, he conceded that he was an admirer of rears. “I’m way, way, way more of an a-- man,” he announced on Anna Faris’ podcast. And if that weren’t clear, he added, “I like butts.”
Even Evans’ co-stars recognized that highly shared shot of Cap’s “tussy,” as Mark Ruffalo has called it. In an interview with MTV News, both Brie Larson and Danai Gurira could ID America’s butt in a close-up photo. Evans, of course, also recognized his famous feature, exclaiming, “That’s my tush!”
In “Avengers: Endgame,” Captain America again celebrates that hiney of his with some time travel and movie magic.
It happens when Steve Rogers travels back to 2012 New York, where he sees himself as he looked that year.
Iron Man quips that the older suit “did nothing” for Cap’s butt, correctly pointing out that the vintage Captain America outfit was unforgiving. But Ant-Man gets defensive, saying that Cap has America’s behind.
After older Cap is forced to fight his younger self, 2012 Cap is left knocked out, face down, tush on display.
Hargrave says that although he and his brother, second unit director Samuel Hargrave, stood in to help shoot the action sequence (as younger and older Cap), the fanny shown off in that scene belongs to Evans.
“That was all him,” Hargrave confirms.
And in “Endgame,” present-day Captain America finally gets to admire all of that.
Cap catches a glimpse of his unconscious self with his few-yearsyounger backside and says, matter of factly, “That America’s a--.”
Cap isn’t one to joke.