Chris Evans Getting Spinoff For One Of His Most Enjoyable Fan-Favorite Characters?
Chris Evans says he wants to return to the role of Knives Out's Ransom, this time a quest for vengeance on the heroes who exposed his crimes.
Captain America may have hung up his shield, but he’s still got his knives out. According to ComicBook.com, former MCU actor Chris Evans has an idea for a spinoff starring fan-favorite Knives Out villain Ransom in which the villain would go on a quest of vengeance. If Evans has enough clout to manifest such a project, it would be the first spinoff in the Knives Out franchise.
Chris Evans revealed his idea as part of a panel at C2E2 in Chicago. During the panel, a fan asked the Avengers actor about the potential for Ransom to return to the Knives Out universe at some point down the road. The actor, unsurprisingly, had some ideas about just such a return.
“It can’t be like a redemption story,” Evans said. “No one wants to see Ransom find redemption.” Chris Evans then went on to prove, once and for all, he’s the best Chris by laying out a pitch that he literally compares to an episode of The Simpsons.
“Yeah, I mean, like Sideshow Bob, like runs for office. But it’s an elaborate plan to actually take down Benoit Blanc and Marta,” explained the actor. A Knives Out movie that takes its cues from classic Simpsons reads like a match made in heaven. In other words, it’s a perfectly cromulent scenario.
Knives Out was Rian Johnson’s follow-up to the incredibly divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi. A modern-day Agatha Christie whodunnit sprinkled with Johnson’s signature humor, Knives Out was a surprise hit when it was released in 2019. The original movie boasted an all-star cast that, in addition to Chris Evans, included Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Jaimie Lee Curtis, and Christopher Plummer.
After the success of Knives Out, a bidding war broke out over the sequel rights. Netflix won in the end, and a second film, Glass Onion, was released on the streamer in 2022. Sadly the only character to return from the original was Johnson’s Poirot-by-way-of-Foghorn Leghorn, Benoit Blanc.
It’s hard to assume a hard and fast formula after only two films, but so far, it seems like Craig’s Blanc is the only character Johnson is interested in continuing through future installments.
Of course, that could easily change. After taking a sequel or two to establish Benoit Blanc as a sleuth supreme, it would only make sense to give him a recurring adversary to bounce off of. Who better to play that adversary than Chris Evans?
Ransom would make a perfect Moriarty to Blanc’s Sherlock Holmes or even a perfect Blofeld to Benoit’s James Bond. And like most villains that have a distinguishing feature, Ransom has the perfect set-up for a recurring trait: his sweater. When Knives Out was released, one of the biggest things the internet glommed onto was the cable-knit sweater worn by Chris Evans in the movie.
A different sweater each time could be a potential gimmick for any Knives Out spinoffs or sequels featuring Chris Evans. One film could see Evans’ villainous Ransom scheming in a cardigan, while another could see the dastardly plotter sporting a sweater vest throughout the entire caper.
Will Rian Johnson go for Chris Evans’ spinoff idea? With Glass Onion also garnering rave reviews from critics and fans alike, another Knives Out is all but inevitable. Whether it will feature Ransom or his sweater is anyone’s guess, but at least we know Evans is up for it.
