--- title: John Krasinski Didn't Do Captain America Because of Thor description: John Krasinksi really wanted to play Captain America—until he saw Chris Hemsworth canonical: https://time.com/4464279/john-krasinksi-chris-hemsworth-captain-america/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-24T15:42:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:47.637Z og:title: John Krasinksi Didn't Do Captain America Because of Thor og:description: In his defense, Chris Hemsworth is a really good superhero og:url: https://time.com/4464279/john-krasinksi-chris-hemsworth-captain-america/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ad4cf6416c880e0/6988a384e20a8774c3a9224a/john.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Premiere Of Sony Pictures Classics' "The Hollars" - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Krasinksi Didn't Do Captain America Because of Thor twitter:description: In his defense, Chris Hemsworth is a really good superhero twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ad4cf6416c880e0/6988a384e20a8774c3a9224a/john.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John Krasinksi: It’s Chris Hemsworth’s Fault I Don’t Play Captain America > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 24, 2016 3:42 PM UTC  Actor John Krasinski attends the premiere of "The Hollars" at Linwood Dunn Theater on August 22, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Actor John Krasinski attends the premiere of "The Hollars" at Linwood Dunn Theater on August 22, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Jason LaVeris-FilmMagic by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 24, 2016 3:42 PM UTC Only one thing stood in the way of John Krasinski playing [Captain America](http://time.com/4346498/captain-america-bucky-barnes-boyfriend/?iid=sr-link2)_—_[Chris Hemsworth](http://time.com/3602499/woody-harrelson-hunger-games-liam-chris-hemsworth-brothers/?iid=sr-link4). On _Conan_ on Tuesday night, Krasinski—perhaps still best known as Jim from the American version of _The Office_—recounted the story of auditioning to play Steve Rogers, who himself is better known as the first Avenger, [Captain America. ](http://time.com/4347224/captain-america-hydra-agent-marvel-tom-brevoort/?iid=sr-link1) For Krasinski, playing a superhero would have been a dream come true, and he went to the audition determined to get the part. To help get him in the mindset of a scrawny enlisted man who is given a secret serum that transforms him into a muscled U.S. soldier with incredible athletic ability, Krasinski was allowed to suit up in full Captain America garb. But something happened—[Chris Hemsworth](http://time.com/4322840/chris-hemsworth-daughter-birthday-cake/?iid=sr-link1), who plays [Thor](http://time.com/4396301/chris-hemsworth-thor-ragnarok-hammer/?iid=sr-link3) in the Marvel movies, walked by. While [Chris Evans ](http://time.com/4290380/chris-evans-captain-america-jimmy-kimmel/?iid=sr-link2)eventually got the part as [Captain America](http://time.com/4290412/presidential-race-captain-america-video-jimmy-kimmel/?iid=sr-link5), as Krasinski told Conan O’Brien, at least in his head he got the role. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4464279/john-krasinksi-chris-hemsworth-captain-america/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4464279/john-krasinksi-chris-hemsworth-captain-america/"},"headline":"John Krasinksi: It’s Chris Hemsworth’s Fault I Don’t Play Captain America","datePublished":"2016-08-24T15:42:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:47.637Z","description":"Blame Thor!","url":"https://time.com/4464279/john-krasinksi-chris-hemsworth-captain-america/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","movies","Chris Evans","Captain America","conan","Chris Hemsworth"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ad4cf6416c880e0/6988a384e20a8774c3a9224a/john.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ad4cf6416c880e0/6988a384e20a8774c3a9224a/john.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Premiere Of Sony Pictures Classics' \"The Hollars\" - Arrivals","caption":"Premiere Of Sony Pictures Classics' \"The Hollars\" - Arrivals","creditText":"Jason LaVeris-FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4464279/john-krasinksi-chris-hemsworth-captain-america/","name":"John Krasinksi: It’s Chris Hemsworth’s Fault I Don’t Play Captain America"}}]}] ```