The last time we saw Captain America, his fight with Iron Man had split the Avengers in two. He’d lost his shield and his status as a government-approved hero. So what has Cap been up to between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War? Nerdist talked with Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson on the set of the upcoming MCU movie to find out.

Evans sat before us as you saw him in Infinity Wars‘ trailer. His hair had grown longer and darker, his beard full and masking the perfect jaw-line that’s splashed across countless posters. The costume he wore still bears stars and stripes, but in darker, more somber shades. At a distance, you wouldn’t recognize him as the leader of the Avengers.

“Cap is a leader,” Evans told us, “But since there is no technical Avengers structure…I think he’s still a leader at heart. I just don’t know if he necessarily has the same chain of command that he had in prior films.”

Asked if Infinity War will show Steve Rodgers and Tony Stark still stinging from their last showdown, Evans answered, “I don’t think either one of us are ones to hold grudges. I think we operate very binary, utilitarian approach to most things we do. And I don’t think we let emotion dictate our reality. It’s been a couple years, so I think we both, to some degree, have–not moved on, but maybe–buried some things.”

Johansson chimed in to reveal that Cap and Black Widow have spent the time between movies together, though strictly in a platonic and professional sense. “They’ve kind of been sort of flying under the radar,” Johansson said. Lying low explained both Cap’s beard, and Black Widow ditching her signature red locks for an icy blond bob.

But under the radar doesn’t mean out of the action. Johansson hinted that these two still get up to heroics, and work together as a “well-oiled machine.” She added, “They sort of have a seamless communication between them.” But fighting for good in the shadows “takes a certain toll” she explained. “They’re more hardened, I think.”

“I think Cap knows how to compartmentalize,” Evans says in agreement. “I’m not gonna speak to what the film addresses, but in terms of my character, I think he is slowly becoming disillusioned as he gets older. Every single movie, he learns a little bit more that the world isn’t the way he kind of wants it to be. And I think that’s why there’s a connection between him and Black Widow.”

“Black Widow has seen a lot more than he has, and is kind of a little more calloused,” Evans continued. “I think in a lot of ways, he looks up to that and learns from that. First, it was kind of the hierarchy of a kind of government structure that fell apart. And then there was a friendship that kind of betrayed him, or abandoned him I should say. I think when those things happen, it’s like a destruction of a belief system to some degree, and you can become a little cold as a result.”

“I’ve dropped the shield essentially,” Evans said of his new, darker Cap. “I kind of went rogue a little bit. But it’s in his nature to be of service. And I think to some degree in order to maintain sanity, he had to kind of function within a system. That’s how his brain works, there has to be some kind of functioning factory that he can operate within. I think Black Widow probably has a similar output. And I think we leaned on each other, especially in the face of that kind of loss coming off of Civil War.”

“And so he’s been running these missions, answering to nobody, really,” Evans concluded, “I mean, it really is the sign of a broken person. But yeah, that’s the wear and tear.”

Avengers: Infinity War opens April 27th. Look for more from our set visit in the coming days.

Images: Walt Disney Pictures

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