Chris Evans's fear nearly cost him the Captain America role.

The 34-year-old actor has taken on the role of the superhero five times in Marvel films. But before he agreed to the part, Chris suffered with a severe case of anxiety about committing to such a lengthy contract.

"I was scared. At first it was some nine-picture contract. And there are parts of me that have a little bit of social anxiety with this industry," he shared during an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday night (11Apr16). "Doing movies one at a time, if all of sudden you decide you don’t want to do them anymore you are afforded the opportunity to take a step back and recalibrate. When you have a giant contract, if all of a sudden you’re not responding well, too bad - you’ve got to suit up again. That was scary."

Chris has since won over critics and fans with his portrayal of the shield-wielding heartthrob. It was when he discussed the role offer with his nearest and dearest that he realised he had to take it on.

"It (the part) kept coming back my way," he continued. "I said no a few times and it kept coming back and I talked to a few people in my life - family, friends - and it just started to make sense that I was saying no out of fear. And you can’t do anything out of fear. You can’t be doing something because you’re scared. So it ended up clicking to me in the way of looking at it as, ‘Whatever you’re scared of, push yourself into it’."

While Chris is hugely proud of the latest movie in the franchise - Captain America: Civil War - he has quite the varied back catalogue, with films such as 2001's Not Another Teen Movie under his belt.

He didn't refer to any projects by name, but admitted he sometimes feels embarrassed about some of his former work.

"I’ve certainly had films in my past where I’ve had to get colourful with my means of promotion," he laughed.