Chris Evans Reveals He Said 'No Thanks' To 'Captain America'

Captain America was the role that seemingly every actor in Hollywood butChris Evans wanted to play.

The actor opens up to MTV's Josh Horowitz Thursday night (July 14) during"MTV First: Captain America," saying that the decision to join up as a Marvel Avenger was not an easy one. Still, director Joe Johnston and producer Kevin Feige were persistent, and knew they wanted Evans so badly that they never even made him audition for the role.

"I got a call and they said they want me to audition, and I said, 'Great!' And then I thought about it and I said, 'No thanks.' And then they called back and they said, 'Well, they want you to test,' and testing is basically they'll draw up a contract, and if you're testing then you're only testing with a couple other guys and the odds of walking away with it drastically increase. And again I just said, 'I think I'm good. This isn't really what I'm looking for,' " Evans explained.

But even after he turned the contract down twice, it was clear that the studio still wanted him. Marvel was willing to negotiate with Evans and bring the intended nine-picture deal down to only six, and after meeting with Johnston and Feige, Evans said he was willing to give the character a shot.

"It just seemed like the more I walked away the more they pursued," he admitted.

This is not the first time Evans has told MTV News that he felt uncomfortable taking on the commitment and fame that would come with "Captain America: The First Avenger." During MTV News' live stream at San Diego Comic-Con last year, Evans said that taking the role "wasn't an easy yes."

"[Playing] Captain America just changes things, and there's really no off switch once you walk down that road," Evans said. "There's no turning back now. I'm just trying to make all the negatives positives and just enjoy the ride."

Sony's Tablets Definitely Aren't iPads

For products which still haven't been officially announced, Sony's upcoming Android tablets sure haven't been publicity-shy. Sony first teased us about them back in April. And on Wednesday, it held press events in New York and San Francisco at which it showed them off and released more details, such as the fact that the smaller S1 will be available exclusively in a version for AT&T's HSPA+ network -- although not full specs, or pricing, or a shipping timeframe other than "later this year."

I attended the West Coast edition of the sneak peek. When I see new tablets these days, I'm continuing to reflexively ask the question "Why should somebody buy this instead of an iPad?" It's too early to come to any firm conclusions about the Sonys, but both pass the obvious-differences-from-Apple's-tablet test.

The S1 is a 9.4" model with a wedge shape that angles the screen for comfy typing and feels like a folded magazine. (It's a major departure from every other current tablet -- but it does remind me of theoriginal 2007 version of Amazon's Kindle.)

The smaller S2, meanwhile, stretches the definition of "tablet" a bit. It's a clamshell device with two 5.5" displays which, in unfolded mode, can operate independently or as one big screen. It's reminiscent ofAcer's Iconia and Toshiba's experimental Portege, but the hinge makes more sense on the S2: the screens are small enough that a folded-shut unit will fit in a pocket. (Try that with your iPad.)

On the software side, Sony is going through a fair amount of effort to make these tablets stand apart from the Android herd. They both have a feature called Quick View which is designed to load Web pages much faster than the standard Android browser. (For what it's worth, it worked in Sony's demo.) They're also designed for extra-responsive scrolling, and are PlayStation-certified devices that can play some older PlayStation games, and will come with Sony's Reader e-book store and Qriocity movie and music services. The S1 includes a universal remote feature (which leverages the built-in IR port) and Sony is working with Adobe to help developers build Adobe AIR apps that make good use of the S2's twin screens.

The Sony models will suffer from some issues that are endemic to Android tablets, such as a selection of tablet-friendly apps that's still skimpy. And while I'd like Adobe's AIR to work well, its close technical kinship with Flash worries me: I've yet to use mobile Flash on a device where it wasn't pretty darn terrible. But I don't think the fact that these tablets aren't here yet is a problem. Heck, given the generally disappointing state of the non-iPad tablet market to date, I think that tablets that haven't shipped are in better shape to do well than those that have arrived -- at least if their makers use the extra time to make them rock-solid. Here's hoping that the S1 and S2 end up feeling finished in a way that the original Galaxy Tab, the Xoom, the PlayBook, and the TouchPad do not.

JPMorgan's income increase defies expectations

JPMorgan Chase surprised Wall Street on Thursday with a sharp increase in investment banking income at a time when other banks are warning of layoffs because of a slowdown in trading.

Investors had been expecting investment banking results at major Wall Street firms to decline on fears of a slowdown after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it plans to eliminate 230 jobs beginning in September. Citigroup analyst Keith Horowitz has warned that overall bank revenue from fixed income trading would likely drop 30 percent in the second quarter, stock trading by 15 percent. The explanation: investors cutting back on trading because of market volatility caused by the European debt crisis.

As expected, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s revenue from trading did decline - 18 percent in fixed income and 14 percent in equities from the previous quarter. However the bank was able to more than make up the difference with higher fees from underwriting stocks and bonds. That lifted JPMorgan's earnings 13 percent in the three-month period ending in June.

The New York bank earned $5.4 billion ($1.27 per share) in the three months ending in June. That was above the $1.22 per share that analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast. JPMorgan earned $4.8 billion ($1.09 per share) in the same period a year ago.

VIDEO GAMES

Sales down 10 percent from '10

A market research firm says U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories dropped 10 percent in June to $995 million compared with the same month a year ago.

The NPD Group said in its monthly report Thursday that sales of video game hardware fell 9 percent to $366.6 million. That includes handheld game systems and gaming consoles like the Wii.

Sales of software, the games themselves, dropped 12 percent to $469.5 million. Sales of game accessories declined 11 percent to $158.9 million.

COUPONS

Connecticut official questions Groupon

Groupon Inc.'s practice of selling group-discount coupons with expiration dates is being reviewed by Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen for possible state law violations.

"It appears that what Groupon Inc. sells or offers may fall within the definition of a gift certificate under Connecticut law," Jepsen said in a press statement issued Thursday. "Connecticut law prohibits gift certificates from being sold or issued subject to an expiration date."

Jepsen, in a July 12 letter, asked Groupon Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mason how his company's certificates are bought and redeemed, how many have been sold in the state, which retailers have accepted them and the typical terms of those agreements.

The attorney general also asked about expiration dates. The Chicago-based company has until Aug. 5 to reply.

FBI Investigates News Corp Following 9/11 Phone Hack Allegations

After nearly a decade of fighting to preserve his son's legacy, Jim Riches said the emerging News Corp scandal involving 9/11 victims is the ultimate slap in the face.

"I think it’s abominable, and if these people could pry and hack into 9/11 family members, then they’re making money off the dead,” said Riches, who lost his son on September 11th.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now looking into allegations that reporters with the now-defunct News of the World attempted to hack phones of people who were killed during the terror attacks.

Riches' son, Jimmy Jr., was a 29-year-old firefighter who died when the towers collapsed.

"They might have been trying to pry into my phone records or my son’s phone records or whatever, but we are asking the FBI to look into this,” said Riches. “We want to sit down with them and we want to see the results of the investigation.”

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is at the center of a firestorm that has sparked investigations in Britain and Washington.

It all started when word leaked that Murdoch's employees hacked into the phone of a British teenage murder victim.

Explosive allegations that a News of the World reporter tried to buy phone records of 9/11 victims from a private investigator in New York followed.

9/11 family members like Jim Riches say the allegations are deeply troubling, and if they prove to be true, he wants the parties involved prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Members of Congress are also calling for a full-scale investigation.

"We have the 10th anniversary, the wounds are already opened up, there’s no closure, my son is never going to walk back through that door,” said Riches. “The wounds are open and this just reopens them again."

Next week, Rupert Murdoch and his son, James, will face Britain's Parliament to address allegations of phone hacking and bribery.