At some point, not long after Chris Evans finished the seventh of seven contractually obligated Captain America performances with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, he left Los Angeles. The idea was, well—there were a few ideas. One was getting out of a town that Evans associates with “Pavlovian anxiety.” Another was going back home to Massachusetts, where Evans grew up and where he’s often resided since 2014. When he steps off the plane there, he says, it “takes me back to a place when life was not just simpler—that’s too reductive—but to a time where I was more pure, I guess; where my ego and my insecurities weren’t such a dominant force that I had to push against.” At his house just outside Boston, Evans says, “I really take my time.” Just thinking about it makes him smile. His voice turns boyish, sweet, soft: “I can’t believe I’m 42.”

Evans has been working steadily and successfully in Hollywood for more than 20 years. But he has not always felt in control there. When he was younger, he acted in a lot of what he now describes as “bad movies.” His first real successes in the industry came by way of a series of characters who were “jocky pricks,” he says: handsome, muscular assholes whose smugness was their most memorable quality. And then came Steve Rogers, otherwise known as Captain America, a character so defined and iconic—unlike other Marvel heroes, Cap has basically been the same virtuous guy since the day of his invention in 1940—that Evans’s main job was as much to be a caretaker as it was to be an inventor or an explorer.

None of these roles line up all that precisely with the way Evans is in his daily nonworking life, a fact that suits him. “There are some people that you meet and you just think, Man, that’s a movie star,” he says. He is adamant that he is not one of them. “I love to act,” he says. “But it’s not something that I couldn’t live without.” He has had enough success to be financially secure for the rest of his life, and probably a few lifetimes beyond. But despite that success, or maybe because of it, he is interested in, well: anything but the grand narrative of Chris Evans. “When I don’t pay attention to myself at all,” he says, “and just, you know, question why black holes exist, that brings into perspective a macro understanding of the fact that I’m even here is a miracle. It’s like shooting a bullet with another bullet. I mean, the fact that any of us are here is unbelievable. And that kind of just brings me a sense of deep peace. And I don’t have any more thoughts or questions about my own career.”

Chris Evans is married!

The actor, 42, wed Alba Baptista during a ceremony at a private estate in Cape Cod, Mass., on Saturday, a source tells PEOPLE.

Many of the couple’s famous friends were spotted in nearby Boston for the wedding, including Evans’ Marvel costars Robert Downey Jr. and his wife, Susan Downey; Chris Hemsworth and his wife, Elsa Pataky; and Jeremy Renner; plus John Krasinski and Emily Blunt.

Hemsworth, Downey, their wives and Renner were photographed dining and chatting at the Contessa restaurant in the five-star Newbury Boston hotel on Saturday. Krasinski and Blunt were seen returning from the festivities soon after midnight on Saturday, a source says: “They were very happy, joking and smiling.”

Representatives for both Evans and Baptista did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

PEOPLE confirmed that the current Sexiest Man Alive, who hails from Sudbury, Mass., and the Portuguese actress, 26, had been dating “for over a year and it’s serious” in November 2022.

A source added at the time, “They are in love and Chris has never been happier. His family and friends all adore her.”

Baptista — who speaks five languages and is the daughter of an engineer and a translator — starred in 2022’s Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris and is also known for her role on Netflix’s Warrior Nun.

In 2018, she did an extensive amount of humanitarian work at an orphanage in Cambodia, focusing on education. She also won the Shooting Star award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2021.

Earlier this year, on Valentine’s Day, Evans shared a photo montage of himself and his then-girlfriend in honor of the annual holiday.

The Captain America star included shots of the couple hiking and traveling together, sharing some PDA and hanging out with his dog Dodger.

Not long before that, Evans shared a video compilation on his Instagram Story of himself and Baptista scaring each other throughout last year as they did laundry, passed through doorways or simply walked past each other.

“A look back at 2022 ❤️❤️❤️,” the actor wrote at the top of the video.

In his Sexiest Man Alive interview last year, Evans said he was feeling “very content” with life and was focused on his work-life balance and spending time with his loved ones.

“That’s absolutely something I want: wife, kids, building a family,” said the Ghosted actor at the time.

“When you read about most of the best artists, whether it’s actors, painters, writers, most of them [admit] it wasn’t the work they made [that they are most proud of], it was about the relationships; the families they created, the love they found, the love they shared,” Evans continued.

“So it’s also something through my long 41 years that also rings true. Those things are the most important,” he added. “I love the idea of tradition and ceremony. I had a lot of that in my life, so the idea of creating that — I can’t think of anything better.”

Happy 4th of July. In honor of Captain America’s birthday, I’ve managed to add screencaptures of Chris’s film The Grey Man which came out on Netflix back in 2022. Huge thanks goes to David who provided these caps!

Gallery Links:
– MOVIE SCREENCAPTURES

We have a beautiful new layout thanks to the amazing Claudia. She did an amazing job using the People Magazine shoot of Sexiest Man Alive. I can’t thank her enough for the amazing job she did.

I’ve also managed to add over 4,000+ screencaptures of Chris doing press junkets and screencaptures of his movie Ghosted.

Gallery Links:
– MOVIE SCREENCAPTURES

I’ve managed to add screencaptures of Chris’s appearances on Good Morning America and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon from April 17th to the gallery.

Gallery Links:
– APR 17TH | ‘GOOD MORNING AMERICA’
– APR 17TH | ‘THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON’