Chris Evans' dog has a Billy Joel connection

Actor Chris Evans, who regularly posts photos of his dog, Dodger, on social media, says his mixed-breed rescue mutt is not named after the Los Angeles baseball team's famed stadium sandwich, the Dodger dog, but rather for the character voiced by Billy Joel in the 1988 Disney animated feature "Oliver & Company."

"I'm from Boston — it'd be sacrilegious to name him after" Dodger dogs, the 39-year-old Evans joked on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" He explained, "There's a movie called 'Oliver & Company.' It's a Disney movie, an animated movie" inspired by the Charles Dickens novel "Oliver Twist" and featuring the voice of Joey Lawrence as Oliver, an abandoned kitten in New York City, and Long Island's Billy Joel, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and music legend, as street-wise pooch Dodger, who becomes Oliver's friend and protector.

"I grew up watching it," Evans said of the movie, adding that when he first saw the dog in a shelter, "I just said, 'Oh, man, that looks like Dodger from "Oliver & Company." ' And then after I decided I was taking him home with me, I went through the process of thinking of other names and I just couldn't get off Dodger, and I just said, well, I'm not gonna overthink this one."

Evans, best known for playing Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, said the "Dodger" tattoo on his chest is in honor of his dog. "I mean, that's probably one of the purest relationships I have. … I'll never regret that tattoo!" he said. " I've regretted a few in my life, but not that one."

The actor frequently posts images of Dodger on Twitter and Instagram, including a Halloween photo of the dog with a costume lion's mane, lying on a bed, looking resigned. "He hated every second of it," Evans quipped in a caption.

Evans, whose other films include "Knives Out" (2019) and "Snowpiercer" (2013), was appearing on the late-night talk show to promote a website he recently co-founded, AStartingPoint.com, that seeks to increase civic engagement through interviews with elected officials and 2-minute responses by them to common current-events questions.