Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

First Avenger: Captain America

2/2/10 - Speaking with Film Journal, director Joe Johnston revealed a bit about the preproduction on his upcoming Marvel Comics superhero movie The First Avenger: Captain America, including which versions of Cap will figure in the movie adaptation.  Johnston said the film will start in World War II but avoid the version of the hero from more recent times.  “The film will begin in 1942, 1943 during World War II. The stuff in the '60s and '70s we're sort of avoiding. We're going back to the '40s, and then forward to what they're doing with Captain America now."  Johnston says. "Rick Heinrichs is production-designing and we're set up down in Manhattan Beach. It's the part of the process that I love the most," he enthuses. "We have eight or ten really talented artists, and we all just sit around all day and draw pictures and say, 'Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could do this?' It's that phase of the production where money doesn't matter: 'Let's put all the greatest stuff up on the wall and see what we can afford.'"

1/14/10 - Director Joe Johnston has revealed his plans for the upcoming The First Avenger: Captain America, saying it'll differ from the Marvel comics series.  In an interview with BoxOffice.com, Johnston said to expect a new Captain.  “It is influenced by the comic book, but it goes off in a completely different direction. It's the origin story of Captain America. It's mostly period—there are modern, present-day bookends on it—but it's basically the story of how Steve Rogers becomes Captain America.  The great thing about Captain America is he's a super hero without any super powers. Which is why this story, among the hundreds of superhero stories, appealed to me the most. He can't fly, he can't see through walls, he can't do any of that stuff. He's an everyman who's been given this amazing gift of transformation into the perfect specimen—the pinnacle of human perfection.  How does that affect him? What does that mean for him emotionally and psychologically? He was this 98-pound weakling, he was this wimp, and he's transformed instantly into this Adonis. You'd think he got everything he wanted.  Well, he didn't get everything he wanted. The rules change at that point and his life gets even more complicated and dire. For me, that's the interesting part of the story. It's got some great action sequences in it and some incredible stuff that we've never seen before.”  Captain America is expected to release on July 22, 2011.

1/21/09 – SCI FI Wire reported that Ed Brubaker, who writes Captain America and Daredevil comic books for Marvel, expects to be involved in a Captain America film. "I think I'm going to," he said. "I've talked to the Marvel Studios guys, and I think I'm going to be part of the brain trust on that, like they had for Iron Man. They've talked to me about it already. I talk to those guys a lot."  As for the rumored Daredevil movie reboot, Brubaker is not in the loop. "I mean, I'll be involved if they want me to be, but no," he said. "I'll be involved in any of that stuff they want me to be. I'm just trying to weasel my way in on as much of it as I can."  The movie Brubaker really wants to see is Iron Fist, which was one of Marvel's earliest movie proposals in a version Kirk Wong would have directed, starring Ray Park. Lately, Iron Fist has been on the back burner with director Steve Carr.  "I'm really, really pressuring them to do an Iron Fist movie, because I think that would just be awesome," Brubaker said. "With our take on it, it'd be great, I think. They're interested, so we'll see. I'm hopefully going to meet with them tomorrow and just try to push them some more. They're interested in it. Marvel Studios has a lot of plans, though, so I'm just trying to sort of get my way in as soon as I can."

11/19/08 - Marvel Studios has engaged Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to write Captain America, a film that has Joe Johnston attached to direct, Variety reported.  The red-white-and-blue hero with the mighty indestructible shield came to prominence right after the invasion of Pearl Harbor as the United States declared war on Japan. The hero is the Marvel character most closely associated with the United States.  Marvel's Kevin Feige is producing.

11/10/08 - Joe Johnston has signed a deal to direct First Avenger: Captain America, Marvel Studios' take on its classic comic-book character, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Marvel's Kevin Feige is producing.  No writers are on board, but the studio, which is hearing pitches, expects to hire shortly.  Created in 1941 by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon for Timely Comics, Captain America is the heroic alter ego of Steve Rogers, who is rejected by the Army for being too sickly and undergoes an experiment that takes him to the pinnacle of human form. Paired with an indestructible shield, he became a symbol of the war effort, in and out of comics.  The character disappeared in the 1950s but was revived during the early era of Marvel Comics. He was reintroduced as part of the Avengers, the absence explained by having him being in a state of suspended animation during a war mission until found by the superteam.  Johnston is currently in post-production on The Wolfman.

05/23/08 - Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, confirmed that the upcoming The First Avenger: Captain America will be a World War II period piece, like the comic book on which it is based, and he shot down a rumor that Matthew McConaughey was in line to play the hero.  Feige, speaking to online journalists at Universal Studios on May 21, added that Captain America would help set up the eventual Avengers movie, which follows six weeks later. (Feige also confirmed what many fans have speculated: that the star-shaped object in Tony Stark's workshop in Iron Man is indeed part of Cap's famous shield.) Release date: The First Avenger: Captain America on May 6, 2011

05/06/08 – Marvel announced on May 5th that it will release a sequel, Iron Man 2, and a film version of Thor in the summer of 2010, followed by what it's calling an Avengers-themed summer in 2011, with the release of The First Avenger: Captain America (working title) and The Avengers.  The company, which is producing its own slate of movies based on Marvel Comics characters, added that it does not plan to release a film in 2009.  Iron Man 2 will open on April 30, 2010, followed by Thor on June 4, 2010.  The two Avengers projects will follow: The First Avenger: Captain America on May 6, 2011, and The Avengers in July 2011.

12/31/06 - Marvel Studios revealed that Captain America would be the company's next project, which would mix a period story with a modern-day one. The comic studio has brought on writer David Self to draft a screenplay. Production is expected to begin in a year.

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