Posts Tagged ‘ Captain America ’

I know details came out about this a while ago, but I do like the fact that Cap’s going to be a performer for the troops before he finds his true calling.

It’s a good way to explain the uniform – which I don’t think would work too well otherwise – and should provide some nice growth for Steve Rogers’ character in the flick.

And it’s not like it’s the first time…

According to THR and, oh, everywhere, the future Captain America is amongst these actors; and since they are all apparently on a 30 day holding contract pending casting, it sounds pretty real:

Mike Vogel

Age: 30
Height: 5′ 10″
Pros: Pretty, in Cloverfield, in She’s Out of My League which looks pretty funny, turned down role of Angel in X-Men 3.
Cons: Pretty, in Cloverfield, short (well, same as me).

Michael Cassidy

Age: 26
Height” 6′
Pros: Was in Smallville and The O.C.. Tall.
Cons: Was crap in Smallville and The O.C.. Not blonde. A bit young.

Patrick Flueger

Age: 26
Height: 6′
Pros:Virtual unknown with no baggage in spite of being in The 4400, blonde, right height range.
Cons: Virtual unknown, a bit young, looks like a smug arse in this picture.

Scott Porter

Age: 30
Height: 6′
Pros: Awesome in Friday Night Lights (which is also awesome), was front runner for Superman in that botched JLA movie, looks the part, can sing and dance a bit.
Cons: Was front runner for Superman in that botched JLA movie.

Wilson Bethel

Age: 26
Height: 6′.
Pros: Virtual unknown, was in Generation Kill which is apparently pretty good, right height range.
Cons: Virtual unknown, bit skinny, scary eyebrows.

Chace Crawford

Age: 24
Height: 6′
Pros: Pretty, is in Gossip Girl, which isn’t exactly a pro, but worked for Blake Lively on the superhero front and was all I could think of.
Cons: Pretty, too young, is in Gossip Girl, is Chace Crawford.

John Krasinski

Age: 30
Height: 6’3″
Pros: Plenty tall, could bulk up, can act, has fanbase.
Cons: Has huge amounts of preconceptions and baggage, may be too comedic a draw, will break internet in half and lead to even more ‘Steve Carrell as Red Skull, Rainn Wilson as Baron Von Strucker’ jokes than we’ve had in the past day.

Apparently in the running but with scheduling conflicts:

Garrett Hedlund

Age: 25
Height: 6′ 1.5″
Pros: Plenty tall, virtual unknown with no baggage, is in Tron Legacy.
Cons: Looks a bit weedy, virtual unknown, bad hair.

Jensen Ackles

Age: 31
Height:6’1″
Pros: Pretty, right height, can act, was in Smallville and, of course, is Dean Goddamn Winchester and really that should be enough.
Cons: If by ‘scheduling’ issues they mean, ‘is shooting Supernatural season six’ then that’s a pretty big problem. Otherwise, not a one.

Of the listed contenders, I know who I’d prefer (Ackles or, failing that, Porter) but is this a real list, or is it just a smokescreen to cover for someone inexplicably not on the latest list, but was mentioned earlier:

Ryan McPartlin

Age: 34
Height: 6’3″
Pros: Is Awesome in Chuck, literally.
Cons: May be too Awesome.

No real surprise there – but I’m still glad that Bucky’s appears to be the one who’s carrying the shield post-Siege (eye color notwithstanding). I can only assume that Steve will be running an entirely different kind of SHIELD…

Posted via web from Comic By Comic’s Wonderous Posterous!

Tuesday seems to be developing into the day I post my reviews so…

Batman and Robin #2 – Another good issue, and I know this is being overwhelmingly positively reviewed but…(and you knew there’d be a but)…I really don’t like Damien and that’s souring the whole book for me. I understand that I’m not supposed to, but when there’s very little likable about a character, why bother reading about them?

Batman: Streets of Gotham #1 – Better late than never! A good set up issue, but I need more Hush like I need an axe in the head. I know that he’s become Dini’s pet bad guy over the past year or so, but let it go already. The Manhunter back-up was a good start to Kate’s Gotham adventures, but had very little weight to it.

Gotham City Sirens #1 Nice art, but once again there’s very little of note going on. Catwoman’s weak as a kitten (ho ho) so decides to set up house with Ivy and Harley, because obviously nothing could possibly go wrong with that – and that’s about it. Sure there’s a random bad guy thrown in but…that’s it.

Green Lantern Corps #38 – Good, but underwhelming intro to Blackest Night. The Guardians continue to be bastards, and nobody really seems to mind aside from Kyle and Guy. Suspect that’ll come back to bite them in their little blue asses.

Justice League: Cry for Justice#1 – Nice art, shame about the cliched writing. Every character wants “…Justice!”, which appears to be another way of saying “…Revenge!”. Overwrought, over played, and distressingly unsubtle. Although it does have a talking gorilla, so there’s that.

Agents Of Atlas #7 – I’m teetering on dropping this, as much as I like it. I’m just not sure where it’s going exactly. Right now, it feels oddly directionless – it seems desperate to define itself by reference to its guest stars. Next issue may make it or break it, Gorilla Man or not.

Amazing Spider-Man Family #8 – As good as ever, and per Bleeding Cool, not exactly cancelled, which is good news.

Captain America Reborn #1 – I don’t even have an opinion on this. It reads well, it looks good, it makes some sense…but I need to let it play out a little more before I make a decision one way or the other on the book. Something just feels iffy to me, using time travel as a plot point – even if it was heavily telegraphed in the early days of this volume of Captain America. And if that was Steve pulled out of time, who was buried in his coffin?

Fantastic Four #568 – Splash pages galore as the Marquis of Doom and his hooded disciple knock the team around a bit and then Reed shows him what a real man is. And then Reed gets the crap kicked out of him by a whole bunch of alternate versions of the Torch, the Thing and Sue. What? Ridiculous, borderline incoherent, but a very good looking book.

Invincible Iron Man #15 – Good issue, if a little light on action – but the plot moved forward nicely anyway. It’s the first time that the loss of Tony’s memory and intelligence hit on an emotional level, too, with a simple “Who’s Happy?” showing just how bad things are getting.

Uncanny X-Men #513 – Pointless posturing as Norman Osborn consolidates his power and clumsily muddles through some exposition as he introduces his own team of X-Men, and Cyclops ponders his next move. Honestly, I don’t know how this is the same guy writing this and Iron Man right now.

War Of Kings #5 – Continues to be an example of how to do a crossover right. And, of course, it all seems to boil down to the two leaders duking it out. I’m intrigued for what’s next for these characters, and hope that we get an Inhumans regular series out of it, or at least something starring Ronan and Crystal, who are really the break out stars of the story.

I also picked up Buffy but haven’t a chance to read it, so next week for that. I know, you can’t wait!

After reading Captain America #600 I had a few thoughts.

First, although it was (unsurprisingly, given Ed Brubaker’s run on the book) well written, I was vaguely disappointed that it was more a collection of vignettes than a coherent story.

Second, I’m not sure what to make of the gun that Sharon finds. I’m sure it’s intentional, but is it supposed to look like it injected him with something to simulate death? Transported him in time and zapped a corpse into his place? Covered him in red paint?

I know it’s going to be a plot point for Reborn but the vagueness of it just kind of irked me.

Third, last we saw (which I think was at the end of the first run of Thunderbolts, given that Onslaught Reborn was basically (a) a pocket world, and (b) bollocks) wasn’t Rikki Barnes – the Heroes Reborn Bucky – back on Counter Earth on the other side of the sun? How’d she get over here?
I was also surprised to see the ‘bad’ 1950′s Steve Rogers showed up as he’s been absent for about a year. His reappearance here can’t be coincedental and it occurs to me that if that dessicated corpse buried at the bottom of the ocean is Steve Rogers, then Steve might need a new body to house his consciousness…

Honestly, as much as I trust Bru, I’m still ambivalent about Steve’s inevitable return. I like Bucky as Cap, and I think there are a lot of tales to tell with him in the uniform – especially if he’s looking up to Steve as, I don’t know, head of the new S.H.I.E.L.D. after Osborn gets his ass handed to him?

But you know who I really want to see come back as Cap?

Rojhaz!

“It’s very reminiscent of the opening of Ultimates #1 – enough so that I can hear the angry fan outcry already. But then it goes in a completely different direction.”

- Tom Brevoort

Well, no. Not an outcry, more a sigh. Because ultimately (ho ho) I want to let the story play out. While Steve Rogers may be coming back – presumably thanks to some time travel or suspended animation malarkey – I don’t necessarily think he’ll be coming back as Cap, and I’m okay with that as I think there’s a lot more stories to tell with James Barnes as Captain America right now.

As for the art in the Reborn preview, Bryan Hitch likes his redesigned WWII Cap from Ultimates. I get that. And Cap wearing a helmet during World War II makes sense from a survival point of view. I get that.

But if it was good enough to take down the Ratzis back in the day, it’s good enough now.

But then I guess his helmet was redesigned early on anyway…

…so what do I know?

Preview via

Captain America #600.

Nuff said.

If this doesn’t make you grin like a loon, then you’re on the wrong blog…

Right, back to moving.

Via

I was just over at the Newsarama site looking at their preview of All-New Savage She-Hulk #1 and one of the first posts there was bemoaning new characters taking over existing character’s names.

Because that never happens.

I guess the difference here is that the regular She-Hulk, Jen Walters is still knocking around, even if it’s only in Jeph Loeb’s Hulk and that’s where the difference is for this character.

Most times where a character takes over an existing character’s name, the original character is either dead or has retired, or whatever – but for some reason, readers seem a lot more reluctant to accept change when it comes to Marvel characters than when it comes to DC characters (except for Hal Jordan, obviously).

The sole exception to this seems to be Bucky’s assumption of the mantle of Captain America. Here, because the arc took so long to happen it feels like this has been pretty much universally accepted.

Is it because DC’s Silver Age reintroductions of the Flash and Green Lantern set the tone for successive characters using the same name? Or is it just that people don’t like new characters co-opting names of characters that they like?

I mean, if this wasn’t called the All New Savage She-Hulk, would you be more inclined to give it a chance?

Yesterday Marvel announced changes to it’s film slate, with their revised offerings now playing out like this:

IRON MAN 2 – May 7, 2010
THOR – June 17, 2011
THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA – July 22, 2011
THE AVENGERS – May 4, 2012

Essentially, Thor has been pushed back a year, as has The Avengers.

I’d say that was a smart move. For an uncast movie that’s bound to be special-effects heavy, I think the turnaround on Thor was unrealistic. Now that it’s pushed back, we can look forward to a well produced, unrushed version – and with Kenneth Branagh behind it, I’m more than happy.

The move also makes more financial sense, spreading the risk and cost over a longer period, enabling the company to offset the cost with recouped profits on DVD sales on other movies somewhat (from a cashflow basis, anyway). I’m a little leery of the fact that Marvel Studios is pretty reliant on financing to get these films made in the first place, but this should spread the risk a little.

Just as long as the market starts recovering at some point…

I’m a little disappointed, if not surprised, that there’s no Incredible Hulk 2 on there, though. I like the idea of him being a driving force in getting the Avengers assembled in their movie, but by that time he will, presumably, have been off the big screen for four years. Can we get a big green cameo in any of the other movies along the way?

Bright side to the delay. None of this:

No, did I?

Because somehow Jeph Loeb and Rob Liefeld’s Smash! one-shot – which apparently leads to Smash! Extreme (ah, shades of Extreme Sacrifice and Extreme Prejudice) – slipped by me.

I mean…does this seem vaguely familiar to anyone else?

Anyone at all?

Marvel has signed Samuel L Jackson to appear as Nick Fury in nine – NINE movies.

So…Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America (maybe back in WWII?), Avengers and any future spin offs including possibly a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie.

Not mentioned in the THR article is this blog’s vote that clearly influenced Marvel’s decision.

Sorry, Avery Brooks!

Final Crisis #6 is out.

And Batman is one crispy critter…

Still, at least he went down fighting a god (even a slightly rotting one in the body of an old man) and he must be dead because, well, Nightwing says so this very week in his own book.

And because this is comics, the dead stay dead.

Like Bucky.

I mean, he stayed dead, right?

Oh…

Well, what about Barry Allen?

There’s no way he’s coming back from that.

Oh…

Well, I guess it’s not as though Grant Morrison built a get-out clause into the very issue he killed Batman in by telling the tale of how Sonny Sumo slipped in from a parallel word after Darkseid zapped him with the Omega Sanction and sent the original Sumo back in time to live in feudal Japan, is it? Of that he explicitly references the Omega Sanction that kill Batman as something other than ‘death’ is it?

Oh.

Oh well. Anyone taking bets on him coming back in #7 in some way or other?

EDITED for a late addition to the poll suggested by Scott King

It looks like Samuel L Jackson is enlisting the press in his efforts to get a little more money to play Nick Fury in the Avengers, or at least that’s how it seems to my cynical eyes; from the LA Times…

“There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don’t know. Maybe I won’t be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won’t be in it. There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so , ‘We’re not making that deal.’”

I called Marvel Comics and they gave me a statement that suggested that they still want to see Jackson wearing the eyepatch. “Marvel does not comment on active negotiations,” was the boilerplate response, but there was that emphasis on the word “active” in the voice of the spokesman who phoned me back.

That sounds to me like Marvel are trying to work a budget for the Avengers movie which, if it includes Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, Samuel L Jackson, maybe Ed Norton, Tim Roth, William Hurt and whoever is cast as Thor or Cap or anyone else, could be astronomical. The smart thing to do would to negotiate lower salaries and more points on the back end – or just recast the part.

After all, Jackson appeared as Fury in only one scene; treat Fury as a codename instead of a real name and you’re done. Or you could just recut any Samuel L Jackson roles from the past ten years where he’s played exactly the same character and build the role around those sound clips.

But if you do recast there are two three obvious options.

One:
And two:

Oh yeah.

And three: late addition:

Vote in the poll on the right!

A while ago I asked who should play Captain America…and better late than never, and recorded for posterity now that I’ve taken the poll down, here are the winners!

With a massive 46 people voting…

In last place was Night Owl-to-be Patrick Wilson with 8% of the vote.

In fourth place was Captain Awesome himself, Ryan McPartlin, with 10%.

Third place went to former Riley Finn, Marc Blucas with 13% of the vote.

In second place with 26% was Someone Else – suggestions included James Spade (to Shatner’s Red Skull, of course!), Mark Valley (I like him but I think he’s too old for the role), Neal McDonough (ditto) and Travis Schuldt (thanks for someone obscure Mike!) and finally…

…the winner is the better half of the Winchester brothers, Jensen Ackles with a whopping 41% of the vote!

The people (all 46 of them) have spoken!

An involved (possibly too involved) Twitter conversation yesterday about who should get the role of Captain America ended up with three choices…who clearly won’t get the role, but what the hell.

So – vote over on the right:

1) Patrick Wilson - sure, he’s going to be Night Owl, but the guy can act and he’s huge (muscle-wise).
2) Marc Blucas – The former Buffy alum has the ‘aw shucks’ square quality you need, and Riley Finn was virtually Steve Rogers anyway.

3) Ryan McPartlin – Captain Awesome. Nuff said.

In the same spirit as yesterday’s Gotham MiniDude post…

little love for Marvel by ~duss005 on deviantART
I think Dustin Nguyen may have just jumped up my favorite artist list!

Via AICN, a screencap (or more likely, photo of a screen) apparently showing a certain Captain’s shield buried in the arctic ice from the deleted scene on the Incredible Hulk DVD…

Closer in – yep, that looks like a shield alright.

Cap frozen in the ice – can’t we get a Namor cameo for the Avengers movie as he throws frozen Cap at some Eskimo villagers?

The fools!

Rick Jones has been at the forefront of the Marvel Universe for decades.

Without Rick, there would be no Hulk.