One thing you can’t accuse the new Marvel Studios of being is lazy. These folks have been going full steam ahead ever since their inception and with what looks like pretty good results so far. The new Hulk film looks amazing, Iron Man looks great… even everything we’ve heard from the Thor camp so far has been quite positive. But Captain America?
A report coming from the folks over at CHUD says that director Nick Cassavetes‘ mother was on a talk show and said her son was currently considering directing a Captain America movie. This makes sense since for the longest time it was Cassavetes who was attached to direct Iron Man.
In general I like Cassavetes (although I found Alpha Dog to be really weak), and I have no problem with him directing a film like this… but to me the real news here is that Marvel really does intend to move ahead with a Captain America movie. There are just some things that play fine on the printed page that won’t translate well to the big screen… and I’m sorry… but Captain America is one of those.
Now, before you start asking why I’m bashing on the Cap… I’m NOT. I have no problems with the comic book character… but he won’t work on screen. Sorry… he just won’t. I know he’s one of Marvel’s most iconic characters and has huge name recognition, but a guy named “Captain America” running around in a tight stars and strips spandex body suit will come off as ridiculous if they even attempt to make it feel serious.
This will play out one of two ways:
1) They try to stay faithful to the comic. A quasi-serious hero movie with the results being absolutely comical to look at. or…
2) They adapted the crap out of the Captain, totally change the outfit and give him a more realistic tone… that will end up totally pissing off all the die hard fans.
I just don’t see how they’re going to do this without it becoming a total disaster. Hope I’m wrong… but I’m not.
Both costumes look stupid for the purpose of a guy who is simply a soldier. Somebody made a vid on YouTube with the World Police “America, F Yeah” song placed with clips from the 1990 Cap movie. It was perfectly cornball. To my knowledge the uniform does nothing to aid Cap unlike his shield so why have it?
They’d be better off make small films from unknown characters so that general audiences won’t expect a over-hyped spandex affair. For example, Brother Voodoo could be a kool and scary southern gothic/spiritual rated-R tale in the vein of The Skeleton Key, Prince of Darkness, and Angel Heart. Then again Marvel would have to be very brave to make such a film that screams “not for the prime demographic”. At the very least a Brother Voodoo film could intro duce a bigger budget Black Panther film or vice versa.
So how about adapting their GREAT recently released animated film from the book of Doctor Strange, which is basically a movie version of the popular TV series House with supernatural elements.
I just read this and couldn’t help but think that a lot of people missed out a lot of crucial points.
First off… ok i’m a cap fan, well that is I’m a Steve Rogers fan and maybe one day a James ‘Bucky’ Barnes fan, so I guess it’s easier for me to see how this could be done right.
issue one: the costume! I agree, spandex looks stupid, no matter who’s wearing it… but that’s not a problem with Cap, since he doesn’t wear spandex anyway. It’s more of a scalemailesque kelvar vest. As for the wings… since the modern comics have them very small and very tight to his face, so that’s not a problem either.
issue two: the story itself, and Captain America’s American patriotism… I don’t really see a problem here either, since they will likely want sequels, thus the first film will probably be completely in WW2. supposed CA Jingoism and flagwaving is also unlikely, because even though obviously Steve has a love for America, he never really comes across as obnoxiously’ patriotic or arrogant. Which anyone who has read captain america, especially the version 5 ones by Ed Brubaker, will know. He was really Marvel’s stalwart honour guy, Steve stood up for his personal beliefs and even on atleast three occassions broke with the american government because he didn’t agree with them (The Captain, Nomad, Civil War). So He’s more of a figurehead for freedom of speech and idealism… Ok he does a lot of fighting, but that’s the kind of action we expect from superheroes, the go out and kick supervillian butt, and the Red skull is one evil villain :) ohh and when charging into a fight with only a shield, yes he is badass! so there we have it… that’s my five eurocents for the moment :) If you want anymore info about cap, or if you come up with any other stuff do ask… as for the costume I mentioned, look up captain america work by Steve Epting (One hell of a comic artist)
http://www.silverbulletcomics.com/~editor/brant/Marvel/CAPA025016_col.jpg
anyway I love steve rogers, and I’m european :) so good luck!
This movie has “giant sack of shit” written all over it. You can’t do this.
First of all, for those of you tring to compare this to Spider-Man or Superman, the essence of who they are as characters are totally different, and they didn’t have a bloody usa flag design for a costume. It looks, bloody stupid.
But the american flag wearing isn’t the biggest problem. It’s the whole essence of who CA is. He’s a hero from a long gone era whose way of looking at life, his country and the world is long outdated.
Sure, you could MAKE him cool, but only after radically changing who he is for the screen. Then he’s not CA anymore, so what’s the point?
Ya, he’s definitely do-able. I mean…I think I know a little bit about his backstory…and it seems a lot more realistic than Superman or Spiderman or even Batman probably. A supersoldier made by the army doesn’t sound completely farfetched.
I agree with Darren.
Superman and Spider-Man were both done. They wore spandex (even though Cap wears bullet proof mesh and jeans). Also if you think someone with the name Captain America is base and simply comical then think-Super man…Spider man.
Look at Batman, they made him look like the toughest badass ever to grace the silver screen,even though he has looked pretty dumb sometimes (especially with his little sidekick). Captain America has looked dumb too its pointless denying but he can ALSO look cool. Dull the colors a bit and BAM, they could do more than that but I just hope my point is across.
Capt. America = jingoism… there goes foreign box office…
I couldn’t disagree more. I think the way he is done in the Ultimates would work fine on screen. You have to show him as the guy that is sort of ridiculed, or scorned, by his comrades, who have heard things but don’t buy it. He sacrifices his life without thought, and the rest is history.
I agree with the part about the outfits, but they haven’t let me down yet (Marvel) with their costume approaches.
Yeah the costume does need to be redesigned. Look at xmen – they redesigned those. The story is a pretty easy to pan out – WW2 kicking the nazi’s ass – pretty simple. I’ll stand in line to watch this when it comes out.
I honestly think it can work. The rubber ears on the costume are a problem (as the Captain America movie from 1990 proved – if you saw it) but they changed the X-Men costumes and everybody went to see it.
Fans who say they will boycott a movie or some such because the look has been changed are blowing smoke up their ass. It’s capturing the spirit of the character and his story that are important and i think it can be great.
Either they make the first movie set entirely during WW2, in which case it will look and feel like no other superhero movie. Or it’s a film about a guy who stood for the American way in the 40’s, gets frozen, and then finds himself in our time where those values don’t mean the same.
Either way, Captain America is the one Marvel movie that i’ve really been looking forward to for a long way.
I’m gonna second Darren J Seeley here and say that I think you are wrong, John. In my mind’s eye, I can definately see Captain American not only working, but looking totally badass awesome. I’ve never been a fan of the C.A. series and haven’t even read any of his stories, but I know what he looks like and I can see him being done right if the people behind it aren’t screw ups.
I think the only way to go with a live-action CAPTAIN AMERICA movie is to do a 40’s period piece.
He’s a soldier in the war against Nazi Germany, he signs up for the test program, becomes Cap, get’s Bucky as partner, fights the Nazis and Red Skull and in the end Bucky is killed and Cap gets frozen in the ice.
Faithful to the comic, a tight origin story, that can be told in one 2-hour movie, and a perfect set-up for the sequel, where he can be found in the ice and wake up in our time.
Do it Marvel, you know it’s the right way.
As for Cassavetes directing…who cares?
Who’s playing Cap?
I’d like Ryan Gosling.
Of course he has to lose the LOVELY BONES weight first ;-)
Note: I do like the “newer” uniform, as pointed out above.
I just don’t care for Ultimate stories.
Ho Hum n’ bottles o’ rum….
Gio says:
I not only disagree with you, but Gio, I think you are totally off your horse.
I think there are many ways to get around it, I think there are ways to address it, and…Cap’s getup is not spandex related.
Nobody changed Spider-Man.
Nobody changed Superman.
And I’m not wrong. It can work.
Can the film be executed well? That’s another story.
Of course, if it were up to me, I’d scrap the film and do a WWII /Sci-fi mini series on TV with tips of the hat to the old serials.
Now, all that said…
It is slightly easier to adapt a comic book that has a guy in a suit made of painted iron and metal than it might be with a dide with an A on his head…
…but that’s the challenge.
Vic,
Any Captain America film can be a recipe for disaster, I think the updated version that has been most recent has the best shot to come across well on screen, thats all.
Bassturd is right. Have it set during WW2 and have CA fighting Nazies… everyone hates Nazies. Of course it would take Captain America 2 years before he gets around to it ;)
I say bring us Captain Canuck.
They made a guy who dressed up in a giant rubber bat suit look believable, but you don’t think they can make a soldier who dresses up in his country’s colors work? The only thing absurd is the flashy spandex costume, and that can be toned down just like the X-men’s spandex suits were changed to leather. You can include flag motif and he can still be Captain America. Just don’t include fake rubber ears.
They made a guy who dressed up in a giant rubber bat suit look believable, but you don’t think they can make a soldier who dresses up in his country’s colors work? The only thing absurd is the flashy spandex costume, and that can be toned down just like the X-men’s spandex suits were changed to leather. You can include flag motif and he can still be Captain America. Just don’t include fake rubber years.
I agree with you wholeheartedly! Cap is one of those iconic characters whose costume is too goofy to translate to live action but If you change it too much then it is no longer captain america.
Here is my view: Exotic, gaudy costumes work on SUPERPOWERED heroes because if your mind is going to make the leap that a person has fantastic superpowers, it is not that far a leap for them to have a gaudy costume.
A hero that is not superpowered(or not much) and is more “vigilante” like using more “conventional” fighting skills will stand out that much more in a gaudy costume because he relates more to normal humans and WE would look stupid wearing those costumes.
Basically, a guy with all the powers Superman has can wear whatever the hell he likes because Who is going to tell him he looks stupid?!
Also, story-wise how are they going to fit Cap into a modern day story? Does he work for the government? SHIELD? Freelance?
Who does he fight? Ninjas? Guys with guns? Neo-Nazis?(kinda cool actually)
I am just as concerned about the the story and setting as I am about his costume.
Kevin,
Sorry, but that’s a recipe for disaster.
Vic
They just recently changed Captain America didnt they? He was dead for a while in the comics and they are bringing him back all updated and whatnot. If they base the movie on that idea…it could be cool.
Think about it, start the movie with a montage of Newspaper clips and slow mo of the original Captain fighting and dying to real heroic music and the following mayhem that ensues…then fast foward to present day and start the story of the new Captain America and his origin.
Have you seen Cap’s new costume, John? I wonder if they didn’t have it redesigned as something that might translate better in live-action…
http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2007/10/11/new-cap-new-clothes/
Nix the metallic stuff, and it MIGHT work. Might.
Surely it’ll be better than this mess was…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America_%281991_film%29
I know nothing about the character but his more military-looking suit does look a lot kewler and would probably translate better. They should just make a movie based during WW2 with him fighting Red Skull (atleast I think that is one of his enemies).
I’m not a reader of the comic, but I think I’m going to agree with you. Considering the current world/U.S. environment and how polarized people are today it would take an AMAZING script for this not to turn out very badly. I think that is the issue moreso than the costume. People expect adaptation when a character moves from the pages of a comic book to the big screen.
You probably haven’t read Marvel Comics “Ultimates” series, but the costume is different in that universe… more practical and military.
Vic