Tag: Captain America

The news is grim — a team member has gone down, the worst is feared — and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans) exchange pensive looks while, all around them, the agents of a super-spy agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. tend to their duties as an off-planet enemy force threatens the entire planet. The scene, being filmed on an elevated set, was watched from a safe — and ironic — distance by Joss Whedon. “You know, you shouldn’t worry too much,” the director and co-writer of “The Avengers” reassured a visitor to the New Mexico set. “This kind of stuff happens here almost every day in the Marvel universe.” It does feel sometimes like Hollywood has become a digital factory dedicated to cosmic dangers, costumed heroes and CG magic but “The Avengers” is a special case even in this summer ...

This week, the Marvel Universe reaches a new plateau with the Hollywood red-carpet premiere of “The Avengers,” which unites the title characters from four film franchises — Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk –  to save Earth from a cosmic threat. The only person who had a hand in creating all of those characters was the late Jack Kirby, a titan figure in comics, but his heirs weren’t invited to the premiere;  their presence would be awkward considering their legal quest to reclaim the rights to hundreds of his Marvel creations. That leaves Neal Kirby, Jack’s only son, on the outside looking in but in this guest essay he writes about the days when the Marvel Universe was as close as his family basement.   In 1961, I was the luckiest damn kid on my block — or maybe any block. My father worked at home. ...

In last year’s ”Captain America: The First Avenger,” the title hero not only proved himself on the battlefields of World War II he also showed enough at the box office to earn a sequel, which will reach theaters April 4, 2014, and will feature a modern-day setting, according to Marvel and Walt Disney Studios. Chris Evans is expected to return as the star-spangled avenger in that sequel, but first he’s doing a tour of duty in “The Avengers,”  the May 4 release that represents an all-star squad of Marvel Studios heroes. That movie, directed by Joss Whedon, will put the patriotic character together with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and spy-master Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). “Captain America: The First Avenger” made $369 million in worldwide box office, a solid total considering some observers ...

A new trailer for “The Avengers” is out, revealing more explosions, high-flying villains and a call-to-arms for Marvel’s wonder-team of superheroes. “The Avengers,” directed by “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon, assembles Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk (each of whom found some measure of success with his own summer blockbuster in recent years) and adds a few more comics pages stars — Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury — who have made appearances in Marvel films but have yet to enjoy headlining their own big-screen adaptations. The new trailer begins with an “Inception”-like bass drone and views of a devastated city being fire-bombed as Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) delivers a dramatic voice-over: “War has started. And we are hopelessly outgunned.” Then, one by one, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) ...

Joe Simon, a pioneer figure in American comic books who had a defining career moment in March 1941 when he gave the world a star-spangled superhero named Captain America, has died. He was 98. Simon died Wednesday in New York City after a brief illness, according to a statement from his family, and his death adds a solemn final note to the 70th anniversary of his greatest creation, Captain America, who leaped across the big screen this summer with the Marvel Studios film “Captain America: The First Avenger.” That  film grossed $368 million in worldwide box office and earned strong reviews despite the early skepticism about the 21st century prospects of a Roosevelt-era character who looks like a walking American flag. Simon created Captain America with Jack Kirby, a titan figure in American comics, and the two would work together for various publishers over several decades. Their shared credit eventually took on an esteemed ...

“Captain America: The First Avenger” has pulled in $316 million in worldwide box office, so where does the sequel go? The Winter Soldier saga seems a likely bet, although Marvel insiders seem eager to go back for another World War II adventure, a story that would be set in those battlefield seasons before Steve Rogers went down into a deep freeze. There’s one soul in the Marvel camp that has a different idea for that sequel or a future Cap adventure; “First Avenger” co-writer Christopher Markus has a big idea in mind. “I love MODOK and I think you could make a terrifying movie with MODOK but nobody seems to be on my side at the momentum,” Markus said, referring to wonderfully weird villain whose name is an acronym for Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. The nasty noggin of MODOK first appeared in 1967 as ...

“Captain America: The First Avenger” is closing in on $250 million in worldwide box office  after earning some strong reviews for its World War II tale of heroes, villains, courage, loss and duty. The film delivers, as expected, with its action sequences, but many observers were surprised by its heartfelt romance with Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, and Peggy Carter, portrayed by Hayley Atwell. Atwell, a 29-year-old London native, made her feature-film debut in 2007 in Woody Allen’s “Cassandra’s Dream” and earned a Golden Globe nomination for the 2010 television miniseries “The Pillars of the Earth.” Soon she will be on the London stage in “The Faith Machine.” Our Geoff Boucher talked with her about her visit to the Marvel Universe. GB: Superhero films can be less than heroic when it comes to presenting nuanced roles for women. Talk a bit about your character, Peggy Carter, and how ...

“Captain America: The First Avenger” had a heroic opening weekend and overcame all the skepticism about period-piece patriotism in a contemporary movie marketplace. The film was directed by Joe Johnston, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige played a major role in stitching the film into the widening Marvel Universe on the silver screen, but the story began with a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the duo who also wrote the “Chronicles of Narnia” screenplays. Our Geoff Boucher sat down with them to talk about the film’s success, the choices made and a bit about their daydreams for Cap’s film future (Peter Dinklage as MODOK? Sign us up now…) GB: You have a character with a name, a costume and a sensibility that are very much of another time. This is a Roosevelt superhero. Going in with all of that, what choices needed to ...

There were plenty of famous faces and Hollywood heavy hitters at the red-carpet premiere of “Captain America: The First Avenger,” but director Joe Johnston’s face lighted up in a special way when he was introduced to one guest who had flown in from the Pacific Northwest for the glitzy event — Ed Brubaker, the writer whose award-winning, seven-year run on the Marvel Comics adventures of Captain America became a key template for the big-screen adaptation. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, ” Johnston said to Brubaker as Robert Downey Jr. passed by on his way to a seat inside the El Capitan Theatre. Johnston and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (who also met Brubaker at the movie palace on premiere night) have cited the comic book writer’s work as an influence on the mythology, tone and characters in the film that ...

In “Captain America: The First Avenger,” Chris Evans plays a man who can’t wait to wear a uniform but off-screen it sounds as if the actor was reluctantly drafted to duty. Evans had so much trepidation about taking on the role of Steve Rogers — and his red, white and blue alter ego — that he repeatedly turned down the part. But director Joe Johnston and Marvel Studios executives felt strongly that he was the right man to carry the shield of Captain America. “Unfortunately, before he said ‘no,’ we envisioned him in the role. And then we went on to screen test 12 or 15 guys and we were never really happy with what we were getting and we felt like we were settling if we went with any one of those guys,” Johnston explained on Tuesday at the ...