Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger is a 2011 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Captain America, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the fifth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was directed by Joe Johnston, written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, and Stanley Tucci. Set predominantly during World War II, the film tells the story of Steve Rogers, a sickly man from Brooklyn who is transformed into super-soldier Captain America to aid in the war effort. Rogers must stop the Red Skull, Adolf Hitler's ruthless head of weaponry and the leader of an organization that intends to use an artifact called the "Tesseract" as an energy-source for world domination.

Captain America: The First Avenger began as a concept in 1997 and was scheduled for distribution by Artisan Entertainment. However, a lawsuit, not settled until September 2003, disrupted the project. In 2005, Marvel Studios received a loan from Merrill Lynch, and planned to finance and release it through Paramount Pictures. Directors Jon Favreau and Louis Leterrier were interested in directing the project before Johnston was approached in 2008. The principal characters were cast between March and June 2010. Production of Captain America: The First Avenger began in June 2010, and filming took place in London, Manchester, Caerwent, and Liverpool in the United Kingdom, and Los Angeles in the United States. The film was converted to 3D in post-production.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a 2014 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Captain America, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger and the ninth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, with a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, who had also worked in The First Avenger. It stars Chris Evans as Captain America, leading an ensemble cast that includes Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon join forces to uncover a conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D. while facing a mysterious assassin known as the Winter Soldier.

A major influence in The Winter Soldier was conspiracy fiction from the 1970s such as Three Days of the Condor, with the script also drawing from the Winter Soldier story arc written by Ed Brubaker. The script was written in 2011, with the Russo brothers entering negotiations to direct in June 2012 and casting beginning the following month. Principal photography commenced in April 2013 in Los Angeles, California before moving to Washington, D.C. and Cleveland, Ohio. While the directors aimed for more realism, with focus on practical effects and intense stunt work, 2,500 visual effects shots were done by six different companies.

Isaiah Bradley

Isaiah Bradley is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as an early product of the United States' Super-Soldier program (codenamed Project: Rebirth) during World War II and an alternate version of Captain America.

Publication history

As depicted in the 2003 limited series Truth: Red, White & Black, the World War II Super Soldier program of 1942, operated by "Reinstein" (Dr. Wilfred Nagel, employing an alias previously used by Dr. Abraham Erskine), uses African American test subjects to re-create the formula that had been used to turn Steve Rogers from a skinny, but patriotic, army reject into Captain America. The clandestine experimentation that empowers Isaiah holds similarities with the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

Concept and creation

The original concept for the character came from an offhand comment by Marvel's publisher, Bill Jemas. Axel Alonso was taken by the idea and pursued it, as it offered a chance to tell a larger story about America's history. Robert Morales, who was brought in to write the story, created the supporting cast and the ending. The idea of an African American Captain America made Morales laugh, but, once he heard the premise, he found it depressing. Bradley's strong marriage came from an unsuccessful Luke Cage proposal by Brian Azzarello. Morales originally envisioned the character as a scientist who experimented on himself, a reference to Silver Age scientists Reed Richards and Bruce Banner; however, Marvel wanted a more explicit reference to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Morales was able to push through an ending in which Bradley suffered brain damage, a reference to Muhammad Ali that gave the character a tragic ending. Morales performed extensive research into the time period, which he balanced with editorial suggestions.

Captain America in other media

Since the 1940s, the comic book character Captain America has been presented in a variety of other media, including serial films, feature films, animations, and video games.

Television

1960s

The Marvel Super Heroes (1966): Captain America was one of the five featured superheroes, starring in one "Captain America" segment a week. They were largely straightforward adaptations of not just the character's solo stories from Tales of Suspense, but also several stories from The Avengers series as well.

1970s

Spirit of '76 (Marvel Comics)

The Spirit of '76 (real name William Naslund) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Frank Robbins as part of a World War II-era superhero team, the Crusaders, and patterned on the DC Comics group the Freedom Fighters, the character first appeared in The Invaders #14 (March 1977). The Spirit of '76 was the equivalent of Freedom Fighters member Uncle Sam, originally a Quality Comics character. In the stories, the character briefly assumed the role of Captain America after the original – Steve Rogers – was presumed dead. However, he was killed in action.

Publication history

Marvel's Spirit of '76 appeared as a member of the short-lived superhero team the Crusaders in The Invaders #14–15 (March–April 1977). In a canonical portion of a story in issue #4 (Aug. 1977) of the alternative universe series What If?, Naslund succeeds Steve Rogers as Captain America, the first of three official replacements until Rogers resumed the role years later. This retcon became necessary after Marvel's conflicting accounts of Captain America in 1950s and 1960s comics had created a discrepancy.

Captain America (disambiguation)

Captain America is a Timely/Atlas/Marvel comic book superhero.

Captain America may also refer to: