Captain America: The First Avenger Discussion Thread

Collector Freaks Forum

Help Support Collector Freaks Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

Ugh, someone is going to produce a prop replica of that shield and it is going to put the one I have to shame.
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

I have to say I'm loving Hugo as the Red Skull. The brief scene we saw of him (pre-skull) was great. His German accent was great and he seems to be a perfect choice. I can' wait to see him fully revealed now. And I'm pleased he was in a black SS outfit like Sideshow's PF, but since he had the trenchcoat on, I wasn't able to tell if they censored his nazi uniform or not. I hope they don't, just for political correctness sake.
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

It'll be so stupid if they do.
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

Agreed, but they did make Sideshow censor out the swastika, so I wouldn't put it past them.
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



We're starting with Captain America and they showed a great teaser for the movie which started with an air raid siren, which led to archival footage of World War II with famous quotes voiced over the top. We can see that there's an alternating red, white and blue background as we see different scenes from World War II.

The titles say... "In the world's greatest (something), Our Courage and Strength Led Us Into Battle. Stories Emerged of Heroes, But One Story Has Never Been Told."

The red, white and blue background slowly pulls back to show us that it is indeed Captain America's shield.

There's a voice-over of Franklin D. Roosevelt saying "Today we must create the finest army in history, and every army starts with one man."

And we see Captain America in shadow. (The crowd goes wild.)

"Next summer, meet the world's first Avenger."

And we see our first look as Chris Evans as Captain America. (Crowd goes wilder.)

Then we see the "Captain America" logo and the next shot has Captain America throwing his shield at the camera.

Geoff Boucher then brought out director Joe Johnston, Chris Evans, and Hugo Weaving to talk about the movie and their characters.

Kevin Feige told the crowd that the shots we saw was footage from the costume test.

They've only been shooting Captain America for eight days, so Hugo Weaving says that he's only spent one day in the Red Skull mask, but he didn't want to do his German accent, but they then decided to show us the first footage that they shot last week, which looked fantastic.

UPDATE: As promised, here is a detailed description of the scene that Joe Johnston shot on the first week of production, which involves Hugo Weaving's character, the future Red Skull, looking for a mysterious artifact in an ancient tomb, presumably one that will lead to him becoming the Red Skull. As Weaving had mentioned during the panel, he hadn't really been wearing the Red Skull mask as of yet, so this scene clearly introduces him when he was merely a Nazi soldier.

The footage begins with a title card saying, "Norway, May 1942."

The scene opens with two men inside what looks like a ancient tomb, and they seem petrified as the wall in front of them starts shaking and then crashing down as a bulldozer plows through it, piling rocks on top of the younger man. The older man starts taking some of the rocks off his downed companion when a bunch of German soldiers march into the room and throw the old man aside.

"Remove the lid," one of them commands, and they go to a tomb of what looks like a Scandinavian Viking warrior, and four of the soldiers push open the lid as Hugo Weaving walks in as Johann Schmidt, wearing full Nazi officer attire, and he starts talking in his German accent—sounding a bit like Christoph Waltz in fact. "It has taken me a long time to find this place. I should be commended. I gave you nothing."

"Get him up," he tells the soldiers referring to the old man, who he tells. "I think that what others see as superstition, you and I know to be a science."

"What you seek is just a legend," the old man tells him.

"Then why make such an effort to conceal it?" Weaving asks, as he walks over to the tomb and looks into what could very well be one of the Norse Gods (tying the movie into Thor) and he reaches into pick up a large glass cube that is sitting on the dead body's chest. Could it be The Cosmic Cube? (The crowd oohed and ahed as they saw what was in the tomb.)

He says, "The Tesseract was the jewel of Odins' treasure room" as he picks it up, but then he drops the cube onto the ground and it smashes to pieces. "It's not something one buries, but I think it is close, yes." He continues as he walks over to one of the walls where there's a raised etching of a large tree.

"So…" he says as he starts reaching around the base of the wall. "Yggdrasil, the Tree of the World, guardian of wisdom, and fate also." He pushes a raised section at the base and pulls out a piece of the wall and he opens up what's inside and a glow pours out of the item lighting up his entire face.

"You've never seen this, have you?" he says to the old man.

"It's not for the eyes of ordinary men," the old man trembles in response.

"Exactly," smiles Schmidt as his face is bathed in light and the scene ends.

There's a lot of interesting things we can learn from this scene, which play an important part not only in the origin of the Red Skull, but also how Captain America may tie in with Thor. The first is the existence of the Cosmic Cube this early in the Marvel Movie Universe and how it plays not only into the origin of the Red Skull, but how it may be connected to Odin (who is presumably the body in that tomb) and the Gods of Asgard. Chances are that this will be one of the few ties between the movies being that much of Captain America will take place in the ‘40s, but it could be setting up something much bigger down the road for The Avengers, maybe not in the first movie but certainly in a future one.

 
Last edited:
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

Found a crappy pic from the trailer.

Captain+America+First+look.jpg
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

They're definitely going with an Ultimate design with that shoulder star.
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

Found a crappy pic from the trailer.

Captain+America+First+look.jpg

I like the design overall for the most part, but Evans is looking too young, he looks like a kid at Comic Con in a really nice Cap costume.

I really want to see Hugo Weaving as Red Skull.

This is the only hope I still have for this movie, Hugo is a great bad guy.
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

I like the design overall for the most part, but Evans is looking too young, he looks like a kid at Comic Con in a really nice Cap costume.
.

Captain America is like in his early 20's....

But I have no hope for this movie. Joe Johnson sucks. :exactly:
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

Captain America Teaser with Iron Man 2 Blu-Ray:

Comicbookmovie.com is reporting that the two-disc special edition Blu-ray of Iron Man 2 (due out September 28) will include teaser trailers for the Thor movie and Captain America. Both will reportedly be easter eggs, hidden in a special S.H.I.E.L.D. Data Vault.
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

I wouldn't say the man sucks, but yeah he wouldn't not have been my first choice as a director.

He's not terrible, but he's absolutely pedestrian. Hiring him was a total punt by Marvel. He has no real vision and his films are always over-polished generic Hollywood pieces. The footage shown of CAP at SDCC was the same way. It doesn't look or feel period at all. The sets look like, well... sets. And it's all too polished for my tastes. This film should have the look of Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers. Instead, it will look like a cross between The Wolfman and Fantastic Four.

Add to that Johnston's pre-SDCC interview where he discusses de-emphasizing Steve Rogers' patriotism and I think it's pretty clear that expectations need to be tempered from here on out.

IMHO, the only thing this film has going for it now (other than it being Captain freaking America) is the cast and Joss Whedon doing the final polish on the script.
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

He's not terrible, but he's absolutely pedestrian. Hiring him was a total punt by Marvel. He has no real vision and his films are always over-polished generic Hollywood pieces. The footage shown of CAP at SDCC was the same way. It doesn't look or feel period at all. The sets look like, well... sets. And it's all too polished for my tastes. This film should have the look of Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers. Instead, it will look like a cross between The Wolfman and Fantastic Four.

Add to that Johnston's pre-SDCC interview where he discusses de-emphasizing Steve Rogers' patriotism and I think it's pretty clear that expectations need to be tempered from here on out.

IMHO, the only thing this film has going for it now (other than it being Captain freaking America) is the cast and Joss Whedon doing the final polish on the script.

I agree 100%. Johnston's movies are just so bland. There is nothing distinct or unique about his movies. They are frustratingly average, even with the most interesting stories like Rocketeer, Wolfman and even Jumanji. You're right--SPR would be the perfect look and tone for the movie. You don't have to do the blood and guts or anything, but the intensity and grit is key. And I have never seen a glimpse of that in any of Johnston's previous movies.

Just to compare, I thought Favreau did a great job with Zathura. You could see some real inspired filmmaking in the pacing, action and look of the movie, even though it was a retread of Jumanji (completely the story's fault). Jumanji was okay--but that's it. It was the first of those Allsburgs books turned into films, and it had a chance to blow the audience away with such an original idea for the time. Instead, it was just "okay".

That image of Evans in the costume looks terrible IMO. The mock-up of the costume looked terrible as well if it was supposed to be the 1940s costume--it would be okay if it was the modern version. That concept art painting of Cap was pretty cool though. Hopefully they'll go that route. And hopefully, like you said, the cast and Whedon polish will save this.
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

"Frustratingly average" is the perfect description of Johnston's directorial work. Good call. :lecture He has absolutely no vision or ability to adapt as a filmmaker, which continues to befuddle me since he actually got his start in Art Direction.

I was disheartened when I read his "toning down Steve Rogers' patriotism" stuff while flying out to San Diego. Then I was excited again when I picked up one of the production art posters in the Marvel booth on Friday. The look and feel of it was just perfect. But then I came crashing back down to Earth again after watching the scene they showed during Saturday's panel. Just utterly pedestrian and not gritty or period, at all.

It won't be a complete disaster, though. Johnston is at least better than the likes of Ratner and Sommers. But not by a Hell of a lot. Cap deserved so much better.
 
Re: The First Avenger: Captain America Discussion Thread

Agree with you guys completely. It seems to me like he has no personal artistic vision for his films, but rather he's using a "formula" that he has seen and absorbed from other directors that he's worked with in the past to guide him. A cookie cutter approach if you will, "this is the way _______ did it, so that's the way I'm going to do it"
 
Back
Top