Will Smith has not been cast as Captain America, despite what actor Derek Luke told MTV yesterday. Marvel, sounding a little pissed, have e-mailed AICN to debunk the rumor and tell them that there is no reason why Luke would know what was going on at their studio and his claims are totally unfounded and inaccurate.
They claim they have never even considered Smith for Cap.
As far as I can tell, they ideally are looking for a blue eyed, tall, blonde haired, good looking guy in the mold of an Aaron Eckhart to play the All American Hero. And besides, Will Smith is just too Will Smith to play Captain America.
And let’s not forget the majority of the movie will be set during the WWII period, so Smith’s very modern day style of charisma would have had to be toned down greatly.
If Matthew McConaughey could act, they would have cast him months ago, but they don’t want the fan backlash the project would have if they made the wrong choice early. Marvel won half the battle when they cast Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, they want a similar kind of buzz straight off the bat from their casting here.
Discuss: Would Will Smith really have turned you off as Captain America? Who should play Marvel’s most patriotic Superhero?
8 Comments
Screw this news! have u heard the news all over on mtv.com moviehoel.net and darkhorizons! that MICHEAL CAIN HIMSELF HAS CONFIRMED AND WAS TOLD BY WB EXECS THAT JOHNNY DEPP AND PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN HAVE INDEED BEEN CAST AS THE RIDDLER AND THE PENGUIN!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!
What’s wrong with casting Aaron Eckhart Like?
Well I’ve always been in favour of one actor… one comic book role.
Once Eckhart was Two-Face, he can’t be anything else.
Now of course that’s a little restricting a view when these days so many actors have a comic book role to their name but it’s the way it should be.
Gives the comic book movies a wider sense of scope and universe. I know Marvel and DC are separate but I was annoyed when even Bryan Singer used James Marsden for Superman Returns when he has already played Cyclops in the X-Men movies.
Little things like that annoy me.
Eckhart would probably make a good Captain America. But he made a better Two-Face, I think they should cast someone else.
Also, Smith and Eckhart are too old. In the comic Steve Rogers is 22 when he tries to enlist only to be turned away for being too puny, before then being selected for the Super-Soldier serum experiment. It would be difficult to convey any kind of naivety on Cap’s part with a 40-year-old actor.
instead of looking at people that have been huge hits these past few months. Why not look for a 25-30 actor who has rodger’s build, then narrow down the search from there. Because this role disision will be as important if not more so than the casting of joker. Captain america is the symbol of America and the role model and inspiration of most of the heroes out there.
Is not the real issue here the fact that you aren’t ready to see an African American Captain America? And that with Will Smith, you’re still trying to wash Wild Wild West out of your mouths?
In actual fact Marvel produced a wonderful comic book mini-series a few years back called Truth: Red White & Black which saw the Super Soldier Serum tested on black soldiers. It was quite controversial in it’s day and some of the writer’s recieved death threats (how dare they sully Capt’s great name etc).
If the comic book movie industry continues to thrive, then Truth would make a wonderful, politically charged spin off somewhere down the line, so casting a black Captain America here would undermine that.
Still, Capt’s big red boots are going to be hard to fill.It’s going to be an easy one for Marvel to get wrong…
As Tom F stated, there was a comic book series with a black Captain America. I think, technically, he was the first Captain America. You can find him as an old man in Young Avengers, where his (son? grandson? I forget which) takes on the mantle of Patriot.
So, yes, they can make a movie with a black actor playing a Captain America; but it will not be Steve Rogers. And, even though they’re already borrowing from Ultimate Universe with the black Nick Fury, Steve Rogers was still white in Ultimates.