Jon Hamm as Captain America (thanks to Screen Rant reader “stpau1y”)
I really should re-title this post “Who CAN Play Captain America?” Because let’s face it – we here at Screen Rant have been running these speculative pieces for awhile now, fantasy casting our favorite upcoming comic book movies (See: Lobo, Batman 3 or Fantastic Four). And while it’s all in good fun to pretend that we have control over the movie universe, so far most of these castings have primarily been about picking actors we think best correspond to our particular mental images of our favorite heroes.
That is until we arrived at this point, trying to cast the titan, the legend, an American icon and symbol: Captain America, star of Marvel’s upcoming film The First Avenger which will serve as the lead-in to Marvel’s 2011 superhero team event, The Avengers.
Suddenly the issue has become bigger than the actors or what’s been inked into the comic book pages over the years – casting Captain America is like trying to cast someone to play (and represent) the American Flag itself. Taken like that, the decision process requires a whole new set of criteria – and (unfortunately), comes with the burden of a whole lot of politics.
So who is up to the task of playing Cap?
REAL AMERICAN HERO
Captain America cannot go the G.I. Joe route. There will be no scrubbing the word “America” from the title of this film like it’s some dirty word; the Captain will stay American, if for no other reason than the name “Captain World” or “Captain Continents” just sounds silly. While there have been early rumors that the WWII storyline for The First Avenger will feature an international band of heroes who cross paths with Cap (for obvious reasons of international appeal), it has been confirmed that the Star-Spangled Avenger himself will be portrayed just as we remember him on the page.
But who is Cap, really?
Captain America is indisputably a superhero who has transcended the page on which he was created – like Superman, like Batman. But unlike those other two heroes, Cap has achieved iconic status over the last half-Century largely without the aid of the mass media machine (no top-grossing toy lines, feature films, TV shows or video games). Even Cap’s ongoing comic book series was something of a dinosaur by the time I became a fanboy in the late 80s-90s.
No, Captain America has endured in a way that is all but extinct in this modern age where everything is YouTube archived: In people’s hearts and minds, as a symbol, more than a hero – as an ideal, more than a character. Americans who are reading this, I don’t have to tell you just how politically divided our nation has become in The New Millennium; that political civil war has raged so long and violently that at height of the upheaval (2007 leading into the 2008 election) Marvel decided to kill-off Captain America, arguably as a metaphorical declaration that American idealism (everything Cap was and stood for) was dead and gone. Of course soon after that – as is the standard in the comic book biz (and/or a sickly ironic example of the power of Hollywood) – Marvel brought Cap back (see video below). After all, who would want to see blockbuster film about a dead hero? (No disrespect to you, Deadman.)
Now, we could sit here and argue all day about the narrative tricks Marvel pulled to bring Cap back (the gun that assassinated him actually “froze him in time???”); we could debate over whether or not Cap was brought back as a symbolic gesture (Marvel Comics declaring that America has “found its way back to its “lost idealism”), or simply as a fi$cal-minded move, designed to help build The First Avenger upon the strongest foundation possible.
But this ain’t a forum for political left-right-middle argument, my friend – this is where we geek-out over comic book stuff! Now that Cap IS back from the dead and the movie is in the pipeline, the question turns to which actor can possibly take on the monumental task of not only elevating Captain America above and beyond the wide divide of modern politics, but which leading man can make Cap a hero (and a star) to movie goers all over the world, while never losing that quintessential quality of being first and foremost one of the great American originals?
(See pg. 2 for our Captain America criteria)
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Wait, did I just see someone suggest George Clooney???
*shakes head*
Michael Phelps already has won more Olympic gold medals than anyone else in history. All the women in the world already know what to expect of Phelps in costume as Captain America, having seen him so many times before in his Olympic speedo swimsuit. Phelps has the natural build of Captain America, that inspiring teens want to imitate. It’s time couch potatoes everywhere get off their butts, and cheer for a real hero. Michael Phelps already has a huge fan base the world over, much like Johnny Weissmuller had who played Tarzan. Captain America won all those gold medals all by himself at the last olympics hands down, and is the greatest athlete of all time. Let’s hear it for Michael Phelps!!!
Michael Phelps? Please cast an ACTOR in the role. Phelps isn’t an actor.
Mark Valley would be perfect as the Cap
Phelps? That’s a joke right?
What about Aaron Eckhart? He did well in The Dark Knight.
In this scene from Johnny Weissmuller’s second feature film, Tarzan and His Mate, Jane goes swimming naked with her jungle lover. The producers got away with this at first due to the fact that the …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNGXdw2_6DM&feature=player_embedded
Uh… Tarzan WTF? Was there any relevant point to your comment? You do know this is a column on Captain America right?
I saw Michael Phelps last week on TV, he went up against the Shaq, in a few swim races. Which by the way is a weekly event being televised, and starring Shaq.
Um, what??? This is getting weird…
i should think that with dozens of blond haired blue eyed 25 year old actors in hollywood or in the soap opera industry surely an actor for both steve rogers & captain america can be found by the end of october 2009.
Watch the Michael Phelps campaign to becoming Captain America on hulu.com.
Why watch it on youtube? The whole show is recorded on hulu.com
http://www.hulu.com/search?query=Michael+Phelps
Johnny Weissmuller invented the movies and tv being the most highly recognizable and popular star of the silver screen during the roaring twenties. It’s no secret Japan and South Korea are ramping up new production lines for LCD screens, in this new age of HDTV. It’s time to reinvent the kinds of stars that worked in the distant past, but have been long forgotten. Captain America is just one format of the possible many that Michael Phelps could forfill. I’m thinking Hollywood will most likely want to wait until after Michael’s olympic career, if for no other reason then to get him at cheaper rates. Good luck anyways Michael Phelps, besides it feels more like the depressed 30′s than the 20′s.
WTH is with this invasion of the Michael Phelps fanboy??
Michael Phelps…Mmmmm…perhaps since he’s a great swimmer, he might be considered for “Namor/The Submariner”, but for Captain America, I dunno…Either way, they’d really have to do some makeup work to make him (at least facially), resemble either Cap or Subby. But I honestly can’t see him in the Cap role and not quite the Submariner either.
But hey, who knows? Anything’s possible nowadays! Let’s wait & see!
“I’m thinking Hollywood will most likely want to wait until after Michael’s olympic career”
Or they could wait until he gets some acting credibility before they put a non-actor in a major role.
This is an action hero role, not a drama based romance, with basic lines that even Mickey Mouse could do. The Hulk squeaks, grunts, and moans his way through lines, the more complicated scenes will be done by heavy weight champion Robert Downy Jr. The cinema needs a big hit on it’s hands to survive the times, and this kid Phelps, could be key to making it happen. There may have never been a better film star than Johnny Weissmuller of the 20′s era. Don’t you think it’s time to try a simliar role out once more with another great olympic champion?
Who started this phelps crap? He’s not an actor and it’s one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard.
Thank you, M-Cat. ACTORS act. And Phelps is NOT an actor.
” Don’t you think it’s time to try a simliar role out once more with another great olympic champion?”
Sure, why not? I mean this is only a MAJ0R role in a HIGHLY anticipated film. So, why not cast someone who has no acting credibility, and isn’t even an actor? Hell, lets go ahead and consider Phelps for The Joker as well(Please note sarcasm).
Yah, I don’t know, I was pretty confused for a while there… Who’s next to have some random fanboy come in here to randomly recommend??
I just worked worked with an actor named Matt Biedel on an episode of Cold Case and I told him he would be perfect for Cap. He laughed when I told him but he’s the closest I’ve seen to an actor who can play Steve Rogers/Cap. He’s kind of unknown but he was really great in the episode and has the best superhero jaw I’ve ever witnessed – I think he’s around 6’2 or 6’3 and he’s already pretty built. I told him I would campaign for him so here goes:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2560926/
Why could’nt Channing Tatum play Captain America. I think whoever gets the role should look the part, be able to act the part and also be able to give a physical performance. I think Tatum is almost perfect for the role for the following reasons:
- Cap is probably the most co-ordinated and physically displined super-hero in comics. Some may laugh but Tatum has shown that he is physically co-ordinated in movies like Step Up and Fighting.
- He showed his acting chops in a movie like Stop Loss; playing a soldier.
- He has that american homegrown look to him.
- He’s part of the new Obama generation. He would help draw a younger demographic to the movie. Why would you make a Captain America movie that only appeals to the old. If he gets the role, I think he could surprise a lot a people and maybe re-invent the character to fit this modern time.
He’s just not a good enough actor. Cap needs to shine on the screen.
ok, this is just getting boring. i say we should all just give it a rest until an official cast is announced. it’s not like hollywood listens to us, the audience, anyway. besides, i’m sure we’ll all have plenty to praise or bitch about when they finally do pick cap.
Joe what are you 25 or 35 years old? Because I don’t think you’ve seen to much of the tv industry having been brought up on fat cable programming. In the fifties and sixties some 20 or 30 years before cable came along, Johnny Weissmuller was as popular as he ever was in the 1920s. Kids across the country could make a Tarzan call and tuned in regularly on Sunday mornings. Sundays usually had alot of old programming, though none so fun as Tarzan. Tarzan was the first action hero and super man to come along in entertainment. Tarzan gave writers and advertisers a chance to dream about comic charaters who were first invented after Johnny Weissmuller ended his Tarzan acting days. Tarzan gave writers a different look at what a true super man could achieve, and what movie studios were willing to create big budgets for. If not for Tarzan we’d more than likely still be watching Abbot meets Frankenstein or The Great Train Robbery VIIIVII. We got a sense of who we are, and that if it’s innocent enough it can still stand for the good side of life. It’s not just about those crooks, who are always winning and hogging all the money and fame. Some people really have earned it through hard work and motivation and believed in something better for themselves, climbing the ladder to success, like our Tarzan.
Wait, Tarzan?? Michael Phelps?? What’s going on here?? lol
Kellogs donated all the Michael Phelps ceral boxes to shelters for the poor, after Mike was photgraphed with a bong. There’s 100,000 people in Florida living in the woods today.
Jesus broke bread with the people, and performed miracles before passing on. The messiah has been to your homes, and now graces the silver screen.
Dirty Work
Halestorm
Get on your knees
And let the games begin
Bow to your queen
And I will crown your head
Cause I can make you every inch a king
Before I do it, tell me
Tell me what’s in it for me
I need someone young, willing and able
You need someone old enough to know better
I want you to…
Do my dirty work
Do my dirty work