It’s been a big two days for Marvel movie fans with the release of concept art for Thor’s and Captain America’s movie costumes yesterday, followed by the report of Jeremy Renner finalizing a deal to play Hawkeye in The Avengers hours ago. To add to the fun, Deadline is reporting that Neal McDonough in in talks to join the cast of Joe Johnston’s The First Avenger: Captain America as the character Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan.
If you can get past his name, Dum Dum is an agent of Nick Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D. in the comics and fought alongside him in World War II as part of his elite Howling Commandos unit.
McDonough, along with Jeremy Renner, is on my list of cool guys who play cool characters and gave a standout performance in the Band of Brothers HBO series. He also played key memorable roles in Star Trek: First Contact and Minority Report, among other notable appearances.
McDonough’s certainly no stranger to the World War II setting after having played a role in Flags of our Fathers in addition to the aforementioned Band of Brothers. He’s a great match to bring Dum Dum Dugan to life and even though details are very scarce at the moment, the role should allow for him to make further appearances in other Marvel Studios projects, most notably the S.H.I.E.L.D. movie that Samuel L. Jackson said would be coming out after The Avengers.
If things play out as I think they should, we may see Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye and Neal McDonough’s Dum Dum Dugan all play big parts in S.H.I.E.L.D. alongside Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, addressing any concerns that the film may not be able to support itself relative to Marvel’s other big budget summer tentpoles.
It’s very fitting that Neal McDonough joins the cast of Captain America after having expressed a strong interest in playing the title role of Steve Rogers himself in the past. This is a great opportunity for him to play a well-deserved and important role in Marvel Studio’s ever-expanding movie franchise.
Does this mean Josh Holloway is truly not in talks to play a character for Marvel Studios after being rumored for the part? I hope not.
McDonough joins the powerful cast which already includes the recently added Tommy Lee Jones in addition to Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes. Captain America is of course, directed by Joe Johnston and begins filming later this month.
What do you think of Marvel’s latest additions to their upcoming superhero movies?
Follow us on Twitter @rob_keyes and @screenrant and let us know your thoughts.
Iron Man 2 is currently in theaters everywhere; Thor opens May 5, 2011; The First Avenger: Captain America hits July 22, 2011 and The Avengers is scheduled to debut May 4, 2012. We’ll find out what comes next at San Diego Comic-Con this summer!
Source: Deadline
Ryan Reynolds Drops Out of 'Highlander' Reboot 
No Loki in 'Avengers 2' 
'Man of Steel' Director & Writer on What Has to Happen in 'Man of Steel 2' 
'Man of Steel' Ending Controversy 
All of this is awesome news. I’m just still a little worried about Joe Johnston. Wolfman was ok, but I don’t want an “ok” movie in Captain America.
Good Rain ;
P.A.R.S. WRITING DA.
get that man a “Bowler & a Cigar”
Keep ‘em coming!
it’s Marvel week
loving all the upcoming MARVEL news. im sure mcdonough will be better casted for dum dum than he was bison in that chun li street fighter movie.
Marvel has yet ceased to amze me. I’m a huge fan and I read comics almost rituously. These last couple of anouncements have been great. Keep it goin marvel. On another note it seamss like the cap movie has a pretty talented cast, it should be at least decent based on that
I think McDonough will do very well. Just dye the hair and mustache red,give him a pot belly,the bowler hat and cigar and he’s ready.I think Hugo Weaving and Tommy Lee Jones are the type of guys that will call a person out if they are’nt performing well. Weaving is the SHTT! Tommy Lee is a mean mother-F-er!
OMG! I´m ok with the casting but how many people gonna be there? I wonder next week we’ll know the casting of scarlet witch a quicksilver too! I´m a big fan of marvel and I´m looking forward for this movie, but maybe there will be too much people in this film, I´ll fell better if they stop casting people…
Ensign Hawk!!!
I’m loving the endless onslaught of great Marvel news. I hope they keep it up! Captain America has a cast rivalling Thor’s; I hope they stop announcing new characters and new actors now, since they’ve already got plenty and I don’t want this film to end up being too crowded.
awesome! Now all we need are the rest of the invaders.
Perfect for “Dum “Dum”….and Johnston PROVED he is perfect for CA with what he displayed in Wolfman…….but I still do not have the trust in Chris Evans. I still cringe when I see him with a big 4 on his chest. But I still say Thor totally has the better cast hand’s down, and will be a better film then CA. What saves CA IMO is Mr. Weaving.
This is awesome! I think all my worries for this movie is over with, Joe Johnston is a great director (Jurassic Park 3, The Rocketeer, wolfmaan, etc..) where all good movies. Now we just need the invaders casted and they are done. Marvel you are doing good with the casting just get edward norton on the avengers and you will be one of the best movie companies out there. Keep it up!
yes,yes,Yes!!!! this just gives me more to work with, and it always seems to be better than what i expected! the options at this point are endless and just like it is on paper, although it is a compleatly different style of the same genre Comics. some of us like to kill the child inside of ourselves and say… graphic novels…, but if we are really going to grow up, we have to see the trees as the forest. Most of us that have been fans since way back then, fell in love with characters we were introduced to in COMICS. this is an introduction to a new generation comics are not as popular as they were when some of us were kids. marvel has an awesome repertoire of comics and characters. the movie platform is the vehicle that marvel is using to reach new a new fan base. so hats off to marvel for continuing this genre well into the twenty first century. Kids love these movies as much as we loved them when they jumped off the pages when we were kids. Especially the characters that make it so you cant wait to see whats going to happen next!!!
I’m loving how this is all developing!! I can’t stop thinking about this damn film! This will only contribute to my insomnia I just know it! lol