I’m sure the movie blogosphere will be on fire for the next day or two over the rumor that Will Smith has been cast as Captain America in the upcoming Marvel superhero movie.
If you’re freaking out about this, don’t get your panties in a bunch.
If you think it’s the coolest idea ever, don’t get too excited.
During an interview with MTV news for the film Miracle at St. Anna (which looks pretty great based on the trailer), actor Derek Luke mentioned Will Smith and Captain America as being connected:
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“I heard they offered Will Smith ‘Captain America’”
He added that it “shows how times have changed.”
As pointed out in the article over at MTV, Marvel has not shied away from re-casting roles different from type. The original Nick Fury was a grizzly old white guy – a cigar-chomping tough guy. In the Ultimate Universe version of The Avengers (as well as in the cameo in the Iron Man movie) he was re-cast as Samuel L. Jackson, and fans haven’t had an issue with it.
This, however, would be one hell of a stretch – and the only reason it might have a snowball’s chance of succeeding is because it is Will “everybody on the planet loves me” Smith. I mean if he could make Hancock a huge success this summer, that shows people will show up to see him in a movie no matter what.
He can certainly fit the role physically – he buffed up to big proportions for his performance in Ali, and he’s been pretty big and muscular ever since. We’ve also seen that he is capable of leaving the “Aw, hell no” style behind as he did in I Am Legend.
But Captain America? Just how much are they planning on changing the character and his origin? I mean IF this turns out to be true (which I’m not buying at this point), one thing they had better NOT do is turn Steve Rogers into some snarky, bad attitude guy instead of the well known weakling who wanted to do all he could to help his country.
As far as I’m concerned this sounds to me like B.S. The equivalent of “my sister’s best friend’s third cousin heard from his next door neighbor” that such and such is true.
Source: MTV
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72 Comments
i wont watch it if this is true and i love cap.
Well Marvel themselves had black captain america-like supersoldiers in several comics, so it’s not exactly completely out of left field
I don’t see how it would work with Cap’s origin– I think times were still a bit too racist for them to select an African-American for the super soldier trials.
Rev
Yah, he was supposed to be from WWII or WWI right??
Wild, Wild West 2, anyone?
Will Smith continues to impress me with what he can pull off
I’ll go along with the damn ULTIMATES move of having Fury be Jackson version and sometimes thinking outside the box can be good…
but in this case
NO
Absolutely not.
A good Cap movie has been a long time coming – they have the capability to do it right – I WANT the Steve Rogers I grew up with. That is Cap.
Going along with this would be the HOLLYWOOD move I thought we were starting to be able to get away from.
This is the comic I meant, Truth:: Red, White & Black, in which black soldiers are used as guinea pigs before they risk using the supersoldier serum on a white guy.
This can’t happen. The movie is being made my Marvel studios, and there is no black Cap America in any of the Marvel stories. They will stay more true to the source. Marvel fans would never allow it.
This is a crazy false rumour.
Samuel L Jackson as Fury actually works because Ultimate Nick Fury was actually based on him, but there has not been a black Captain America. And he said it before, he wouldnt want to take all the white mans heroes away lol i think it was on this site that i read that.
As much as I like Will Smith, I would have to say no as well. As Rev mentioned, there was too much racism during that time period, and I’m sure Marvel would want it to be realistic. Well, as close to realistic as a comicbook movie can get.
Thomas Jane for Captain America anyone? lol
NO NO NO!!! WILL SMITH IS A VERY GOOD ACTOR BUT HE IS NOT CAPTAIN AMERICA!! I WON’T ALLOW THIS!!!
I like Will Smith. I like Captain America. Even as a black guy, I don’t think they should throw it too him.
That being said, there was Isaiah Bradley, also known as the black Captain America. He was created trying to reproduce the process that made Steve Rogers into a supersoldier. With a few changes, you can have Isaiah Bradley as the guinea pig before they tried the Super Solider Serum on a white army guy, it works, and the story follows the same route as with Steve Rogers.
Experimentation in that era wasn’t just carried out on blacks, don’t forget what happened at “Operation Crossroads” and other tests like it..
It’s not impossible to tweak the story to accommodate Will Smith. Is it so impossible to have two Captains America?
Imagine the over the top ending you could have if Smith’s Cap is looking at Roger’s just as he wakes up after thawing out.. “Good morning, brother!”
I wouldn’t mind this to much the only problem I have is as everyone has pointed out Cap is from WW2 it seems highly unlikely that a black man would of been selected from the program in that day and age. Then again this could work out we never know. I’m not to obsessed with them being so true to the comic that the color of the actor has to be the same. As long as he is still a strict military man and he dosn’t act like a thug I don’t see it being to big a deal.
I would like to add that Hancock wasn’t actually all that bad and Will proved he could do the “Ahh Hell na” Before I am legend when he did Pursuit of Happiness which was an excellent film. I am legend wasn’t actually very good and was an insult to one of the greatest books written.
this is not a good idea…
If they want to do a movie based on Truth: Red, White & Black, about the Tuskegee like super soldier experiments on black people. He could play Isaiah Bradley.
hey, I heard Will Smith may play all the characters, he’ll play Stark and Banner as well…kinda like Eddie Murphy does.
And he will play Superman too, when they do the DC Marvel crossover.
Its a rumour so its possible…a rumour I just started…
How rediculous would it be to see Smith playing mr. 1940s charmer and serious man Steve Rogers. I wouldn’t see any more Marvel flicks, lol
@ Nestor
“This is the comic I meant, Truth:: Red, White & Black, in which black soldiers are used as guinea pigs before they risk using the supersoldier serum on a white guy.”
I like that story arc and I’m not against this at all. I think if anyone can pull this off it’s Smith…I just don’t think the CAptain America translates well in this day and age anymore. Marvel killed off Steve Rogers because he was outdated and his idealism and blind patriotism just doesn’t exist anymore so for me that can open the door to anything.
I like the idea of Will Smith..
@ Nestor
“This is the comic I meant, Truth:: Red, White & Black, in which black soldiers are used as guinea pigs before they risk using the supersoldier serum on a white guy.”
I like that story arc and I’m not against this at all. I think if anyone can pull this off it’s Smith…I just don’t think the CAptain America translates well in this day and age anymore. Marvel killed off Steve Rogers because he was outdated and his idealism and blind patriotism just doesn’t exist anymore so for me that can open the door to anything.
I like the idea of Will Smith..
dagnamit double post
@greenknight
Captain America can still work as a movie in “this day and age.” Aren’t WWII movies still being cranked out with stories of heroism every year (crap like “Redacted” notwithstanding)?
Vic
I don’t see anything wrong with patriotic characters. I mean if you live in a country, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with loving it. Hell, I feel if someone doesn’t like their country, we’re not a communism, they can leave when they want. I’m not saying I don’t want them here, but if THEY don’t want to be here, why suffer any longer when they are free to leave? I never understood that. My family came from China, they didn’t like living there, and instead of whining and complaining, they left. It’s the smart thing to do.
I would love to see a super patriotic Captain America movie. Killing off the character in the comics because it’s not popular to be patriotic anymore is pretty stupid in my opinion. We shouldn’t do things to be popular, we should do what we feel is right.
It could work in a sequel where Steve Rogers discovers Smith was one of the first test subjects for the serum.
but for the first film ,
Give Steve Rogers the spotlight.
And for Gods sake,
Keep Brad Pitt away from This!
I actually agree with you completely Ken J.
@ Gary
Oh yes, definitely, glad you brought up that point, if they try to cast Brad Pitt I will have an aneurism… lol
But what do you guys think of Thomas Jane as Cpt. America? He wasn’t a very good Punisher, but I think he looks kind of right for Cpt. America…
I thought Tom Jane was an excellent Punisher, but I do think he would be a decent Cap as well. Eckhart wouldn’t be a bad choice either.
I’m going to reinsert my choice of Casper Van Dien on this one.
Rev
As much as I don’t love 3/4s of what Mark Millar writes…… the ONE thing I thought he completely nailed in Marvel’s ULTIMATES was Cap’s character – the classic 40s guy, now a man out of time and adjusting to the new world he lives in. Plus the way he tweaked what the super soldier process did to Rogers. I always want the source material struck to as close as possible but they tweaked Stark’s origin as Iron Man and as the biggest IM fanboy, I freely admit it worked spectacularly.
They should base Cap on Millar’s idea of the character – and since they are going with the SL Jackson version of Fury, this could actually have a decent chance of happening.
And there is still room in our world for a true patriotic character
LUKE CAGE…YES…BUT BY THE LOOKS OF HANCOCK..HE’S ALREADY DONE THAT SORT OF THING!I FOR ONE DON’T THINK HE’D DO CAPT “A” JUSTICE,THIS MUST BE A WIND-UP STORY!
IT’S FUNNY WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT 20/30 YEARS AGO,A LIST ACTORS CHASING AFTER SUPERHERO CHARACTERS OTHER THAN SUPERMAN & BATMAN.
IT’S A GOLDEN ERA FOR SUPERHEROS!
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