Meet Bucky, Captain America’s New & Improved Sidekick

With Marvel Studios taking moviegoers back to the 1940s in their introduction of The First Avenger, we’re going to have the opportunity to meet a key character of Captain America’s early life as a Super-Soldier: Bucky Barnes. In the Marvel Comics, Bucky was introduced in 1941 as a young sidekick of the heroic Captain America, acting as a character the young readers of the books could relate to, one seemingly too young and not fit for regular soldier duty.

In Captain America: The First Avenger, Sebastian Stan does not play that character. Instead, director Joe Johnston and co. have inserted a new and improved Bucky Barnes, one that works for modern audiences in the live-action film medium.

For those unfamiliar with the character Sebastian Stan will be playing, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes was an orphan whose father, a soldier, died in training. He was underage during the war and instead acted as a sort of mascot for the base he resided at. After befriending Steve Rogers and learning that he was secretly Captain America, he dedicated himself to training and becoming his partner and eventually they served together as part of The Invaders.

Hero Complex had a chance to speak with Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston about the character, who we’ll finally get to meet alongside Chris Evans in the film’s first trailer, attached to the Super Bowl this Sunday.

We haven’t discussed the character of Bucky in recent months as marketing focuses on the title character, but actor Sebastian Stan is finally getting his due credit from director Joe Johnston and the first officially released image of his character in the film (seen up top).

“Sebastian brought something really interesting and slightly on the dark side and really compelling to watch — when he’s on camera, you’re fascinated by watching him… In a great cast, I thought he really stood out and brought some unexpected things to the role. Everyone brought something to the movie and a lot of them brought something great but I was most pleasantly surprised by what Chris brought and what Sebasatian brought in a much smaller role as Bucky.”

While Sebastian Stan may have not been the type of actor they were looking for as the title character, he certainly was able to bring the persona of a “bad boy” soldier, as you can see from his gritty look from the photo. He’s not your young little mascot from the 1940s comics.

“You know, he was originally up for the lead, for the Steve Rogers role, but he didn’t have quite the same earnest, I-want-to-fight-for-my-country aura that Chris has for this role. Sebastian has a little bit of the bad boy, he’s a little bit of the James Dean type and that goes somewhat counter to the general perception of Steve Rogers. He wasn’t quite right for Captain America, but I think he’s perfect for Bucky because, really, he can have a little bit of that dark side.”

What can we expect from Bucky in this movie and his partnership with Steve Rogers, since he’s not your typical “sidekick” anymore?

“We took some liberties with the relationship between the two guys… In our story, Bucky is already in the service, he’s already joined up and is being sent overseas while Steve is still struggling to get in the army. That’s different than what you may have read in the comics. It adds a nuance to the relationship that pays off later. They’re closer in age, too — they’re virtually the same age. That’s not the case at all if you go back to the old comics.”

While Chris Evans may get to do the cover shoots in his Captain America duds, it may be Sebastian Stan’s gritty James “Bucky” Barnes character who may sneak up as a fan-favorite character. When Stan was cast, the report indicated that he signed a 5-6 picture deal, meaning Bucky will be doing more than just Captain America solo movies. If you know the books and how the character returned in 2005, you can speculate on potential future Captain America movie story lines…

Expect more images of Bucky and the cast soon. We saw some leaked magazine shots which featured Sebastian Stan’s Bucky sporting a sniper rifle in action so stay tuned for the official release of those! Captain America sits on top of the list of our most anticipated movies of 2011 and we look forward to the first Captain America trailer justifying our excitement.

Directed by Joe Johnston, Captain America: The First Avenger stars Chris Evans stars alongside Neal McDonough’s Dum Dum Dugan, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes.

Captain America hits theaters July 22, 2011 and The Avengers is scheduled to debut May 4, 2012.

Follow us on Twitter @rob_keyes and @screenrant.

Source: Hero Complex

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‘Captain America’ Tops Super Bowl Movie Trailers List

Whether you watch it for the football or for the commercials, the Super Bowl has become one of most watched events on TV, with over 100 million viewers tuning in last year.

The Super Bowl has become the premier event for companies to display new, clever and often funny ads unveiling their new and upcoming products. In recent years Hollywood too has seized the opportunity to put their movies in front of the very large audience at one time – which is like icing on cake for us dual football/movie fans…

The opportunity doesn’t come cheap either: each 30-second spot this year will run about $3 million – that’s a whopping $12 million for a two-minute trailer!

Despite of the sluggish economy, most major Hollywood studios are taking advantage of the large Super Bowl XLV audience to run trailers for their major tent pole movies releasing this year. It’s an impressive list and, for a few films, this will be their first time showing anywhere. Take a look at the full list below listed by order of theatrical release date. Click on any of the highlighted titles for more information on that particular film:

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 3D (February 14th)Take Me Home Tonight (March 4th)

There’s a staggering amount of potential box office firepower on that list. The pre-game section of movies will air during the pre-game festivities at a steeply discounted rate; the same goes for the after-game section of movies which will air during a post-game episode of Glee.

Notable films missing from this list are X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern, Sucker Punch, Fast Five, The Hangover 2, Cars 2, Rise of the Apes, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Conan the Barbarian, Real Steel, The Three Musketeers 3D, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Sherlock Holmes 2.

Even the list of films without commercials is impressive and you can see every film releasing this year in our Massive 2011 Movie Preview. Now most of these movies are still in the process of shooting and most likely don’t have enough footage for a proper trailer, but at the very least some of these potential blockbusters would benefit from having a 30-second spot airing.

The biggest news that accompanies the release of this list is probably the debut of the Captain America: The First Avenger trailer, the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides trailer and the first full trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. While most people watching the Super Bowl will see these ads for the very first time, film fans and fanboys all know that the full versions could likely hit the web via YouTube or Apple days before the game is actually played.

So keep an eye out between now and February 6th to see if the film you are most excited about this year has a trailer release early.

Do you plan on watching Super Bowl XLV this year for the game, the commercials or the trailers?

Follow us on Twitter for TV and Movie News @Walwus and @ScreenRant

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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First Look At Red Skull Costume From Captain America

We all now know what the iconic star-spangled uniform worn by star Chris Evans in Captain America: The First Avenger will look like thanks to some recent official photos but we still haven’t seen what his arch-nemesis Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) looks like once he transforms into the notorious Red Skull.

While no official stills of The Red Skull from the film have been released yet, as per most comic book movies, images of movie tie-in merchandise have appeared online, revealing what The Red Skull’s attire and face will generally look like.

So far, the response has been generally positive about Evans bringing to life the classic Marvel superhero, Steve Rogers, and the same goes for his WWII Captain America costume and shield. You can’t go wrong with Hugo Weaving – or his powerful voice and on-screen presence – playing the villainous Red Skull, but will the same be said about his look once he becomes the appropriately titled Red Skull?

Here are some images of the overpriced Halloween costumes found at Big Bad Toy Store:

I hate having “first looks” for movies come from mass-production merchandise but the design at least verifies the general clothing design and head shape seen from the concept art of Weaving’s Red Skull (on left below). Note the similarities with his teeth and cheek bones as well:

The mask reminds me of some sort of Nightmare on Elm Street crossover but it isn’t a fair representation of what The Red Skull will actually appear as in live-action.

The images and Comic-Con footage featuring Hugo Weaving as Johann Schmidt before his makeover came out very well. Everything we’ve heard about the actual make-up and how Weaving plays him is on the up and up, so I look forward to seeing the Captain America trailer.

Chris Evans stars alongside Neal McDonough’s Dum Dum Dugan, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Dominic Cooperas Howard Stark and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes. Captain America is of course, directed by Joe Johnston.

Captain America hits theaters July 22, 2011 and The Avengers is scheduled to debut May 4, 2012.

Share your thoughts in the comments and with us on Twitter @ rob_keyes and @ screenrant.

Source: Big Bad Toy Store

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Chris Evans in Full Captain America Costume – Official First Look

We’ve seen the concept art, we’ve seen the Entertainment Weekly Captain America magazine cover and we’ve seen Chris Evans’ stunt double in costume riding a U.S. Army Indian motorcycle. None of these images however, has offered us the full look of Evans as the title character of Captain America: The First Avenger in costume as the future leader of The Avengers.

That changes now as earlier today a leaked scan of an exclusive in-magazine image of the latest issue of EW made its way online. We don’t post scans of inside-cover exclusive images but EW has released it officially on their site in proper resolution.

Check out the image as Evans in the Captain America costume, sporting a helmet with drawn-on wings, and note the heavily armed (and armored) characters in the background:

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I dig the new costume design however, especially how they integrated the star into his chest and shoulder pads. I do think from a material standpoint, it looks a little soft with the padding. No doubt, it’s designed intentionally this way to help him move in combat. The battle-worn shield looks amazing, as do the leather detailing and addition of the holster to his costume.

I wonder what Cap’s live-action costume will look like when he enters the modern era.

Now that we’ve seen both the full costumes for Thor and Captain America, knowing already what the Hulk and Iron Man look like, how bad-ass are The Avengers? If I were a CGI’d DC superhero, I might be tad worried…

Chris Evans stars alongside Neal McDonough’s Dum Dum Dugan, Tommy Lee Jones,Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, 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.

The First Avenger: Captain America hits July 22, 2011 and The Avengers is scheduled to debut May 4, 2012.

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Share your thoughts in the comments and with us on Twitter @rob_keyes and @screenrant.

Source: EW

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Captain America: Red Skull Concept Art & The Cosmic Cube

The excitement for Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger film has been building steadily since last year when the announcement came out that director Joe Johnston (The Wolfman) would be at the helm. After a wild and rumor-filled casting process, Marvel chose Chris Evans to don the red, white and blue tights and put fans at ease with a fantastic Comic-Con presentation in San Diego last summer.

It was here they unveiled the iconic shield Captain America will use in the movie and teased lucky fans in the audience with a quick glimpse of Captain America in action and the first completed scene of the film. While we saw the shield and know what the live-action version of the iconic costume will look like, we still haven’t been introduced to the other key character of the film: The Red Skull.

Today we have a look at what Comic Book Movie claims to have verified as legit concept art for the Red Skull as well as our first look at the Cosmic Cube thanks to our friends at SFX Magazine in the U.K.

Hopefully audiences will get to see Hugo Weaving in full Red Skull makeup sometime soon – if that rumored trailer releases this month.  And if they manage to make him look like the the character depicted in this concept art, then he’ll look bad-ass.

And for our readers that aren’t able to buy the British version of SFX Magazine, they were kind enough to send us a copy of the pages containing the new Captain America pictures. See them both below:

In the Marvel canon, the Cosmic Cube is an artifact that was originally created by the alien race called the Skrulls. Knowing the Cube is in the Captain America film may help give some weight to the rumor of the Avengers battling the Skrulls and/or the Kree. If for some reason you aren’t familiar with the story for Captain America, here’s how he came to be:

After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America’s ideals.

On a fun note – we’ve singled the picture of Hugo Weaving holding the Cosmic Cube and couldn’t help but notice that it makes a pretty darned good meme. What do you think?

It’s no surprise that expectations for Captain America: The First Avenger are very high since the character remains one of Marvel’s beloved creations and so far – other than the film being converted to 3D in post – all of the casting news, pictures and concept art look fantastic.

Captain America: The First Avenger pounds evil on July 22nd, 2011.

Follow us on Twitter for TV and Movie News @Walwus and @ScreenRant

Source: SFX, Comic Book Movie

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Joe Johnston Compares ‘Captain America’ Experience to ‘The Wolfman’

Jan 7, 2011 by Rob Keyes 

Director Joe Johnston explains the positive experiences of working on ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ compared to the problematic and rushed production of ‘The Wolfman.’

When director Joe Johnston was announced as the official selection by Marvel Studios to helm what may be the most important Marvel Studios solo character film in Captain America: The First Avenger, there was some concern and trepidation. Sure, Johnston brought us highly respected October Sky and worked on films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars: The Empire Strike Back, but he also directed Jurassic Park 3 and more recently, The Wolfman.

The Wolfman was a critical and box office flop. It had a stellar cast and a well known film title, but despite that it was plagued with production issues and other delays, and when it eventually opened in theaters it was not able to earn its production budget back. If The Wolfman is why you may be worried about Captain America, don’t. Working with Marvel Studios was an entirely different experience and Johnston explains why below.

Comic Book Movie has the exclusive and posed one question for Captain America director: What are his feelings on the project?

Below is Johnston’s lengthy and detailed response which delves into the nightmarish mess that was The Wolfman. Fans of the Star-Spangled Avenger will be pleased to read:

“Captain America was a lot of things. Every picture has its highs and lows, its dreads and excited anticipations. To fully understand the Captain America experience, I have to keep reminding myself that I had just come off another film I shot in the UK, The Wolfman. The two experiences could not have been more different. In fact, in many ways (certainly not all) they were polar opposites. I had three weeks of prep on Wolfman, a ridiculously inadequate amount of time to try to bring together the fractured and scattered pieces of the production. I had taken the job mostly because I had a cash flow problem, the only time in my career I’ve ever let finances enter into the decision process. Money is always the wrong reason for doing something that requires passionate devotion. The production was a leaky, rudderless ship in a perfect storm suffering from bad decisions, infighting, reluctance of the powers-that-be to take responsibility, and too many under-qualified cooks in the kitchen. The good news and bad news about directing is that when the picture works you’re showered with all the credit and when it doesn’t work you’re dumped on with all the blame. Both scenarios are undeserved. I take full responsibility for The Wolfman not working because it goes with the territory. There were wonderful aspects of The Wolfman experience. I inherited a crew that was the best of my experience, including a first assistant director without whom I could not have made it through the first two weeks. I had the immense pleasure of working with a cast that was as diverse and multifaceted as it could be. I rediscovered all that I love about London and its environs and I made some lifelong friends, on and off the crew. “

It’s difficult to pass all of the blame of The Wolfman on its director, a director who joined the project at the last minute for financial reasons. We can appreciate that he takes responsibility for the film not meeting all expectations – and he should – but when it’s purely a job and not a creative venture, let alone a good experience, that cannot bode well for any major film project.

Johnston continued to express how fortunate he is to work on a project with so many things going for it, especially the talent involved at all levels of the production.

“I had thirty weeks of prep on Captain America. I have a small team of qualified, supportive, creative producers who are actually helping me achieve my vision of the film. I had a dream cast headed by Chris Evans. I had the best designers, artists, sculptors, craftspeople… a creative team that could design, build and photograph anything and have it look amazing and beautiful. We had unbelievable luck with the weather wherever we shot in England. The weather was so good we were compelled to make it rain for a couple of sequences just for some variety. At times I felt as if the gods were saying, ‘Ahem, sorry about that Wolfman thing…let us make it up to you.’ Captain America was probably the most universally positive experience I’ve had in this mad business.”

We can only hope that this translates into Marvel’s best film yet. Things are looking good and the buzz is highly positive for Thor, but Marvel needs their superhero leader to steal the show in order to drive their long term plans with sequels and certainly The Avengers. We should be seeing the first trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger soon, so stay tuned!

The First Avenger: Captain America hits July 22, 2011 and The Avengers is scheduled to debut May 4, 2012.

Share your thoughts in the comments and with us on Twitter @rob_keyes and @screenrant.

Source: CBM

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SR Pick [Video] Fan-Made Captain America Comic-Con Trailer

Even though director Joe Johnston and star Chris Evans were only four days into shooting Captain America: The First Avenger, they still made an appearance on stage for San Diego Comic-Con this summer and brought with them a near-completed scene featuring Hugo Weaving’s pre-scarred Red Skull character, Johann Schmidt. While they hadn’t shot any footage with Evans in the Captain America outfit at the time, they did offer two quick shots of his costume test for the fans.

Had there been a few months in between production and the convention, those of us in the infamous 6000-person Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center would have been privy to a full Captain America trailer. It undoubtedly would leak online in some awful and unfair quality and it would look something like this fan-made trailer.

The viral trailer starts off incorrectly with the Twentieth Century Fox logo (Fox has nothing to do with Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, etc.) but goes right into the action, using scenes from Unbreakable, Iron Man, The Wolfman, The Incredible Hulk, Hellboy, The Rock, Saving Private Ryan and others.

The most interesting part of the video is how it actually looks like it was bootlegged from a convention, even including the screaming of the fans overlapping the audio from the video -- that’s how it actually is at Comic-Con. Watch and enjoy:

Although it features no real footage from Captain America: The First Avenger, it does still act as a good teaser and still sends the same message. For a real look at Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, check out the latest EW cover and this gallery of Captain America movie images.

Captain America: The First Avenger opens in theaters on July 22, 2011.

Follow us on Twitter @ rob_keyes and @ screenrant.

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