Monday
06Oct2008
'Captain America' Will Battle the Nazis
Monday, October 6, 2008 at 2:22AM
In Hollywood, Nazis are the new Nazis. Steven Spielberg
went after them in the 1990s, Roman Polanski did likewise in 2002. Valkyrie
hatches an assassination plot against Hitler later this year. And between 2009
and 2011, we'll probably see at least three big blockbusters take aim at the
Nazis, not that they didn't have it coming.
Film School Rejects was thumbing through Production Weekly, which lays out the entire plot of Captain America, which sounds like an origin story to me.
"Born during the Great Depression, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth in a poor family. Horrified by the newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to enlist in the army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected. Overhearing the boy’s earnest plea, General Chester Phillips offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment - Operation: Rebirth. After weeks of tests, Rogers was at last administered the ‘Super-Soldier Serum’ and bombarded by ‘vita-rays.’ Steve Rogers emerged from the treatment with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program. Three months later, he was given his first assignment as Captain America. Armed with his indestructible shield and and battle savvy, Captain America has continued his war against evil both as a sentinel of liberty and leader of the Avengers."
Here's the deal on that: The Great Depression began after the stock market crash in October, 1929. The war ended in August, 1945. So Steve Rogers couldn't have been more than 15 at the time he enlisted. That wasn't terribly uncommon at that time, although in the comic, Steve Rogers was a teenager during the Great Depression, so they've taken a rather unnecessary liberty there.
Of course, I think it's absolutely brilliant to have a superhero period piece. To me, that's the most interesting element in all of this. Whether or not the plot above is accurate, we've heard for months that it would be an origin story set in WWII.
The First Avenger: Captain America comes out in the summer of 2011.
Reader Comments (4)
I remember my school time
Since when did Tarantino's "Inglorious Bastards" become a film version of the video game "Return to Castle Wolfenstein"?
superheroes go better with nazis. Like to see Superman destroy the axis, maybe like the amazing The Eleventh Hour cartoon, like to see the Sub Mariner, Human Torch, all those Atlas characters fighting japanazis.
@Norway:
I think you misread the article (to be honest, it's not worded very clearly). I took it the same way when I first read it too.
The article states, "...we'll probably see at least three big blockbusters take aim at the Nazis..." and then goes on to list those three films:
1) "Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards,"
2) "a long-stewing film version of the video game Return to Castle Wolfenstein,"
3) "Marvel's Captain America..."
Hope that helps.