CAPTAIN AMERICA: HEADED TO THE BIG SCREEN

Captain America, the most iconic of the Marvel Universe’s superheroes, has yet to make it to the big screen, but plans are afoot to get him up there for a summer 2011 release, reported Nicole Sperling in Entertainment Weekly (March 26). In the planned adventure, Cap will be in World War II London battling his arch nemesis of that period, the Red Skull. The search for the right actor to play the part was complicated by part two of the plan — an all-star Avengers movie for the next summer, 2012, in which the same actor will impersonate Captain America while Robert Downey Jr. does Iron Man, Samuel L. Jackson does Nick Fury, and Chris Hemsworth does Thor. Chris Evans finally won the part, but he’s not likely to make Alex Ross happy. Ross, who painted Captain America in the upscale funnybook version, said: “We’ve been saying for years, if you don’t sign Jon Hamm to play this part, you’re crazy. Captain America is supposed to be patriarch of the Marvel Universe. To get a guy in his early to mid-20s [like Evans] is only thinking about where the character began, not what he ultimately needs to become.” A young Apollo like Evans might be fine for WWII-era antics, but as the leader of the Avengers, Cap needs gravitas — and a few more years.