CaptainAmerica

Nothing makes the internet go insane quite like superhero casting news. The sheer number of rumors and hearsay and surefire scoops is maddening. Message boards turn into war zones. Civility goes out the window. If the internet had existed in the 1980s, the news of Michael Keaton being cast as Batman would have caused the entire system to explode. Literally. As in we'd all be sitting in front of burnt out, smoking computer husks.

We've seen rough times, but I don't think we've seen anything quite like the clusterf*ck that's been the Captain America casting. Who's still in the running? Who was actually considered? Who is actually going to play Captain America? Questions, questions.

Answers? Maybe.

A few weeks ago, Cinematical got its hands on some inside info all but confirming that John Krasinski was ready to slip into Cap's costume. Today, FOX411 acted like they were the first ones to hear this and reported the exact same thing. Old information being regurgitated? Or a confirmation of the previous report's accuracy? Time for that 'ol copy and paste:

"John has read 4 times and is doing screen tests...He has screen tested 2 times so far. It's very likely that he will be the new Captain America. He is a favorite among the key decision makers and has been asked to come back for more this week...The big bosses are having him read with multiple actresses up for the female leads. They want to lock down the role and then they will narrow down everyone else."

When I posted the rumor of Chris Pine being in the running for Captain America, I got an interesting response from an unnamed source that claims Pine was considered but is out of the running. According to that source, Marvel has all but locked down someone younger, not-yet-a-star, as Steve Rogers aka Captain America for Joe Johnston's Captain America: The First Avenger and the Avengers team movie. If the source is correct, Marvel has someone who isn't exactly an unknown, but a bit of a cool, unexpected choice. (A rumor over the weekend pegged Robert Buckley, but so far there's been no confirmation.)

Here are my guesses at who those contenders might be...

I like this rumor a lot, but it is just a rumor, and CinemaSpy evens says so in their exclusive - Chris Pine is on the short list to play Captain America in the live-action Joe Johnston film of the same name.

I'm sure he's been talked about, whether he's on a list or not. He's got the look, the charisma, and the right amount of up-and-coming star power to play the role. Remember, the person that plays Captain America will need to lead the team of Iron Man and Thor in the eventual Avengers film. This means he needs a comfortable command presence; you need to be able to buy that Robert Downey Jr. (as Tony Stark) would take orders from this man. I think Pine has that quality - certainly in a way that Sam Worthington (also rumored for the role) does not.

We'll have more as it develops - Captain America: The First Avenger should be assembling its cast in the coming weeks. What do you think of Pine as Cap?

Welcome to Captain's Log -- your (semi) daily round-up of sci-fi randomness from around the web. Here's what's happening today:

- AICN has a list of the added/reworked scenes from Zack Snyder's Watchmen Director's Cut. It features a lot more dialogue and violence than the theatrical version. Surprise!

- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosarus earned $13.8 million Wednesday, taking the top box office spot from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Maybe next time Michael Bay will deliver the Dinobots instead of close-ups of John Turturro's ass and giant Decepticon balls.

- You know the Beyond Thunderdome-esque get-up Mickey Rourke is wearing in that Iron Man 2 set photo? Turns out that's probably only for an early scene. Rourke will be outfitted in more imposing Crimson Dynamo/Whiplash armor later on in the movie.

More sci-fi awesomeness after the jump.