captain america

Remember how Marvel was supposed to have locked down its new Captain America by early March? Remember how John Krasinski was all but confirmed for the role? Remember when Marvel seemed to suddenly cool on him and go back to looking at a few previous contenders? Remember how Chris Evans suddenly made his way onto the list of potentials?

This epic tale of casting misadventure continues with the news that Ryan Phillipe and Channing Tatum have been shuffled into the mix.

What does this mean? I don't know. I'm ready to throw my hands in the air and scream "Just figure it out already!" concerning this whole Captain America thing. Marvel's casting track record has been pretty darn solid so far, all things considered, so it's possible they're just trying to make sure they have the right guy. Or they're indecisive and terrified of getting this wrong.

My hands are in the air: "Just figure it out already!"

What of Phillipe and Tatum?

Personally, I like Phillipe just fine as an actor and he's played soldiers before in Stop-Loss and Flags of Our Fathers, but at 35, he seems a little too old and a little too well known considering that Marvel have explicitly stated that they're looking for a somewhat unknown actor in his 20s. I also don't see him as Captain America, but there are worse choices out there.

Tatum has also played soldiers before, in Dear John and G.I. Joe, and he has the natural build of a superhero. He also has that "hot, young rising star" thing going for him. However, muscular builds and a few previous lead roles do mean he has the ability to move his face or avoid being a black hole of anti-charisma. This is a bad choice, Marvel.

That's enough fanboy whining from me! Hopefully we'll get something concrete soon. Hopefully the final name will start with a John and end with a Krasinski.

(Via Hitfix and Deadline)

While Marvel still searches for the right person to play the Star-Spangled Avenger Captain America, they've also got to find someone to play his arch-nemesis, The Red Skull, in the upcoming Joe Johnston film. The right man should be able to play cold and frightening, not be afraid to tackle one of fiction's most heinous Nazis, and be ready to spend some serious time in the make-up chair.

While some fans may have declared Christoph Waltz the perfect choice (a little too on the nose if you ask me -- save him for Dr. Doom in that eventual Fantastic Four reboot, I say), the folks at Marvel Studios may have their sights set on British actor Hugo Weaving, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

I think Weaving is a very good choice for the part, although it might ruin my fanboy armchair casting of Weaving as The Riddler in Christopher Nolan's third Batman film. The role would reunite Weaving with his Wolfman director, and would be the second comic book film for the actor (he also appeared behind the mask as V in V for Vendetta). The First Avenger: Captain America is currently scheduled for Summer 2011.

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.