Captain America: The First Avenger/Trivia


 * The final shortlist for the lead role consisted of Garrett Hedlund, Channing Tatum, Scott Porter, Mike Vogel, Ryan Phillippe, Sebastian Stan, Chris Evans, Wilson Bethel, John Krasinski, Michael Cassidy, Chace Crawford and Jensen Ackles. Both Kellan Lutz and Alexander Skarsgård auditioned for the lead role, while Sam Worthington and Will Smith were in early talks. The role went to Chris Evans, who has already played another Marvel superhero, Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007).
 * Emily Blunt turned down the role of Peggy Carter. Other actresses considered for the role were Alice Eve and Keira Knightley.
 * Sebastian Stan was considered for the role of Captain America, but got the role of Bucky instead.
 * Jon Favreau was originally chosen by Marvel Studios to direct this film, but he chose to direct Iron Man (2008). Nick Cassavetes, was also considered to direct this film, and had been set as a director for Iron Man (2008) in December 2004.
 * Despite being "The First Avenger", it is the last solo Avenger film to be released before the team-up film, The Avengers (2012).
 * According to producer Avi Arad: "The biggest opportunity with Captain America is as a man 'out of time', coming back today, looking at our world through the eyes of someone who thought the perfect world was small-town America. Sixty years go by, and who are we today? Are we better?"
 * Joe Johnston was chosen as the film's director for his work on the period adventure films The Rocketeer (1991), October Sky (1999) and Hidalgo (2004).
 * Louis Leterrier viewed some of the concept art for the film, and was impressed enough to offer his services, but Marvel Studios turned him down. However, his film The Incredible Hulk (2008) provides a small appearance by Captain America: a deleted scene set in the Arctic.
 * Screenwriter David Self, who wrote a draft of the script, claimed Captain America was his favorite childhood superhero: "My dad told me I could one day be Captain America."
 * Chris Evans was attracted to the role of Captain America by its character: "Even if it wasn't a comic book. I think the story of Steve Rogers is great. He's a great guy. Even if it was just a script about anybody, I would probably want to do it. It wasn't necessarily about the comic itself. He's a great character to play; he just happens to be a comic book character."
 * Chris Evans declined the role three times before accepting the part. After that, he had a meeting with the director and the producers who convinced him to take the role.
 * To prepare for his role as Bucky, Sebastian Stan watched many World War II films/documentaries, and drew inspiration from "Band of Brothers" (2001).
 * Stanley Tucci took the role of Dr. Reinstein because the role enabled him to use a German accent, which he always wanted to do.
 * The film was originally meant to be a standalone film, but after Joss Whedon was hired to direct The Avengers (2012) he was given a copy of the film's script and made a few rewrites to tie it in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: "I just got to make some character connections. The structure of the thing was really tight and I loved it, but there were a couple of opportunities to find his voice a little bit - and some of the other characters - and make the connections so that you understood exactly why he wanted to be who he wanted to be. And progressing through the script to flesh it out a little bit."
 * To prepare for her role as Peggy Carter, Hayley Atwell trained six days a week.
 * Joe Simon, who created the "Captain America" comic in 1941 (before Stan Lee revived it in 1964), was approached to make a cameo appearance in the film.
 * Hugo Weaving based the Red Skull's accent on renowned German filmmakers Werner Herzog and Klaus Maria Brandauer.
 * The film was originally going to be film in Manhattan Beach, California but moved it to London, England due of the tax breaks to films costing over $75 million.
 * Captain America was put on hold during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.
 * Tommy Lee Jones who plays Colonel Phillips in this film, also appeared as Two-Face/Harvey Dent in Batman Forever (1995). Both Captain America and Batman faced off in the Marvel vs. DC crossover in 1996.
 * Originally cameo appearances were planned in the film for James Logan Howlett (Wolverine) and Erik Lensherr (Magneto), who were present during World War II (Logan was a soldier and Lensherr was a prisoner of war). These cameos were scrapped due to rights issues.
 * Originally cameo appearances were planned in the film for Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Prince of Atlantis, but this was scrapped.
 * This is the fifth live-action adaptation for Captain America. The first was the serial, Captain America (1944); the second was the TV movie Captain America (1979) and its sequel, Captain America II: Death Too Soon (1979), and the fourth was the theatrical film Captain America (1990).
 * Chris Evans sixth comic book movie after the two Fantastic Four movies, The Losers (2010) and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). He also voiced Casey Jones in TMNT, which also had a comic tie-in.
 * The Red Skull searches for a powerful artifact, the Cosmic Cube. In Transformers (2007), Hugo Weaving voiced the villain Megatron, who also searched for a similar cosmic cube-shaped relic (the All-Spark).
 * Sebastian Stan was considered for the role of Captain America, but got the role of Bucky instead.
 * Hayley Atwell based her performance as Peggy Carter on Ginger Rogers: "She can do everything Captain America can do, but backwards and in high heels."
 * Despite being "The First Avenger", it is the last solo Avenger film to be released before the team-up film, The Avengers (2012).
 * The final Paramount Pictures film produced with Marvel Studios. Disney bought the rights to The Avengers (2012) and Iron Man 3 (2013).
 * Joe Simon, who created the "Captain America" comic in 1941 (before Stan Lee revived it in 1964), was approached to make a cameo appearance in the film.
 * Arnim Zola's first appearance, in the form of his face as an image on a television screen, is evocative of the "classic" comic-book Zola, whose body was a headless hulk with a viewscreen on its chest displaying an image of his face.
 * Captain America's special forces unit he assembles and leads is an amalgamation of the characters of Marvel Comics' World War II period titles. These are the 1960s war title, "Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos" about an elite special forces infantry unit and the 1970s "The Invaders," about a superhero team operating during the war under the command of Captain America. The contributions of the former title include most of the soldier characters, while the latter includes Captain America, Bucky and James Montgomery Falsworth, who appears in the comic book as the British superhero, Union Jack.
 * In the exhibition, there is a mannequin in a red jumpsuit under a glass dome. That is a reference to the android, the original Human Torch, the first superhero created by Timely Comics (October 1939), which eventually became Marvel Comics. He was also part of The Invaders along with Namor and Captain America. Marvel Comics recycled the name and abilities with the Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm (1961).
 * Neal McDonough plays a soldier in the 107th infantry. In Band of Brothers he played an officer in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment who also fought in Europe throughout WWII.
 * Contrary to popular belief, a body double was not used for Chris Evans for the scenes when he was skinny. The filmmakers had originally planned to hire a body double and superimpose Evans' face onto the double's body, but ultimately scrapped the idea since director Joe Johnston claimed that Evans moved in a unique way and that no body double could replicate his movements. Ultimately, the filmmakers utilized digital technology to "shrink" Evans down, essentially erasing portions of his physique, until they came up with what the filmmakers called "Skinny Steve". Over 250 shots were filmed like this, and because the shrinking process left empty space in the background, many of the scenes had to filmed in front of a green screen so that they could superimpose the backgrounds back into the scene.
 * The Captain America comic book shown in the movies bears the cover of the actual Captain America #1 released in 1941.
 * Captain America's special forces unit he assembles and leads is an amalgamation of the characters of Marvel Comics' World War II period titles. These are the 1960s war title, "Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos" about an elite special forces infantry unit and the 1970s "The Invaders," about a superhero team operating during the war under the command of Captain America. The contributions of the former title include most of the soldier characters, while the latter includes Captain America, Bucky and James Montgomery Falsworth, who appears in the comic book as the British superhero, Union Jack.
 * In the exhibition, there is a mannequin in a red jumpsuit under a glass dome. That is a reference to the android, the original Human Torch, the first superhero created by Timely Comics (October 1939), which eventually became Marvel Comics. He was also part of The Invaders along with Namor and Captain America. Marvel Comics recycled the name and abilities with the Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm (1961).
 * The Asgardians from Thor are the "Gods" referenced throughout the film.
 * When Steve discovers the gunmetal circular shield in the development office of Howard Stark, he asks what it's made from. Vibranium is a fictional element in the Marvel universe that comes from the country of Wakanda, the land where The Black Panther, another Marvel superhero, lives.
 * The first Captain America comic makes a cameo in the film. In real life the movie is inspired by the comic book, while in the movie the comic book is inspired by "real life".
 * The sniper rifle Bucky uses to save Cap is a modified 1941 Johnson rifle, which was adopted in limited numbers by the US Marine Corps.
 * During the escape from the HYDRA facility, Dugan and Jones steal a tank. As they drive away, you hear Dugan exclaim "Wahoo!" In the comics, this is the battle cry of the Howling Commandos, of which both men are members.
 * Even though the vial of serum stolen by the Hydra agent is broken, another showed up in "The Incredible Hulk" to be injected into Emil Blonsky (making him the Abomination). You can even see "Vita-Ray" written on the refrigerated storage container. According to canon many attempts were made to replicate the Super-Soldier experiment, but for a yet-unexplained reason it only ever worked on Steve Rogers.
 * In the scene in which Col. Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) Peggy (Haley Atwell) and Captain America (Chris Evans) are chasing the Hydra plane in Schmidt's car, Col. Phillips presses a red button, with the letter K on it and the German words Gefahr Nicht Drucken surrounding it which translates in English to "Danger Do Not Push", sending the car speeding faster down the runway. In the film Men in Black Tommy Lee Jones' character Kay warns his partner Jay (Will Smith) to never "ever touch the red button", and later in the film tells him to "push the little red button" sending their car speeding down a tunnel.
 * Stan Lee's cameo appearance in this film is an exception in the tradition of him appearing in films featuring Marvel Comics superheroes. In this case, Lee had nothing to do with the initial creation of Captain America, but his first story he ever wrote was "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 in 1941, which also had the first appearance of Captain America throwing his shield as a weapon. In addition, he, along with Jack Kirby, was responsible for successfully reviving the character in 1964 in The Avengers #4 and reestablishing him as a major figure in the Marvel Universe.
 * Paul Warren (an experienced film double and actor mostly known for roles wearing prosthetics) was used in pre-production to help develop the 'Skinny Steve Rogers' effect by CGI supervisor, Christopher Townsend,, as well as one of the 'Skinny Steve' on set stand in's. English Shakespearean trained stage actor, Leander Deeny, was used on as the on set 'Skinny Steve' double when Chris Evans was sitting or lying down, or when a minimum of physical movement was required.
 * Hydra's futurist aircraft take their designs from actual WWII German concepts such as the Horten H.XVIII flying wing bomber and Triebflügeljäger fighter plane.
 * WILHELM SCREAM: Rogers is pursued by Hydra soldiers on motorcycles, but releases a flamethrower defense. One screams as he swerves, loses control and is thrown headlong.
 * The Red Skull is only referred to as the "Red Skull" once in the movie, in the letter that is read by the German SS officer from Hitler.
 * In the 1979 made for TV movies, Steve Rogers makes his living as an artist. As a homage, in this newer version, Steve Rogers sketches costumes designs for Howard Stark and is caught doodling pictures of himself as a circus monkey.
 * Samuel L. Jackson filmed a scene with Chris Evans for this movie in a modern New York City's Time Square which serve as a scene that preludes The Avengers
 * Joe Johnston, the director of "Captain America: The First Avenger", also directed "The Rocketeer". In The Rocketeer, the hero, Cliff Secord, finds a rocket pack created by Howard Hughes, thus becoming the Rocketeer. In Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America obtains his iconic shield from Howard Stark, a character closely based on Howard Hughes.
 * Just before his death, Bucky wields Captain America's shield. In the comics, when Steve Rogers was killed, Bucky took over as Captain America.
 * Chris Evans share the same birthday with Thor's Kat Dennings June 13.
 * When chasing down the Hydra agent after being injected with the super soldier serum, Steve picks up a Taxi Cab door. The cab company is 'Lucky Star Cab Company' - with the name circling the star for a logo - resembling and foreshadowing the iconic shield that Steve eventually wields as Captain America.
 * When Bucky takes Steve to the World's Fair near the beginning of the film he says, "We're going to the future" - a foreshadowing that Steve Rogers will actually go to the future at the end of the film.
 * Red Skull's deformed appearance is explained by his body's rejection of the serum because he was not worthy - the serum drives him even madder. This is exactly what happens to Emil Blonsky which leads to his transformation into the Abomination, with the help of gamma rays, in 'The Incredible Hulk'.
 * There are several references to Raiders of the Lost Ark, which Director Joe Johnston worked on as Art Director:
 * Red Skull's consumption at the hands of the Tesseract is very similar to how the Ark of the Covenant kills the Nazis.
 * Cap throws a HYDRA bad guy into a fighter plane's propeller.
 * After he holds the Cosmic Cube in his hands, Johann Schmidt/The Red Skull makes a comment about how the Fuhrer "searches the desert for trinkets."
 * Howard Stark finds the lost Tesseract at the end, which leads him to creating blue print designs about the cubes structure and overall power, which can be seen in a case of paperwork that Tony Stark looks through in the middle of Iron Man 2.
 * When Captain America attacks the base and finds the prisoners, he finds Bucky strapped to a table and very out of it. Later Bucky falls to his apparent doom into the frozen river. In the comics Bucky becomes Winter Soldier, so these events are setting up his return in a Captain America and/or Avengers sequel.
 * When Johann Schmidt is searching for the Tesseract in the beginning of the film, he shoots the man hiding it and blood splatters on his HYDRA pin. The blood only splatters on the skull part of his HYDRA pin, foreshadowing his becoming the Red Skull.