Joe Johnston Directing First Avenger: Captain America!
Joe Johnston has been inked a deal to direct The First Avenger: Captain America, Marvel Studios’ take on its classic comic book character.
Head of Marvel Kevin Feige had this to say of the director: “This is a guy who designed the vehicles for ‘Star Wars,’ who storyboarded the convoy action sequence for ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ ” Feige said. “From ‘Rocketeer’ to ‘October Sky’ to ‘The Wolfman,’ you can look at pieces of his movies and see how they lead to this one.”
Created in 1941 by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon for Timely Comics, Captain America is the heroic alter ego of Steve Rogers, who is rejected by the Army for being too sickly and undergoes an experiment that takes him to the pinnacle of human form. Paired with an indestructible shield, he became a symbol of the war effort, in and out of comics.
The character disappeared in the 1950s but was revived during the early era of Marvel Comics. He was reintroduced as part of the Avengers, the absence explained by having him being in a state of suspended animation during a war mission until found by the superteam.
Captain America will be a World War II-set movie, and the character will appear in the modern day-set Avengers. Executive producing on Captain America are Louis D’Esposito, Stan Lee and Marvel Studios’ chairman David Maisel.