View From the Phlipside – Captain America

My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media.  TV, Radio, the movies and more.  I love ’em and I hate ’em and I always have an opinion.  Call this The View From the Phlipside.

Hollywood is known for jumping on a successful idea and re-creating it over and over and over.  The only thing that will slow this juggernaut down is when they finally make a version of the idea that is so bad that it bombs.  There’s a possibility that the bomb that ends the run of comic book hero movies is about to start filming this summer.  I just have a really bad feeling about Captain America: The First Avenger.

If you weren’t a fan of the old Cap here’s a quick primer.  Steve Rogers failed his physical in 1940 and was rejected by the Armed Forces.  Instead he entered a secret program that turned him into the super hero Captain America.  He fought the Germans and the Japanese and his arch nemesis Red Skull.  After the war he accidentally fell from a drone plane into the North Atlantic and was frozen.  What happens after that gets a bit fuzzy but eventually he comes back, helps found the superhero group the Avengers and is eventually killed.  Then just last year he was re-born and that story line is REALLY complicated so let’s just skip it here.

So why do I have such a bad feeling about the movie?  First because Captain America is such a relic.  He was originally created as a political superhero and the politics of America in 1941 and 2010 are very different.  The comic book story lines have been trying to hash out that very problem for over a decade now.  The movie will try to avoid it by being mostly a World War II period piece with some modern flashes.  Cap has always been something of an oddball in the superhero world.  He literally wears the flag in his costume, and he has no super powers other than an amazing ability to recuperate.  His only weapon, traditionally at least, is his big round shield.  The original costume even had little tiny wings on either side of his head.  The more updated versions seem to have lost that.

Rumors are flying around this one – like the actor who is picked will sign a NINE movie deal (highly unlikely).  And who will play the old Cap?  At the moment  John Krasinski from The Office seems to be the favorite with Mike Vogel from Cloverfield, Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl, Patrick Fleuger from The 4400, Garrett Hedlund from Tron Legacy also being mentioned.  The final casting announcement may come as soon as this week.  None of these guys are guaranteed stars.

Captain America lacks the kind of cool gadgets that Batman or Iron Man have, the super powers of Superman or Spiderman.  His only sidekicks were his girlfriend (named Betsy Ross of all things) and a teenager named Bucky.  And we’re stuck fighting World War II again, at least for the first movie.  Oh and it’s been tried before.  There was a Captain America movie made back in 1990 starring J.D. Salinger’s son Matt as Steve Rogers.

Maybe this all works, maybe the Marvel magic will turn this into the hit of next summer.  I’ve just got a hunch Steve Rogers may wish the Avengers had never found him floating in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

Call that The View From the Phlipside.

“The View From the Phlipside” airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright – Jay Phillippi 2010