Their screentime was so brief and connection to the lead character was so brief that it did not, until this moment, occur to me that Captain America’s Howling Commandos were not frozen along with the star-spangled man. Since screenwriters Markus and McFeely made it clear months ago that Cap 2 would be set “primarily” in the modern day, I’m left wondering how the Howling Commandos will continue to fit in. Will they be cameos in whatever brief flashbacks to WWII there are? Will they show up in the modern day having fallen into their own convenient blocks of ice somewhere else? I’m assuming the former, but whatever the story method they pick, one of the Commandos–Neal “Dum Dum Dugan” McDonough–is talking with great excitement about a Captain America 2 production that will start later this year, and alluding to a Nick Fury movie while he’s at it.
“They’re planning [to go into production] for the end of this year, because Marvel does one film at a time. So they’re going to do Thor 2 and as soon as Thor has wrapped, they’ll do Cap 2. Hopefully right after that, we’ll jump into Nick Fury because that’s the one I’m looking forward to more than anything.”
Frankly, that’s a very vague sentence that doesn’t stretch very far, as “go into production” doesn’t necessarily mean much when you’ve got a studio constantly spinning plates on half a dozen properties. Iron Man II and Thor II are both definitively set for 2013 (Thor did move to Nov.), with two more unspecified Marvel films set for 2014. It’s entirely likely that Captain America II will be one of those big 2014 releases, but that would still suggest a 2013 shoot and production, even if they hire PAs and open up the offices (so to speak) by the end of this year. Maybe Marvel is stepping it up and will get cameras rolling sooner for a long effects lead time (the last film could have used it), but I’m seeing a lot of assumptions based on very little. Maybe there’s more info I’m not seeing somewhere.
HE knows all the answers. I sure don't.
As for the Nick Fury / S.H.I.E.L.D. film, that’s also certainly a possibility for the other 2014 slot, though Doc Strange and other projects like Ant-Man have been gestating for some time as well. In fact, reportedly there’s now a completed script for the Doctor, and plans to get it moving for its own 2013 release… So are we seeing a full acceleration of Marvel production?
My other question is what scale will the Nick Fury film be? Surely not quite an Iron Man-sized blockbuster? Who knows… capitalizing on the presumed success of The Avengers and putting Sam Jackson front-and-center of something is probably not a bad idea, but it’s still unclear where that idea fits into the continuum and the Marvel Master Plan For World Domination®.
I know in some continuity Nick Fury was rocking and rolling with the commandos during WWII (and during the Gulf War in another), but I somehow doubt the Nick Fury movie is going to be a throwback tale of Sam Jackson leading the underdeveloped sidekick sidkicks from Captain America around in the past, if Captain America himself isn’t even going to go back to that era. So again I’m left wondering, how the hell will these characters be magic-logic’d back into continuity again? Here are McDonough’s thoughts on what he wants to see, but he seems to be guessing and hoping like any other fan at this point:
Because it’ll be me and Sam Jackson. In the real Marvel universe, Dum Dum Dugan is Nick Fury’s right hand man…And I just pray that they have a 1970s setting, because I want to see Sam Jackson with lambchops kicking people’s asses for Marvel universe. It would just be awesome. And to work with Sam would be a treat. We’ve become friendly over the years.
I’m sure some more comic-book-versed reader may have a riot-act to read me about Marvel continuity or the film universe logic… I’m all ears. Regardless, it should all be building up to The Avengers 2 around, say, 2015 and I’m sure the big M has more tricks up its sleeves concerning some of the smaller properties and spin-offs.
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