Enough news from the superhero side of Hollywood has surfaced to warrant a mini-update ranging from solid intel to what appears to be logical assumptions. I’ll begin with the “logical assumption” generated from Deadline where Nikki Finke reports David Goyer has left his duties as showrunner on ABC’s “FlashForward” to begin writing Batman 3, the third Batman installment with director Chris Nolan’s brother Jonah. Finke quotes a statement made by Goyer saying, “As my feature projects have started ramping up again, I felt I was being pulled in too many directions. I’m proud of [“FlashForward”] and excited about the relaunch. It’s in great hands.”
There is no telling how solid Finke’s reporting is here, but it does make sense since Chris Nolan would be putting the final touches on his July 16 release, Inception, and should he decide to return to the Batman franchise one would assume that would be his next move. I’m sure more will come out as we get closer to that July release date.
Meanwhile, MTV has producer Mike De Luca saying he’s talked to Goyer about directing a sequel to Ghost Rider.
Finally we come to a project that is actually in the making, The First Avenger: Captain America. The film will be directed by Joe Johnston and with the press junket for this week’s release of The Wolfman taking place over the weekend it is no surprise details have started to spill, and they have spilled all over the place.
Similar to the X-Men franchise, apparently Captain America is/was part of a team called The Invaders (sorry, I didn’t read the comic) and word is this group will have a major presence in the film. There is no confirmation on what members will be featured, but CHUD has a lot more on that.
“Virtually the entire story except the bookends are in World War II because we all recognize we have one chance to tell the origin story of how he became Captain America, you can’t tell a modern story and then go back and tell the origin story. If you’re going to do it, let’s do it. Let’s do it first. Everyone wanted to tell an origin story. There was a version where it was a modern story and it didn’t work.”
How this relates to the Red Skull can be explained by Wikipedia‘s entry for the character which apparently has three different versions. “The first Red Skull was an American industrialist turned Nazi saboteur, while the second is a long-time enemy of Captain America.”
Apparently Captain America will also have two costumes, I have no idea how important this is not being a comic reader, but there is a lot more detail on the matter at the Los Angeles Times. Thanks to Dark Horizons, here is the short version of it all:
Rogers is initially forced to become a propaganda symbol at USO shows where he wears the costume (made out of the US flag) and hates it. Later on in the film he “reclaims some of its imagery”. Initial costume will be very much like the Jack Kirby version in the comic. Secondary costume will be less gratuitously patriotic – “more like a traditional set of fatigues, with lots of straps and buckles”.
At this moment, The First Avenger: Captain America is set for a July 22, 2011 release date.
