MARVEL Unveils First Pic From CAPTAIN AMERICA : THE WINTER SOLDIER, It’s All Dark And Ominous

CAPTAIN AMERICA : THE WINTER SOLDIER and its Phase 2 buddy THOR : THE DARK WORLD are the two movies I’m most anticipating from Marvel’s next slew of flicks. Their first outings in their individual origin films were nothing but generic (albeit fun) romps in typical genre tropes, in which the House of Ideas lightly tip toed around its bizarre heroes, hoping that they wouldn’t be too outrageous for audiences to understand. BUT… now that Cap and the Odinson have established themselves in a solo movie each, and together in the third highest grossing film of all time The Avengers, their potential to produce unique, groundbreaking cinema in their own, separate sequels is finally possible! We’ve already seen a ton of behind the scenes footage from Director Alan Taylor’s take on Thor, which filmed throughout the Fall and Winter, but we’ve yet to see any content from Cap… until now.

Marvel’s just unveiled the first official promotional picture for CAPTAIN AMERICA : THE WINTER SOLDIER and it’s just so… dark, ominous, foreboding… emo?

BURBANK, Calif. (April 8, 2013) – Following in the footsteps of the record-breaking Marvel Studios’ release, “Marvel’s The Avengers,” production on the highly anticipated release, Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” has commenced in Los Angeles, Calif., with production also including locations in Cleveland, Ohio, and Washington D.C. Directing the film is the team of Anthony and Joe Russo (“Welcome to Collinwood”) from a screenplay written by Christopher Markus (“Captain America: The First Avenger”) & Stephen McFeely (“Captain America: The First Avenger”). Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” returns Chris Evans (“Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as the iconic Super Hero character Steve Rogers/Captain America, along with Scarlett Johansson (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Iron Man 2”) as Black Widow and Samuel L. Jackson (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Iron Man 2”) as Nick Fury. In addition, film icon Robert Redford has joined the all-star cast as Agent Alexander Pierce, a senior leader within the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is set for release in the U.S. on April 4, 2014.

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” will pick-up where “Marvel’s The Avengers” left off, as Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and teams up with Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, to battle a powerful yet shadowy enemy in present-day Washington, D.C.

I have faith in Chris Evans to deliver another heart warming performance as Steve Rogers, but I’m not entirely confident in Marvel’s take on the character. I always hoped that THE FIRST AVENGER would lean more towards the grit of Saving Private Ryan instead of the popcorn-flick tone of Rocketeer (regardless of director), and I’m afraid that this new movie could follow a similar path. Although, if Kevin Feige and crew are true to their word, this new flick will be a 70’s style political thriller, which will be a nice change of pace from Marvel’s modern action movies (which are awesome, nonetheless).