Marvel Announces ‘Captain America’ Director

Published by Jeff Leins on November 10, 2008

Joe Johnston has signed a deal with Marvel Studios to direct The First Avenger: Captain America.

As much fun as it would be to make fun of Johnston for directing Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Pagemaster, and Jumanji, I just can’t.  He created the final design for Yoda and Boba Fett and won an Oscar for the visual effects in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  The man deserves respect, and I’m going to give it to him.  His Wolf Man adaptation with Benicio del Toro set for next year looks awesome.  Plus he’s from Texas.

“This is a guy who designed the vehicles for ‘Star Wars,’ who storyboarded the convoy action sequence for ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’” Marvel producer Kevin 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.” Johnston has worked with all the great Hollywood talents.  Lucas.  Spielberg.  Rick Moranis.  How do you not sign him?

The discussions about the character’s direction have been taking place for over two years, according to the Hollywood Reporter.  The film, scheduled for May 6, 2011, will focus on the solo story of how Steve Rogers became Captain America during World War II.  As part of a military experiment, Capt. A will be disappear into “suspended animation” in the 50s and reemerge in modern times to be part of the Avengers team and the movie slated for July 15, 2011.

No writer has been officially hired yet, but I expect there will be an announcement soon.  Of course, no actor has been attached as Captain America either.