Captain America To Be Set During World War II

Marvel Studios President of Production Kevin Feige revealed today that the Captain America movie will be a period film, set during World War II. I've never read any Captain America, but some of my friends who are really into the series have insisted that a WWII period setting would be the only way to do the story justice.

This basically confirms that Marvel will be sticking close to the original origin story which involved Steve Rogers volunteering to be a test subject in Operation: Rebirth, a top-secret defense project for the U.S. Army. Rogers took a Super-Soldier serum which altered his physiology, turning him into a "nearly perfect human being". Unable to duplicate the process, the United States government turned Rogers into a superhero who served as "both a counter-intelligence agent and a propaganda symbol to counter Nazi Germany's head of terrorist operations, the Red Skull."

The First Avenger: Captain America (and not Captain America: The First Avenger, which sounds infinitely better) is scheduled to hit theaters in May 6th 2011, just weeks before Marvel's superhero team-up film The Avengers hits screens in July. It's assumed that the film will likely end with a cliffhanger. In the comic series The Avengers discovered Steve Rogers' body in a block of ice in the North Atlantic years after his supposed death, and were able to revive him. It's assumed that a similar situation will probably happen to bridge the two movies, especially considering that The Avengers takes place in modern day. But Feige promises that you won't need to see any of the other films to understand The Avengers:

"Each of them have to stand on their own," Feige said. "You won't have to have seen any of the films to understand The Avengers... but it will help."

Feige also confirmed that Matthew McConaughey is not in consideration for the film adaptation as was rumored on CinemaBlend weeks back. That should make fans happy. You can read more about Feige's "State of the Marvel Address" on CHUD.