Could Zemo & Strucker Be The Villains In Captain America 2?

It's been long rumored that Captain America villain and leader of the Masters of Evil, Baron Zemo would be featured in Captain America: The First Avenger. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely confirmed to IFC that in early versions of the script Zemo and Baron Strucker indeed were involved. However, it seemed like a waste to use both so early in the franchise. It's likely that the two villains could show up in Captain America 2 or future Marvel films.

There were a few classic villains that were planned for the first film, only to be removed in subsequent drafts. The pair previously revealed that evil despot Baron Zemo was in an early draft, but he wasn't the only sinister side character in those versions of the script.

"Baron Strucker was in there for a while, but he wasn't doing enough to justify wasting him in the film," said McFeely. "We certainly tried things, and ended up settling on the more useful Red Skull and Arnim Zola. But they're all still on the table," he teased. 

"There wasn't a sequence with Master Man that ended up on the cutting room floor or anything," laughed Markus. "But there was an endless array of scenes we could've drawn from, and may draw from in the future. I'm not being cryptic when I say that, either - I'm just being a comic book geek. For example, some day, whether it be in an 'Iron Man' movie or a 'Captain America' movie or any other Marvel movie, I want to see M.O.D.O.K. float down the hall." 

Zemo along with creating The Masters of Evil (a group of villains that fight The Avengers) is also responsible for putting together the original Thunderbolts group. The Thunderbolts were similar to the Dark Avengers as they are villains posing as heroes to gain the world's trust and plan to eventually take it over. Other incarnations of the group included villains released from super prisons to reduce their sentences working for SHIELD on different missions. I wouldn't be shocked to see Zemo become a baddie in Avengers 2.

Strucker on the other hand is heavily involved with both Hydra and A.I.M. which could mean that he might be a modern villain that could resurrect Hydra or bring A.I.M. into the forefront. Considering Modok a known member of A.I.M. has been mentioned a few times by the screenwriters. He seems a good bet for Captain America 2 or the Nick Fury film. Hopefully we'll see Madame Hydra ends up alongside Strucker.

Captain America Screenwriters Talk Sequel & Howling Commandos Spin-Off

 While talking with IFC (via ComicBookMovie) screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely talked about Captain America 2 confirming they've completed an outline for the the sequel. Along with seemingly colaberating with Joss Whedon to figure out where Cap's character should be in Captain America 2. Since a few things that likely were planned for the second film are now being included into The Avengers.

McFeely: "We needed to read Joss' 'Avengers' before we could go on and do 'Captain America 2.' We needed to see if he did anything different, character-wise - and he hadn't, he's an excellent writer - but we also needed to see what he had done in terms of Steve poking around the modern day and dealing with it." 

Markus: "So much of Captain America's adventures occur in the present day, so there are a lot of things I'd like to touch on. That said, we did leave the center section of 'Captain America' baggy enough to let him have adventures you didn't see [in the first film]. So, we kind of have enough room to play with [for the sequel]." 

McFeely: "Still, if he had another adventure entirely set in World War II, the stakes are kind of lessened, because you know he survives and you know what happens to Bucky and you know the Howling Commandos survive long enough to have a toast in a bar." 

Markus: "You know Cap wins and you know that whoever he was fighting didn't destroy the world, because you've already seen things that happen after it. So the stakes are, well... But then again, did that bother anyone with the second 'Indiana Jones' movie?" 

I'm a big fan of the first film so I'm excited to see that they're going forward with the sequel with Joe Johnston still expected at the helm. My only concern is that Joss Whedon had added things to the last film's script to incorporate the Avengers and I assume to add humor as well. Whedon is well known for his whitty oneliners which seemed all over The First Avenger. So hopefully Joss is still going to be apart of the screenwriting side along with Markus and McFeely. There also seems a rich story to be told with Winter Soldier whether it's in a sequel or the Howling Commando spin-off.



The pair also mentioned the potential Howling Commandos spin-off that has been rumored for a while now. Which they're open to making and could end up being very similar to Kelly's Heroes and Inglourious Basterds. The latter isn't surprising as Quentin Tarantino took inspiration for The Basterds from The Howling Commandos comics.


McFeely: "They're certainly cool, and in a different movie, we would've certainly had a little more 'Kelly Heroes' or 'Magnificent Seven". thing going on. (Talking about if they had more screen time) 

Markus: "It would've been like 'Inglourious Commandos." 

McFeely: "Personally, I'm a big fan of that type of movie - the ne'er-do-wells banding together to fight a common cause. So I'm open to it, but... well... I'll just say I'm open to it."

I have to admit that I almost enjoyed the scenes with the Howlers more than the solo Cap scenes. So I'd be on board with a Howling Commandos spin-off. Yet, I'm concerned with the amount of spin-off talk considering the laundry list of other original projects at Marvel that have yet to get off the ground. Their has already been talk of spin-offs for Nick Fury, Black Widow, War Machine, Hawkeye and The Warriors Three. I assume it's just way for Marvel to pump up audiences/fans to root for the supporting characters.

Chris Evans Says Captain America 2 Coming 2014?

Talking to ThePlaylist, Captain America star Chris Evans has mentioned when he thinks the sequel could be released along with contact aspects. He goes on to mention that the studio locked him into six films. So if he shows up in a cameo for a non-Captain America/Avengers film he'd be able to ask for more money if they want him for Cap 3 or Avengers 3. Evans thinks the studio might wait until 2014 to release Captain America 2.

"They may wait until 2014 until they release the next Cap. Marvel has a lot of balls in the air, they aren’t going to cannibalize their films.” And it could be very expensive for Marvel if Cap shows up in a non-Cap movie. “Out of those six films, if I pop up in one of those [other films], it counts as part of the deal. So if they needed me in a third Cap, and I say, ‘Fuck you, give me $30 million,’ well…they want to avoid that."

Previously it was announced Marvel Studios had two films set for 2014 the first one May 16th and the second June 27th. I assumed that the sequel would be one of these dates, it sounds like all but confirmation with Evans' statement. On the other hand Marvel has yet to announce dates for Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Widow, Nick Fury, Iron Fist and Black Panther. They could wait to test the waters with new characters before rolling out a sequel.

Villains That Should Be In Future Captain America Films

After viewing Captain America: The First Avenger a couple of times I've found it very entertaining. Being one of the best of Marvel Studios' films yet. So when the studio moved forward with a second film I was very interested. There was an announcement that Marvel was developing a script for a Cap sequel but no release date was set but 2014 seems likely. Joe Johnston is expected to return as the director since he signed on to make two films.

Last month screenwriter Christopher Markus (Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America 2) brought up an interesting casting idea for Captain America 2 that could seen recent Emmy winner Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) in the role of villain Modok in the sequel. Modok of A.I.M. is one of the only villains mentioned besides the quote from director Joe Johnston stating he'd like to explore the Winter Soldier story. I've come up with a few other villains that should be on screen some known and some lesser known villains.

A.I.M.: Advanced Idea Mechanics is another large terrorist group and is a splinter group of Hydra which was started by Baron Von Strucker. Modok is also an important member of the group along with Monica Rappaccini better known as Scientist Supreme. If the studio decides not to resurrect Hydra, A.I.M. could be a good target for SHIELD and Cap.

ALEXSANDER LURKIN: There are a few villains that could help move the Winter Soldier aspect forward, mainly KGB agent Aleksander Lukin. He inherits the leadership of a KGB group which is in charge of the Winter Soldier project. Lurkin is also involved with Kronas Corporation and Roxxon Oil. There was an Roxxon building shown in the first Iron Man, so the company has been established in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Russian aspect could also lead to the Russian Super Solider Program giving us Red Guardian. Lurkin also has aligned himself with Hydra and The Red Skull.

MADAME HYDRA: Is the second in command of Hydra under Baron Von Strucker along with being the usperper of The Serpent Squad. If they do deceide to bring back Hydra, Strucker and Madame Hydra could be great co-leaders for the present time group. They've been previously introduced in both the cartoon series along with the Cap video game Super Solider.

BARON ZEMO: Zemo is the second most popular Captain America villain after Red Skull and could really show up in either of the time periods. Considering Heinrich (12th Baron Zemo) is seen during WWII and his son Helmunt is the present day Zemo.

GEORGES BATROC: A former French Legionnaire and currently a mercenary who is a master of savate (French Kickboxing) has been upgraded over the years from comic relief to badass. Eventually being able to handle fighting off both Cap and Hawkeye at once. Batroc is also able to hold his own against Black Panther, who is one of the greatest hand-to-hand fighters in the Marvel universe. I could see him used as a hired gun and could be apart of any villaineous group.

Captain America Screenwriters Talk Sequel

Now that Captain America is becoming an overall success there is movement on the sequel. Joe Johnston has said he'd like to do Captain America 2 but has yet to sign on officially. The first film's screenwriters Chris Markus and Stephen McFeely talk (via GeekTyrant) about the angles they'd like to see happen.

We certainly want at least a portion of the '40's, I think. The span of [Captain America: The First Avenger] is about two or three years, and there’s a few times in the film where you jump four months ahead, you jump six months ahead. So we did that with the intention of saying, ‘Okay, there are certainly unseen adventures that Captain America went on in that period that if we want to, we can go back and explore later.

It might be doing a disservice not to address the present day Cap, particularly because so much of the comic book run right now is present day Cap – that ‘man out of time’ is the icon. The Captain America that most people know is really from kind of the reboot, when Stan Lee brought him back in '63 and '64, frozen from a block of ice. So his biggest personality trait is that he's this man out of time, and for us, we didn't have the opportunity [to explore that]. This was a guy in the RIGHT time.

Cap's present day love interest Sharon Carter and his partner Falcon have also been named as possible additions for the sequel. It also doesn't seem out of the realm of possibilities that the Winter Soldier storyline could be explored as well.

I want both of them! Sharon is meaty, almost to a point where you get a little uncomfortable because her relation to Peggy has shifted over the years, as time has passed. She's the sister, she's the cousin, she's the niece. You have to walk a fine line there because it does seem like you're dating your girlfriend's daughter. Falcon is awesome. We can't play with time so much to have Cap go back to Harlem in the '70's and clean up the streets, but it would be awesome to go straight up, like, 'Shaft' with Cap and the Falcon.

Joe Johnston Hopes To Make A Winter Soldier Spin-Off

While Joe Johnston is signed on for at least one more Captain America film which is currently in the outline/writing phase. He seems to be keen on another popular Marvel character which would end up a spin-off of his own film. Joe would like to tackle a Winter Soldier movie according to his interview with ScreenRant.

Bucky Barnes becomes the Winter Soldier after being captured and brainwashed by the Russians to become an elite government assassin. It seems like it could be a better bet than a Howling Commandos spin-off which I had been expecting. Sebastain Stan had been in the running for the role of Steve Rogers before landing Bucky and has previously stated he's signed on for more Marvel films. It's expected that the studio is looking at supporting characters from the films to branch out into spin-offs similar to Nick Fury/SHIELD, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Personally I've been hoping that the Winter Soldier storyline would eventually be used in the films. Here's hoping it ends up being put to good use.

“I told the Marvel guys that there is a character that I’m really interested in called ‘The Winter Soldier’ and that if, ‘you guys decide to make that picture I would definitely be interested.’ It’s the Bucky Barnes story. We talked about ‘The Winter Soldier’ which is the continuation of what his story is. It’s basically that he is captured by the Russians and he’s brainwashed and turned into an assassin. But you know there are a thousand ways to go with that. I just think that it would be interesting to take a character that was in ‘Captain America’ and build a story around him. Plus, I like Sebastian Stan a lot (who played Bucky) I think he would be an interesting actor to build another feature around.”

Marvel Studios Moving Forward With Captain America 2?

We recently heard news on movement on Iron Man 3 with Shane Black meeting with Marvel Studios. Now there is word from LatinoReview that Marvel is already working on Captain America 2. They've hired screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus who worked on First Avenger. It's expected that the sequel would be set during present time and after the events of Avengers.

There are plenty of characters and villains to be explored in future films now that HYDRA will be established in First Avenger. This could be an excellent film to introduce Cap stables like Winter Soldier (Bucky), Union Jack (modern), Baron Zemo, Crossbones, Viper/Madame Hydra and Baron von Strucker. It would also be a great opportunity to bring in Sharon Carter and Falcon into the mix.

I wouldn't be shocked to see the SHIELD/Nicky Fury film end up being combined into the Captain America sequel and to be honest I think it would end up a stronger movie.