Comic Books to the Big Screen - Part 3: Captain America

In the 3rd and final part of guest contributor Devin Rankin's series on the ins and outs of comic book heroes who are becoming Hollywood blockbusters (click HERE to read Part 2: The Green Lantern) Devin looks at Captain America:

 Captain America, The First Avenger

Releasing July 22 2011 in the US.

( just called “The First Avenger” outside of the US)

 

Captain America was created in 1941 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who were working for the company that would later become Marvel Comics.  Captain America was the perfect human specimen, wearing a costume inspired by a US flag and fighting the evil forces that opposed America.

In that first story, Steve Rogers is a weak and sickly guy who has been picked on all his life.  But he loves his country and tries to sign up for the Army.  The Army classes him as 4F and they reject him.  As he pleads with the recruitment officer, an Army general who has been looking for a test subject for an experiment overhears him.  Steve agrees to do anything for his country and soon he is being injected with the Super Soldier serum and placed into a chamber to be exposed to a new type of radiation.  When he steps out, he has the body of a Greek God.   Not superhuman exactly.  But the quickest, strongest human possible.  The scientist who invented the process (who looks a lot like Einstein) is killed by a spy and the equipment destroyed so Steve Rogers is the only one to undergo the process (because no one ever wrote anything down back then I guess).

The Army designs a uniform for him, gives him a shield and uses him as a high visibility weapon against the German, Italian and Japanese forces, known as the Axis.  The first shield is kite shaped and just plain steel.   This shield was later replaced by a new round shield made of some indestructible metal.

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). Cover art by Joe Simon (inks and pencils) and Jack Kirby (pencils).

Just what the shield is made of is the source of many drunken geek debates.  Partly because Marvel has this habit of revising history by revealing “new” unknown elements of the story.  So originally some scientists were working on new metal alloys and accidently created a metal disk that was indestructible.  They were never able to replicate the results and so the disk was painted red, white, and blue and given to Captain America as a shield.  At different times, the shield has been said to have been made of (the fictional metal)  Adamantium and (the fictional metal) Vibranium or else an unknown steel alloy and Vibranium.    Adamantium being an indestructible metal and Vibranium being a metal that can absorb and reflect vibrations.  So is the shield Adamantium/Vibranium or some near Adamantium steel/Vibranium?  The real answer is that it is paper and ink, but among geeks, the debate rages on.

Captain America remained popular in the 40’s and early 50’s, fighting Nazis and Communists.  But by the mid 50’s, the comic was out of print.  Many comics stopped printing in the 50’s because they were under attack.  In the 50’s they were the targets of congressional hearings that were looking into the “damage” they did to the American youth.  Just like TV in the 60’s, video games in the 80’s and 90’s, and the Internet today.  Rather than defend themselves, most comic book companies stopped publishing the violent superhero, war, and horror stories and instead published stuff like Archie and Jughead or re-did classic books as comic books with an illustrated story.  This was also the time that the “Comic Code” stamp of approval came into being.  It was an attempt to self-censor the industry.  Similar to what the movie industry did when it was their turn to fall under the Eye of Sauron in the culture wars.

But by the 60’s, TV was taking all the heat as the source of juvenile moral corruption and comics started up again without much notice or outcry. Marvel was doing good business with their new line of heroes in the 60’s and then they started bringing back some of their older properties.  They wrote the story of the last days of Captain America in WWII.  It seems he was on a mission near the Arctic Circle to stop a new Nazi super weapon.  Cap was able to stop it, but in the process fell into the frigid waters and was presumed dead.    But he did not die of course.  Comic book heroes never really die.  He was just frozen and became part of an iceberg for 20 years until he was discovered and thawed and brought back to life in 1964.  He continued to fight some of his old enemies, like Zemo and Red Skull, and some new ones as well.  He also became the leader of the Avengers, a comic book team of superheroes.

The movie seems to follow along the lines of the comic book origin and will be mostly about WWII.  They have introduced Tony Stark’s dad, Howard Stark, and made him the guy who made the shield.  This seems to have been in the plot for years as the shield, or a mock up of it, can be seen in the background of both Iron Man movies.  They have changed the uniform to make it a bit more realistic and my guess is that the movie ends with some form of Cap’s death in the arctic.  Marvel has announced that the next movie to be made will be The Avengers, which will have Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America in the modern world.  So they seem to be following the broad outline laid down by the long running comic 40 years ago.

 

I have some high hopes for this movie.  I really enjoyed the Captain America stories growing up.  But the last two attempts to make a movie out of the story have really failed.  There was  a 1970’s made for TV movie that had Steve Roger’s son as Captain America.  And a 1980 movie that never saw release, but can be found around the Internet and sometimes on DVD if you look hard enough.  Both were bad, really bad.  Marvel seems to be taking time and effort to be sure its heroes are done right.   I hope the streak continues with this one.

Note from Valerie: Thank you to Devin Rankin for the time and effort in creating this series for What Valerie Thinks. Below is a bespoke portrait that was done of Devin AS Captain America. To everyone who knows Devin, he is, indeed, a real hero! 

 

Comic Books to the Big Screen - Part 2: Green Lantern

In the second part of guest contributor Devin Rankin's series on the ins and outs of comic book heroes who are becoming Hollywood blockbusters (click HERE to read Part 1: Thor) Devin looks at Green Lantern:

Green Lantern

Releasing June 16^th in US.

In the 1940’s, Allen Scott was the Green Lantern.  It was the Golden Age of comics and superhero comics were hot stuff.  In this version, Allen Scott had found a magical green lantern.  He made a ring out of a piece of the lantern and discovered that the ring gave him a number of fantastic abilities.  But the ring had to be charged every 24 hours by being in contact with the lantern and the ring did not work on anything wooden.  This green Lantern wore a red and green costume with a black and green cape.

Above art: Green Lantern's debut in All-American Comics#16 (July 1940).
Art by Sheldon Moldoff.

By the 1950’s superhero comics were out of fashion and Green Lantern stopped being published.  When they came back in around 1960, DC comics decided to re-invent most of its heroes.  They kept Superman and Batman largely the same.  But Green Lantern got a complete re-design, as did almost all the other heroes that DC owned.  This 1960 era is often called the Silver Age.

In this new version, the Green Lantern ring is a super high tech weapon for good.  A galaxy wide organization known as The Guardians have thousands of heroes known as Green Lanterns.  Each sector of space has its own hero who wears the ring.  Abin Sur is the Green Lantern for sector 2814, which includes earth.  He is injured in a battle and his space ship falls to earth.  As he dies, he has the ring find a new hero for sector 2814.  Someone who is honest and without fear.  The ring selects 2 people, Guy Gardner, and Hal Jorden.  Hal, a test pilot, is closer and ring goes to him.  Hal is reckless and impulsive.  But over time grows into the roll of a hero and goes on to become the leader of the Green Lantern Corps.

The ring is able to do just about anything (except keep Abin Sur from dying it would seem).  It allows Hal to fly, protects him with a force field and allows him to grab and move things at a distance.  It has to be charged by placing it in contact with its power source, a green lantern, and it has no power against anything yellow.  

While the ring is charging, it seems the wearer must recite this kinda silly rhyme:

“In the brightest day, in the blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight.  Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power, Green Lantern’s Light.” That is why the posters for the movie have “In the brightest day, in the blackest night” printed in the corners.  A bit of a nod to the fan boys.

During the last 50 years or so, the Green Lantern comic has gone through a lot of ups and downs.  The writers have often changed things around, trying to spark some interest.  The writes have invented new characters to wear the ring.   The most notable are John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and Jennifer-Lynn Hayden.   In the 80’s comics came under some criticism because all the heroes seemed to be white males.  The industry responded by making some new ethnic heroes, but also by putting new people in the roles of old heroes.  So far a while the ring went to John Stewart, an African American.  Then to Kyle Rayner, who’s father was Hispanic.   Jen Hayden wore a Green Lantern ring for a while, but went by the name Jade.  She has been the only female on earth to wear the ring.  But not, as it turns out, the only female Green Lantern.

Artwork for the cover of Green Lantern: Rebirth 6 (May 2005 DC Comics). Featuring (l to r) Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Kilowog. Art by Ethan Van Sciver.

From the early release publicity, the movie seems to go along with the 60’s comic book origin story with Hal Jorden being a test pilot who is given the ring by a dying Abin Sur. The bad guy for the movie seems to be Sinestro, a former Green Lantern who now wears a yellow power ring. (Geeky point that may not be in the movie:  Sinestro is Abin Sur’s brother in law as he was once married to Abin’s sister.)  They also seem to be keeping the theme of Hal growing into his new role. 

The movie looks good.  There is no way this could have been done before CGI special effects.  Green lantern is always forming giant green hands to grasp things or hit things and they just would not have looked right in the past.