We open with newsreel footage, typical WWII American stuff, and a voice-over about how, with the Nazi’s working towards breeding bigger, stronger, and tougher soldiers, America finds itself struggling to catch up. In order to try to beat the Nazi’s at their own game, President Roosevelt authorizes a top-secret program to develop a Super-Soldier Serum. As the country’s best scientists work feverishly around the clock to develop this new serum, the Army starts looking for test subjects…
Cut to a scene of a young, skinny boy of about 18 standing at the head of a line and arguing with an Army sergeant seated at a table. The dialogue might go something like this, but this is just a hasty sample:
BOY: C’mon, Sarge! I just wanna do my part to help. Are you telling me the Army doesn’t want every man they can get?
SARGE: Of course we do, Steve. Now look, you’ve been standing in this line every day for the last couple of months, and every day I tell ya that you’re just not Army material…
STEVE: But…I’ve been working out! I can do this, Sarge!
SARGE: Sorry kid…you’re just too scrawny…now do us all a favor and let the next guy step up, okay?
STEVE: (walking away) It’s just not fair…
As Steve walks towards the door, a man in a white coat calls out from behind him. The man is Dr. Emil Erskine, who offers to help Steve get in shape.
Steve goes home to tell his parents and his girlfriend, Gail. Though they express concern and some disbelief, they wish him well.
In the next scene, Steve is in a chamber. Erskine begins the process, injecting Steve with the SS Serum and adding a secret catalyst. We see Steve magically begin to bulk up and grow in height, but just as the process is almost complete, one of the lab assistants pulls a gun and shoots Erskine in the head, shouting “Heil Hitler!” as he does so. Angered by this, Steve breaks out of the chamber, leaps across the room, and strangles the shooter to death. Shocked at what he has just done, Steve goes over to Erskine’s body and makes the promise that he will fight evil in all its incarnations.
Cut to a montage of Steve being tested, trained in weapons and martial arts, and trying on his new costume – a modified US Army Battle Dress Uniform in blue, with a large white star on the chest and a blue battle helmet with a white star on it. He is then introduced to the nation as Captain America.
From there, this is how I see the movie working:
Cap leads an assault on a secret German facility near Greenland, where he discovers that the German’s have developed a rocket capable of crossing the Atlantic and delivering a biological payload to, say, New York.
As Cap fights his way to the rocket to try to disable it, he sees a man on a catwalk above with a red skull-mask on shouting orders in German. Thinking this man is the one responsible, Cap charges up to the catwalk, arriving in time to see the Red Skull holding his finger over a launch button. They exchange words briefly, then Skull presses the launch button. Cap shoots him in the chest and then leaps over the railing and onto the rocket as it begins to lift off.
As the rocket soars into the air, Cap struggles to make his way to the top. He rips off an access panel and tears out every wire he can get his hands on. A red light start blinking quickly within the rocket, and Cap realizes his only chance is to jump for it. He does so, seconds before the rocket explodes, and we see him falling towards an ice floe. He lands with a thump, and we see a closeup of his hand twitching before finally falling still.
CAPTION: 2003
A scientific research vessel is doing a study on global warming and its effect on the Arctic ice. An intern sees a strange shape/color in an area of ice, and they realize it’s Cap. The CIA and the military step him, carefully cut the block containing Cap out, and rush his body to a government cryogenics facility where he is thawed out and revived.
Upon waking to see a Dr. Heinrich with a slight German accent checking his vitals, Cap thinks he has been kidnapped by the Nazis. He flips out, nearly kills Dr. Heinrich, and is subdued by a marine who plays for him a Cliff’s notes version of history since the war.
Cap is then recruited to be the face of American military might in the War on Terror. He begins touring the country, recruiting young men and women for military service, as tensions in the middle east escalate.
Along the way, Steve struggles to cope with a world that has moved on. Everything has changed since he last walked in the world, including fashions, values, entertainment, technology, etc. In his spare time, he is being trained in modern combat technology and methods.
He is seen leading a small force through Iraq, where he catches the attention of a young Iraqi scientist named Abdul Al-Rahman. Al-Rahman “finds” old, long-thought-lost classified records detailing the process used in creating Cap. He recreates the process on himself and vows to fight the infidel as a fundamentalist Muslim counterpart to Cap. Calling himself The Colonel, he quickly attracts a following and begins planning his attack…
Some other stuff happens, this is the part I’m still up in the air on, but there is a final climactic fight between Cap and The Colonel. The Colonel, beaten to within an inch of his life manages to escape, and Cap is once again hailed as a true Hero for America.
We end with a scene of The Colonel waking from a coma and hearing an accented voice tell him that the fight against the American scum is not yet over…as he opens his eyes and his vision clears, we see the face of…The Red Skull.
The End.
Okay, so it’s far from complete, and far from perfect, but that should give you an idea of what I would do if I were writing this movie…
Also, as you may have noticed, heavily inspired by Ult. Cap...
Very interesting, however the strangle scene seems a little...odd ?
It would be more realistic for cap to have a small struggle and the assassin to fall onto the equipment, thus electrocuting himself AND destroying any possible remains of the knowledge for the SSS.
Another problem is The Colonel , this film would cause untold amounts of criticism , be seen as propaganda and possibly incite a hell of a lot more anger towards the west.
What would possibly be better is a slightly more jaded look , Cap realising that his country isn't about it's people , life and liberty anymore, but about control and big business. His country having caused part of the turmoil he is trying to defeat, The Colonel could then be introduced as a sympathetic villain, who believes he's doing the right thing by becoming this living weapon.
Then in the showdown Cap can talk to him while they fight something along the lines of this.
"You want to do good for your country huh, fight the good fight and those insurgents, 'evil' soldiers whom are intent on invading and forcing there ways of life on you, I was like that once son, the world...it never works for us...."
You could then have The Colonel break down, emotionally , then physically , his body rejecting the SSS finally causing horrific visual affects (Melting skin ect).
Interesting points...though I fail to see how any Captain America movie can NOT be heavy on propagandist messages, one way or another. Face it, he stands for American superiority, be it physical or moral.
As for the ending, I actually rather like it your way...though I would still want to tie Red Skull in at the very end, to set up for a possible sequel...
I also agree that I went a bit overboard having Cap strangle the assassin in 1943; however, I was trying to make Cap a little rougher around the edges, and was assuming there would be some moral uncertainty within him immediately following...
I thought that was pretty cool, although instead of a marine explaining the cliff notes of history to Cap, I think a montage of important events up to that year would be cool.
Specifically, I'm waiting for someone to explain to me how, aside from being Cap's traditional arch-enemy, the Red Skull could be made relevant to any Captain America film being produced in this century.
Ultimately, comic book movies aren't made to please the fanboys; they're made to earn money...and so long as they at least honor the spirit of the comic, all is well IMHO.
But I can promise you that the only people who will be excited about seeing the Red Skull as a villain in the Captain America movie will be the die-hard comic book fans who grew up with Cap.
Casual fans and movie-goers will want to see something more modern and topical.
Some people want Cap to be Anti-bush , helping riots and protest against him and his administration , whereas others want Cap in the middle of Iraq/Afganistan searching for Osama and keeping the peace.
KMC Community Forums
Aug 9th, 2007 08:34 PM
