In a chat with Screenstar the former Human Torch, Chris Evans, broke down his thoughts on starring as the Sentinel of Liberty. From what I gathered after digesting the interview, Evans seems genuinely humbled by the opportunity to tackle such a high profile project. Going through Evans catalogue of films, he’s played the smarmy/ smart ass/ jock type multiple times (see:  Not Another Teen Movie, either of the Fantastic Four movies and the upcoming movies The Losers and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World). Though in both Street Kings and Sunshine Evans hit audiences with cool confidence that will lend itself well when he dawns the iconic Captain America garb. Hit the jump for Evans thoughts on playing The First Avenger: Captain America:

With the rising popularity of comic book movies, it’s no surprise Marvel Studios wants to develop more feature films using other characters in the Marvel Universe.  While the studio currently releases one film a year, I believe the long term plan is to eventually release two films a year.  And now that the studio has merged with Disney, I’m sure the pressure is on to reach that goal as the more Marvel movies that get released, the more both studios can benefit from merchandising sales and added home video revenue.

While Marvel has only been releasing big tent pole movies like Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and they’re currently getting The Avengers ready, it’s possible the studio is going in a completely new and interesting direction for some future movies like Dazzler, Dr. Strange, Ka-Zar, Luke Cage and even Power Pack!  Hit the jump for more.

Earlier today, prolific actor Samuel L. Jackson was at the Four Seasons to talk about his latest film, the small drama Mother and Child, which coincidentally hits theaters on the same day as his other feature Iron Man 2.

During the interview, talk quickly turned to his involvement with Marvel and his role as Nick Fury. He confirmed that he has seen Iron Man 2, he won’t appear in Thor, he will appear in The First Avenger: Captain America (which he will shoot in London this summer) and that The Avengers will shoot in February of 2011. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Earlier today, Hayley Atwell was cast as the female lead in The First Avenger: Captain America.  When geek news like this breaks, I’ll often talk to Peter from Slashfilm on the phone and we’ll tell each other what we think.  It’s conversations like these that originally led to us to record our first video blogs.  After a few minutes of talking today, we realized with the recent announcement of Joss Whedon on The Avengers movie, we both had a lot to say about not only Captain America and The Avengers, but the future of Marvel movies and the choices the studio has made and might make in the future.

Cut to us recording an extended video blog.

Some of the things we discussed were Marvel casting choices, who should direct Marvel movies, the pros and cons of Joss Whedon, casting unknowns versus movie stars, what’s up with Ant-Man and is Edgar Wright going to direct it, is Marvel being cheap with their actors and directors, did Jon Favreau get offered Avengers, Thor talk, Runaways talk, will the merger of Marvel and Disney lead to a Pixar Marvel movie, why hasn’t someone hired Brian K. Vaughan to direct a movie, and I try and pitch a show called “The Marvel Universe” and how it would be a perfect fit on ABC.

If you’re a fan of Marvel movies, or just like watching two geeks talk, check out our epic video blog on the future of Marvel movies.

Joss Whedon is in final negotiations to direct Marvel’s big superhero crossover movie, The Avengers.  The sound you just heard was my mind exploding all over my apartment.  IESB reported a couple weeks ago that Whedon was on the short-list to direct the pic, but I brushed that off as madness even after Hero Complex confirmed the story.  I thought it far more likely that Whedon would direct a smaller Marvel Comics movie, Runaways, since he wrote the second volume of the series. It turns out that Peter Sollett (Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist) has gotten that gig.  Deadline reports that Whedon is going to take the helm of Marvel Studio’s biggest planned project.

Whedon’s only previous feature film was 2005′s Serenity.  Despite a relatively small budget of $40 million, the film still flopped and only earned $25 million domestically.  Marvel now wants him to direct the film that Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America are all building to.

Hit the jump as I piss off Whedonites with my explanation of why this is a bad idea.

The casting rumors around The First Avenger: Captain America continue to swirl even after the announcements that A) Cap will be played by Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Sunshine) and B) that Sebastian Stan (Gossip Girl) will be playing sidekick Bucky Barnes.  Now, according to E!, a pair of British bombshells are in the running to play Sharon Carter (Captain America’s occasional girlfriend/Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.).  Meanwhile, another Brit actress is reportedly out of the running.

Alice Eve (She’s Out of My League) and Hayley Atwell (The Duchess) are both being strongly considered for the role and will have screen tests in London this week.  Also of note, Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Carribean) is reportedly no longer under consideration for the role despite being the actress most familiar to American audiences.  The E! article goes on to say that Eve is currently “the front-runner” for the role of Carter.  But remember, at one point in time John Krasinski (The Office) was thought to be the front-runner for the title role.

A few extra pictures of Alice Eve and Hayley Atwell after the jump:

I’ll always remember my set visit for Warner Bros. The Apparition for one reason: the day after I spoke to Sebastian Stan on set, it was announced he’d be playing Bucky in The First Avenger: Captain America.  When the news came out I couldn’t believe it, as at the end of our interview he said something was in the works but he couldn’t talk about it yet.   If only it had been 24 hours later…

But even though we didn’t get to talk about Captain America when I visited The Apparition set last week with a few other online journalists, Stan did talk to us about his experiences working for Darren Aronofsky on Black Swan opposite Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.  Hit the jump for what he said and look for a lot more on The Apparition when our embargo lifts.

At this weekend’s WonderCon in San Francisco, I was able to speak with Chris Evans and Columbus Short on the Warner Bros. red carpet, as they were both attending the convention to promote The Losers.  Since I did a set visit last year for The Losers, they both remembered me and unlike some red carpet interviews that can be dry and serious, the interview you’re about to watch features a lot of laughter and jokes.

Also, while I REALLY wanted to ask Chris Evans a lot of The First Avenger: Captain America questions, I was asked to keep the focus of the interview on The Losers. Also, I’m sure Evans has been asked by Marvel not to say anything…so I decided to play nice.  Sort of.  Watch time index 3:43.  You’ll see what I mean.

Emily Blunt has turned down the role of playing the lead female role in Joe Johnston’s The First Avenger: Captain America.  Hero Complex reports that Marvel favored the award-winning actress (as they had previously when they wanted to cast her as Black Widow in Iron Man 2; the role went to Scarlett Johansson when Fox exercised a clause in Blunt’s contract for Gulliver’s Travels that kept her on their movie) to play Captain America’s (Chris Evans) girlfriend during World War II, Peggy Carter (in the present day, her niece Sharon Carter is an Agent of SHIELD).

According to Hero Complex, Blunt has other offers and that’s no surprise since she’s a talented actress and would add some prestige to any picture.  There’s also the problem that the female lead in superhero movies is often a thankless role.  Additionally, it’s possible that Marvel wanted to tie her to future films as they’ve done with other actors starring in their movies.

Marvel is keeping the search alive with other British actresses such as Keira Knightley and Alice Eve under consideration, it appears the studio is looking to the other side of the pond to find their Ms. Carter.

Marvel Studios now confirms the news we and everyone else reported a couple weeks ago: actor Chris Evans will play the title character in The First Avenger: Captain America.  Marvel has sent out a press release regarding the casting.  You can check it out after the jump.

In a related story that we posted last night, Sebastian Stan has been cast as Captain America’s sidekick, Bucky Barnes.

Hit the jump to read the press release.  The First Avenger: Captain America is slated to hit theaters on July 22, 2011.

It was but a week ago when Chris Evans was announced as the lead in The First Avenger: Captain America, putting an end to weeks of casting chaos.  Featured in said chaos was Sebastian Stan, a relative unknown under serious consideration for the role of super soldier Steve Rogers up to the eleventh hour.  Stan may have lost out on the role of a lifetime to Evans, but according to Heat Vision, Marvel Studios and director Joe Johnston have prepared a lovely consolation prize for the Gossip Girl frequenting actor: they have awarded Stan the role of sidekick Bucky Barnes.

The Barnes character has quite the labyrinthine backstory in the comic mythology, which you can read about after the break.

With the drama of who will play The First Avenger: Captain America finally over as Chris Evans has agreed to play the iconic comic book character, it’s finally time to get to what’s important: how will he look wearing the costume! And thanks to Collider reader Dredd and his photoshop skills, after the jump you can see an image of Evans wearing the costume.

Chris Evans will play Captain America in Joe Johnston’s The First Avenger: Captain America.  It’s been a long and excruciating search, but after being offered the role late last week, Heat Vision reports that Evans will pick up the star-spangled shield of the Marvel superhero.  Marvel and Evans’ people wouldn’t comment, but HV’s sources told them that negotiations moved fast after Evans took a few days to consider the offer.

When we reported that it had come down to Evans, Channing Tatum, and Sebastian Stan, I said that Evans was the best choice and I’m overjoyed he got the role.  It’s a casting move like this that can get people excited for a project.  Think about Robert Downey Jr. and Evans playing off each other in The Avengers and then let your mind explode with giddiness.  Good work, Marvel.  You have chosen wisely.

For those unfamiliar with the character, hit the jump for a bio.  The First Avenger: Captain America is slated to hit theaters on July 22, 2011.

Finally, something resembling forward motion in the casting for the lead of The First Avenger: Captain America.  Mere hours ago we heard wind of another iteration of the shortlist which featured Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four), and relative unknown Sebastian Stan (Gossip Girl) as the most serious contenders for the role.  Now Heat Vision reports that an offer has been extended to Chris Evans, who seems to be the most popular name among those tossed about.  As super soldier Steve Rogers is the role of a lifetime, Evans will of course accept posthaste . . . right?

Well, perhaps not; find out why after the jump.

After what feels like an eternal casting session, it looks like we’re down to three contenders for the starring role in The Last Avenger: Captain America.  According to IESB, it’s come down to Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four), and the heretofore unmentioned Sebastian Stan (Gossip Girl).  The site notes that Tatum could have a scheduling issue with G.I. Joe 2; Evans could possibly be in another Fantastic Four movie (even though Fox is reportedly going to reboot the franchise) and as we all know you, can’t be two superheroes (someone forgot to tell Ryan Reynolds seeing as he’s starring in Deadpool and Green Lantern); and Stan is Romanian and Marvel Studios head-honcho Kevin Feige says he wants the actor to be American (although IESB says that Stan’s screen tests may have the studio thinking twice about that mandate).

As I’ve previously noted, I think Evans is by far the best choice.  But Marvel comic artist Alex Ross has made a suggestion that’s fucking brilliant.  Hit the jump for his genius casting for the role.