# Let's cast the Avengers movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2008, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403 "2008-07-14T05:18:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/41 "2008-07-17T19:38:44Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] You really think they’re going to stick with the WWII stuff for the movie? Is Captain America one of these magical non-agers like Wolverine? [/QUOTE] Not quite. During a mission towards the end of WWII, Captain America fell into the North Atlantic ocean and ended up frozen in a block of ice. Years later, he was found and thawed out, and joined the Avengers. A big part of his character these days is the culture shock between the America he left, and the one he finds himself in after being defrosted. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/42 "2008-07-17T19:41:11Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] You really think they’re going to stick with the WWII stuff for the movie? Is Captain America one of these magical non-agers like Wolverine? [/QUOTE] He was frozen in [del]carbonite[/del]ice during WWII - that and the super soldier serum, who knows how that works… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/43 "2008-07-17T19:43:34Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] The problem is, Cap’s backstory firmly places him in the middle of an America consumed by race issues: he’s supposed to have been a frontline soldier, media darling, and national hero during WWII. Being biracial, in that time and place, rules out all three of those. Which is too bad, because otherwise, he’d be perfect for the role. [/QUOTE] Maybe it’s my modern sensibilities, but I think that, at the time in question, Johnson could’ve “passed” as being of southern European descent (Greek, Italian or Spanish), anyway. Which means his real-life ethnicity could be ignored. Yes, classic Cap is a downright WASP, but that’s not to say movie Cap has to be. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/44 "2008-07-17T19:45:29Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] He was frozen in [del]carbonite[/del]ice during WWII - that and the super soldier serum, who knows how that works… [/QUOTE] Now I’m seeing the Red Skull forcing Cap to get into the carbonite coffin. As he’s lowered into the chamber, Bucky yells, “I love you, Cap!” And Cap says, “I know.” Sorry…that was a Batman and Robin scenario. How’d that get in there? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/45 "2008-07-17T20:34:37Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Maybe it’s my modern sensibilities, but I think that, at the time in question, Johnson could’ve “passed” as being of southern European descent (Greek, Italian or Spanish), anyway. Which means his real-life ethnicity could be ignored. Yes, classic Cap is a downright WASP, but that’s not to say movie Cap has to be. [/QUOTE] I’m usually cool with messing around with superhero’s established ethnicities (Michael Duncan as Kingpin, Sam Jackson as Nick Fury, the rumor about Gina Torres playing Wonder Woman, etc.) but I think Captain America needs to be a WASP for his character to work. He needs to be solidly from the mainstream of mid-century America. He embodies everything that was great about that mainstream America, but also the naivete about just how much was wrong with it, too. If he’s from outside that mainstream, that naivete is a much harder sell. Even if he’s just from an Italian or Spanish background: Catholics were almost as far outside the mainstream as blacks were, at that time. Maybe further, in some ways, as Catholics were considered “foreign” in a way African-Americans were not: for all the prejudice against blacks, they’d been a major part of the American landscape since before the country’s inception, while Italians, Greeks, and other non-Northern Europeans were a relatively new (and as such, untrusted) demographic. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/46 "2008-07-17T22:02:59Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] Captain America: Kermit Iron Man: Gonzo Thor: Sweetums The Hulk: Animal Ant-Man: Fozzie The Wasp: Piggy Hawkeye: Lew Zealand The Black Widow: Janice The Black Panther: Rizzo [/QUOTE] Thor - Ranier Wolfcastle (a.k.a. “McBain”) Iron-Man - Barney Gimble Hank Pym (Ant-Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket) - Homer Wasp - Marge Captain America - Seymour Skinner Hawkeye - Bart Scarlet Witch - Lisa Quicksilver - Milhouse Hercules - Nelson Black Panther - Karl Vision - Prof. Frink Black Knight - Lenny Black Widow - Edna Krabappel Jarvis - Waylon Smithers Henry Gyrich - Superintendent Chalmers ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/47 "2008-07-17T22:07:29Z")
Ultron - Montgomery Burns (in steam-engine style) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/48 "2008-07-17T22:11:55Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] Iron-Man - Barney Gimble … Jarvis - Waylon Smithers [/QUOTE] If Jarvis is Smithers, shouldn’t Iron Man be Mr. Burns? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/49 "2008-07-17T22:28:31Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] If Jarvis is Smithers, shouldn’t Iron Man be Mr. Burns? [/QUOTE] I thought of that, but…Mr. Burns on the side of right, justice, and law & order? Never. Additionally, let me just toss in Kang & Kodos as shape-shifting Skrulls! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/50 "2008-07-17T22:30:52Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] I thought of that, but…Mr. Burns on the side of right, justice, and law & order? Never. [/QUOTE] We talking pre- or post-Civil War Iron Man, here? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/51 "2008-07-17T22:43:17Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Kate Beckinsale as Emma Peel. Oh, wait… [/QUOTE] No wait YES!!! Kate Beckinsale as Emma Peel as THE SCARLET WITCH!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/52 "2008-07-18T04:44:51Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] Captain America: Kermit Iron Man: Gonzo Thor: Sweetums The Hulk: Animal Ant-Man: Fozzie The Wasp: Piggy Hawkeye: Lew Zealand The Black Widow: Janice The Black Panther: Rizzo [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] Thor - Ranier Wolfcastle (a.k.a. “McBain”) Iron-Man - Barney Gimble Hank Pym (Ant-Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket) - Homer Wasp - Marge Captain America - Seymour Skinner Hawkeye - Bart Scarlet Witch - Lisa Quicksilver - Milhouse Hercules - Nelson Black Panther - Karl Vision - Prof. Frink Black Knight - Lenny Black Widow - Edna Krabappel [/QUOTE] Sheesh, guys. You can’t take this thread _seriously_? Captain America: Spongebob Squarepants Iron Man: Mr. Krabbs Thor: Patrick Hawkeye: Squidward Wasp: Sandy Ant-Man: Larry the Lobster Scarlet Witch: Pearl Krabbs Quicksilver: Sheldon ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403/53 "2008-07-18T14:40:34Z")
Sheldon, as in Plankton? Then who’s your villain? And shouldn’t King Neptune be Thor? (Patrick could be…ummm…Wonder Man, maybe.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cast-the-avengers-movie/456403.md?page=2)