Captain America: The First Avenger

kongisking said:

I didn't really mind the change to Hydra. They establish in the film that Hydra, with the knowledge of the Cosmic Cube and Schmidt's brain on their side, is actually an even worse threat than Hitler and his "goose-stepping morons." Because, face it, the Nazis were never gonna win World War II. Stalin would have mopped the floor with them eventually. Here's an article that explains this better (along with some other neat factoids):

http://www.cracked.com/article_18389_the-5-most-widely-believed-wwii-facts-that-are-bull****.html

Enjoy, folks.

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Montana Smith said:

It also sounds like Red Skull was the only one capable of withstanding the Red menace!

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Montana Smith said:

No, I haven't seen the movie, but I did get the 1/6 toy. Guess I'll have to look out for the film now.

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Rocket Surgeon said:

Well you got something to look forward to!

Surprised you didn't get:

Love the WWII version of the "costume."

I still have a Captain America from the 80's, got my son into the Galactic/Adventure Heroes size toys and some of the designs are pretty cool.

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Rocket Surgeon said:

Not even one for pride in your fatherland?

His costume is crappy though.

Pretty impressive sculpts though...

Lasers vs plaser casts.

We have a victor.

The Calimari is a weak design choice though...

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featofstrength said:

PS- the Howling Commandos are worthless without Nick Fury...the real one. Sam Jackson is boring...and has been since around 1998.

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At the end of World War II in Europe, Fury is severely injured by a land mine in France, and is found and healed by a Berthold Sternberg, who uses him as a test subject for his Infinity Formula. After making a full recovery, Fury begins working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Six months into his service, he learns the extent of Sternberg's life-saving operation: the Infinity Formula has retarded his aging, but if he does not receive annual doses, he will age rapidly and die. The doctor begins a 30-year period of extorting large sums of money from Fury in exchange for the injections. These events, culminating in the end of said extortion, are detailed in Marvel Spotlight #31 (Dec. 1976): "Assignment: The Infinity Formula," by writer Jim Starlin and artist Howard Chaykin.

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Though unnamed as a group, the Howling Commandos appear in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger. Screenwriter Christopher Markus explained, "They are commandos and at one point they do howl. They're called the Howling Commandos in the script, but no one says that out loud."[23] Their number includes Dum Dum Dugan (portrayed by Neal McDonough), Gabe Jones (Derek Luke), Montgomery Falsworth (J. J. Feild), Jim Morita (Kenneth Choi), and Jacques Dernier (Bruno Ricci).[24]

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The Howling Commandos in relation to the Captain America mythos aren’t that heavy. In the Marvel comic universe the books were known as Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. If Fury rings a bell to Marvel Cinematic Universe fans that is because Fury would be one Nick Fury played by Samuel L. Jackson in the Marvel films.

So how do the Howling Commandos fit into Captain America: The First Avenger? Pretty simply really the Howling Commandos fit into the comic universe as an attack squad in the European Theatre of World War II. With Captain America: The First Avenger taking place during World War II that pretty much explains how the two comic books worlds collide in the film. From this point in I’m going to get into details about the various members of the Howling Commandos in Captain America: The First Avenger. Thus if you want to remain as pure and unspoiled to the film as possible you might want to stop reading here.

For those of you still following along for all the hype I just gave the Howling Commandos they are never actually referred to as such in the film. Rumors had when it was first revealed that The Howling Commandos would be appearing in Captain America: The First Avenger was that another well known group that saw action during World War II in the Marvel Comic Universe and counted Captain America and his close friend James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes as members might be the “team” in Captain America: The First Avenger. That team would have been The Invaders. In the end the Howling Commandos got the nod. Here is a roll call of those making an appearance in Captain America: The First Avenger.

First up is James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes (Sebastian Stan). In the books Bucky was a young side kick to Captain America. In the film he is played as Steve Rogers best friend. Of course Rogers goes on to become Captain America shocking Bucky when they first meet again after Bucky is sent to the front lines in the film.

Timothy ‘Dum Dum’ Dugan (Neal McDonough) is one of the first people we see as a member of the Commandos. His trademark bowler hat and epic mustache which would be very hip to the facial hair inclined hipsters of the world are fully presented in the film. Fun fact about ‘Dum Dum’ Dugan from the Marvel universe. He once encountered and pursued Godzilla. I doubt will ever see that in film.

Gabe Jones (Derek Luke) is another member of the Commandos that gets quite a bit of screen time in the film. In the books Gabe Jones was notable for being the first African-American to serve in an integrated unit in the United States Army. The books as entertainment tends to be were a bit progressive here as integrated units didn’t really happen until signed into law by President Harry S. Truman in 1948 well after the end of World War II in 1945. For a fun comic book related fact about Jones one doesn’t have to go far. He was a member of the ‘Godzilla Squad’ of S.H.I.E.L.D. along with Dum Dum.

Jim Morita (Kenneth Choi) I’ll be honest I had a hard time digging much up on this character. He exist in the books being credited as a member of the NISEI Squadron in addition to his work with the Howling Commandos. In the film I think he gets a pretty great one liner that makes it fairly obvious why Captain America would choose him to join the Commandos.

James Montgomery Falsworth AKA Union Jack to Comic Fans (JJ Field). It should be noted here for comic fans that much like Howling Commandos is never mentioned in the film neither is Union Jack. If anything the inclusion of the character feels more like a tip of the hat to comic fans more than anything else.

Jacques Dernier (Bruno Ricci) In the books “Frenchie” as he was occasionally referred to often crossed paths with the Howling Commandos but as best I can tell from my readings was never a full fledge member of the group. Keeping with that in Captain America: The First Avenger you rarely if ever see Jacques in any kind of Military dress and he looks more like a civilian.

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