Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger and following on from The Avengers. It is currently filming and is the ninth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It will be released on April 4, 2014. Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, Cobie Smulders, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper and Samuel L. Jackson return as Steve Rogers, James Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Maria Hill, Peggy Carter, Arnim Zola, Howard Stark and Nick Fury. The film will be directed by the Russo Brothers.

Plot
After the cataclysmic events in New York with The Avengers, Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” finds Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, living quietly in Washington D.C. and trying to adjust to the modern world. But when a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague comes under attack, Steve becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue that threatens to put the world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow, Captain America struggles to expose the ever-widening conspiracy while fighting off professional assassins sent to silence him at every turn. When the full scope of the villainous plot is revealed, Captain America and the Black Widow enlist the help of a new ally, the Falcon. However, they soon find themselves up against an unexpected and formidable enemy—the Winter Soldier.

Cast

 * Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
 * Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
 * Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
 * Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon
 * Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill
 * Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter
 * Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones
 * Toby Jones as Arnim Zola
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
 * Maximiliano Hernández as Jasper Sitwell
 * Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce
 * Callan Mulvey as Jack Rollins
 * Georges St-Pierre as Georges Batroc
 * Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
 * Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark
 * Garry Shandling as Senator Stern
 * Chin Han as a World Security Councilman Yen
 * Jenny Agutter as a World Security Council member
 * Alan Dale as a World Security Council member
 * Bernard White as a World Security Council member

Production
Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus were hired to return to write the script for the sequel. Chris Evans is contracted to reprise his role as Steve Rogers in future installments in the Captain America franchise. In September 2011, Chris Evans said that a sequel may not be released until 2014. In January 2012, Neal McDonough mentioned that a sequel would likely be filmed after the completion of Thor 2, which would likely be before the end of 2012.

In March 2012, it was reported that Marvel has whittled down a field of ten directors to three potential candidates; George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau), F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job) and brothers Anthony and Joseph Russo (Community) to helm the sequel. In April 2012, Walt Disney Studios announced that it will release the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger on April 4, 2014. Disney stated, "The second installment will pick-up where … The Avengers leaves off, as Steve Rogers continues his affiliation with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. and struggles to embrace his role in the modern world. Later in April, it was announced that F. Gary Gray was not going to direct. Filming began in April of 2013 in Los Angeles. Additional filming will take place in Cleveland, Ohio and Washington, D.C.

Trivia

 * Anna Kendrick, Felicity Jones, Imogen Poots, Teresa Palmer, Alison Brie, Emilia Clarke, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Elizabeth Olsen and Jessica Brown Findlay were considered to play Sharon Carter. Jones would later be cast in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Brown Findlay later appeared in "Iron Man 3" as the film used footage of her from "Downton Abbey".
 * According to Chris Evans Steve Rogers continues his adjustment to the modern world, which began in "The Avengers": "It's not so much about his shock with technology... It's more about the societal differences. He's gone from the 1940s to today; he comes from a world where people were a little more trusting, the threats not as deep. Now, it's harder to tell who's right and wrong. Actions you take to protect people from threats could compromise liberties and privacy. That's tough for Steve to swallow."
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Kevin Durand and Josh Holloway screen-tested for the role of the Winter Soldier.
 * Marks the fourth time Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson have worked together, both starring in "The Perfect Score", "The Nanny Diaries" and "The Avengers" prior to filming.
 * Unlike the other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, "The Winter Soldier" minimizes the use of visual effects as much as possible. Anthony Mackie, elaborated: "The Russos, what they did that was so great was, they wanted to stay with live action, which is a dying art form...If they could build it, they built it. If we could do it, we did it. They wanted to do as little CGI as possible. That's why the movie looks so great."
 * To prepare for the role of the Winter Solder, Sebastian Stan went through five months of physical training and historical research: "I dove into the whole Cold War history: I looked at the KGB. I looked at all kinds of spy movies, and all kinds of documentaries about that time, and what it was about. I grabbed anything from that time period and anything about brainwashing."
 * Robert Redford was cast in part as a homage to his roles in 1970s thrillers like "Three Days of the Condor".
 * Kevin Feige described the film as "a 1970s political thriller masquerading as a big superhero movie."
 * Georges St-Pierre, who plays Batroc the Leaper, is the UFC Welterweight Champion (2008-present), having successfully defended his belt on the 16th Nov 2013.
 * Anthony Mackie was unhappy with the modern take on his costume as Falcon. He wanted the red spandex look from the comics.
 * The scene where Captain America jumps out of a plane without bothering to use a parachute is a homage to a similar scene from the first issue of "The Ultimates" comic.
 * Anthony Mackie described the film as ""The Avengers": Part 1.5".
 * Cap's new costume takes cues from the "Super-Soldier" outfit he wore when he served as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the comics.
 * A deleted scene in "The Avengers", of Steve learning what happened to his commandos, and to Peggy Carter ended up being cut out from that film, but is included in this film.
 * Ed Brubaker was as surprised as the fans were when Marvel announced the title "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which directly references his work on the title - including the return of Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier. Brubaker laughed, saying. "I got to go out to Marvel Studios and read one of the later drafts of the script. I went out to dinner with directors Joe and Anthony Russo and talked about the project and gave them feedback on what I liked or didn't like or what parts didn't work. I mean, the script I read was [frick]ing fantastic. It was the best Marvel movie." He further elaborated saying ""The tone of it and the Bucky stuff is so perfect and the way I'd want it to be, I was so thrilled to see that."
 * Samuel L. Jackson describes Nick Fury as facing a crisis: "Almost everything that comes out of Nick Fury's mouth is a lie in some sense. He has to ask if he is even lying to himself?"
 * The Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes) is able to match Captain America (Steve Rogers) move by move, even to the point of catching Rogers' shield. This foreshadows Barnes taking over as Captain America (which happened in the comics).
 * Alexander Pierce is based on his appearance in the Marvel Comics (a SHIELD agent), but incorporates Aleksander Lukin (an agent under the Winter Soldier, possessed by Arnim Zola in the film when it was the Red Skull in the comics).
 * This is composer Henry Jackman's first work with Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but not his first film with characters from Marvel Comics. He previously composed the score for X-Men: First Class.