Emails #37: 1918 Epidemic and the Super Soldier Serum

BEN: Hmm! Very interesting points about Cap's early life. I guess Cap would have had to have be born later than I thought to be 18 in the war. Sucks that doesn't match up with your Spanish flu-relation to Cap's creation. But, if the US entered the war in 1942 and Cap's 18, he would have been born in 1923 smack dab in the Roaring. My idea was that Cap would enter the war before the US was officially in, but this made me think again...

The US entered the war in '42 after Pearl Harbor Dec 7, 1941, but isolationist policy had done a number on American fighting readiness. Summary history Our military leaders were scrambling as we were getting crushed in the Pacific. By January, we only had ONE battle-ready division of an estimated 215 needed. (We ended up with 90 divisions through a huge and total restructuring of our entire military.) This calls for drastic measures! We were very limited in how much we could ship to the theater which also called for an overhaul of training and what equipment we sent out. This effort was lead by Lt. Gen. Lesley J. McNair, head of Army Ground Forces, who was all about agile mobile forces. If we can only send so many, might as well make them super soldiers!

RICK: Matches up exactly with flu as creation. Sorta. The particulars of Cap's timeline do have to be nailed down so that events make sense.

Emails #36: Patriotism - Not Catch Phrases

BEN: An anecdote about General Benedict Arnold and the American Revolution. General Gates became the commander of the Northern theater replacing Schuyler, whom Arnold was under. (Schuyler lost Fort Ti and Gates had more political power so, Gates nabbed his command.) The Battle of Saratoga was actually two battles. The first one was kind of a draw and the Continental Army pulled back when night fell. If I recall correctly, instead of attacking, Gates allowed the Brit forces and mercenaries to build a stronghold, a giant wall of logs called a redoubt. Arnold disagreed with this because he knew the Brits had been fighting siege warfare for hundreds of years. Gates was confident that he could just wait in their similar stronghold. Arnold demanded they not wait. Gates said to let the enemy have at it, they have no chance against their fortifications. Again, Brits have been doing this for hundreds of years. Arnold knew if they didn't attack, they were screwed.

Emails #35: I've Had My Fill of War

Thoughts on Bucky and D-Day

BEN: New ideas just to jot down so I don't forget...

Cap might sometimes change into fatigues to blend in, perhaps visit the troops incognito. I had this scene in my head where Bucky finds out his identity. Of course, they could have trained together or something instead but, it was a thought...

Also, I think we talked about Cap rallying the troops before D-Day. What if command pulled him out before the assault? He'd be pretty torn up.

Or, what if they didn't even tell him about D-Day and is really mad when he finds out? Of course, he'd feel like he could have saved lives.

RICK: HE WILL BE FIRST. He will be in that first boat. The importance of D-Day to Cap is that there is tremendous loss of life. It wasn't his planning but he was there. "I was looking at old newsreel footage of D-Day and I could swear that Captain America was there in the background..."

Hmm, perhaps Cap's speech fails to rally troops, but he leads by example running to the beach and the men follow.

Emails #34: Battles Not Forgotten

RICK: Just riffing. Sam Raimi's version of Spider-man 4 cancelled over SCRIPT issues. Going with a young, high school Parker/Spider-man movie instead. Maybe we should do the same. Reboot Cap in high school and give him problems and stuff and update it so it takes place in modern times and stuff like Twilight or Harry Potter has kids in it. What do you think?

What do you think of CAP: DECLARATION OF RECESS?

BEN: Ha! I kinda love it. We should write a short blog about the concept as total satire. I hear what you're saying. Raimi quit because they wanted him to go into production with a crap script-- one they all knew wasn't ready. Why? Sony needs to put out a Spidey movie or they lose their biggest cash cow license. Without Spider-Dollars they move from #1 studio to #3 (last I knew anyhow.) For Sam, he capitulated when the studio kept asking for Venom in Spidey 3. He wanted it to be all Sandman and start developing the new Gobby (working up to Spidey 5.) You know, perhaps actually have time to get inside the characters. They demanded and he decided to try and pull it off. He made a stinker with too many villains. Batman before he re-began. The Dark Knight needed 4 acts and 3 hours to have two villains. So, Sam said 'No way. I'm not capitulating again.' Poor guy. I'll bet the only reason he wanted to make 4 is to make up for 3. End on a positive note. Oh well, his career is far from being harmed by this I'd wager.

Emails #33: Bucky: Kid Sidekick

CAPTAIN AMERICA: DECLARATION OF WAR
A screenplay by Rick Arthur & Ben Alpi
rough version 01: begun 1/14/10

RICK: This is a wiggler. I start in the middle then jump as needed to fill in the details until I am back in the present day before finishing with a straight narrative.

What are some of the more dynamic scenarios we have discussed? Rough listing to follow...

• Red Skull with hands around Cap's throat spouting superman theory.
• Cap passing out in the snow and dreaming about finding a concentration camp.
• Cap jumping from a plane, totally out of it from drugs.
• Red Skull and Cap fighting on the wing of a biplane.
• Cap reading letters from regular folks from WWII.
• Cap in a graveyard.
• Cap at Viet Nam War memorial.
• Red Skull shoots a mobster at a dinner party.
• Cap's intro/first mission in WWII
• Bucky's Death?*
  
• Cap goes home. (The general gives him the keys to his childhood home, preserved as was. He visits to discover what happened to his parents.)

The Bucky Question

If we use Bucky, the Red Skull should kill him after the war is over.

Emails #32: Declaration of War

RICK: One observation and then let's get started.

I saw the 1991 Captain America on the Hulu. My brother sent me a link. It was bad and felt dated and not very theatrical for a theatrical release. I did like the Red Skull, his attitude and mannerisms. The Red Skull's daughter was also great. Hot. European looking. The origin was explored as well as the ice suspended animation. Costume was good except for the mask. Shield was pretty good. I think there was a Wonder Woman TV show influence. Story is a shambles. If you haven't already, I would take a look. Hulu. Captain America. 1991.

Let's get started.

Emails #31: The Arms Race of Its Time

RED SKULL: STURMBANNFÜHRER
Red Skull Origin

BEN: If we had time (which we probably won't, but we might include it in a comic book tie-in) I was thinking that Skull would start out as a young man who is brought on as Hitler's assistant or is a promising young Lt. who is brought to Hitler's attention by the head of the SS. The Lt. has shown to be very intelligent, resourceful and (of course) without a conscience. Hitler puts him in the super soldier program and he survives (or is the only survivor of his super soldier unit.) Hitler then gives him the rank of Sturmbannführer and puts him in command of an SS unit, "The Red Skulls," with the mission to kill Captain America. Skull takes it too far and ends up having a red skull face shield created for himself. Okay, this is probably too dark, but what if... a bunch of his team are killed and he's covered in a pile of bodies. Standing up from beneath the viscera, he licks his fingers and feels a jolt. Putting his hand in the chest wound of one of his comrades, he sucks the blood off his hand. Power pumps through his veins and he chuckles as he drops to his knees for more... If his whole unit isn't killed, he might kill them to increase his power (a Countess Bathory sort of thing.) In this his serum is weaker than America's, but with his physiology and the discovery of the blood connection, he's as, if not more, powerful than Cap.