As Joe Johnston has said that he will finally announce the actor who will play Captain America in a few weeks, we thought we’d run through the list of people who have been rumoured to play the part over the last year or so.
Aaron Eckhart
Eckhart is probably our favourite out of this list to play Rogers. His great performance in The Dark Knight and his growing credibility within science fiction, given his upcoming role in Battle Los Angeles, makes him a smart choice for Marvel’s casting agents. And that chin was made for superherodom.
Matt Damon
Although it seems like it’s becoming rote to suggest Matt Damon in connection with any role these days, he’s greatly impressed us with his latest efforts. His character depth in Invictus was excellent, while we loved the Bourne films. The studio could do far worse than putting him behind the shield.
Channing Tatum
It’s not a secret that we utterly despised G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, but Tatum’s acting before that in films such as Stop-Loss has generally been decent. Unfortunately, we think his association with the aforementioned toy adaptation and its sequels will keep him out of contention for Cap.
Will Smith
One of the biggest stories of last year was that the part of Captain America had been offered to Will Smith, often called the biggest movie star of our time. Making the Cap black was an interesting prospect, but Smith himself has taken steps to shoot the rumour down personally.
John Barrowman
The golden boy of Torchwood made his case clear for playing Cap last year, saying that he was his favourite superhero and that he’d love to do it. We don’t think that he has the star power to match up with Downey and Norton, though, but we’d be interested to see his take on it.
Leonardo DiCaprio
This is just one of those things that’s never going to happen, given Marvel’s predilection for making their actors sign multi-picture deals and the fact that Martin Scorsese won’t be directing any superhero films soon. We also just don’t think he’s right for the part.
