NEXT IS ......CAPTAIN AMERICA....

Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four are holding onto this summer. Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk are hanging out on the horizon, as are solo pictures for Wolverine and Magneto. So what’s next for Marvel comic characters?

The super-solder, Captain America. Marvel production president Kevin Feige told Sci-fi Wire that Captain America would the next hero to cross the gap from comic to movie for Marvel. The approach they are looking at taking with the character is kind of interesting.

The movie will be both a modern day and period piece, set in contemporary times and World War II, no doubt. ”We’ll have to play with Captain America as being a patriotic propaganda machine on one hand but also being a very human Steve Rogers.”

Feige announced from the set of the currently-in-production Iron Man. I like that idea – playing both sides of the dual identity, while exploring the Captain’s place in history in two eras. This could be a hell of a lot more cool than the 1990 movie that featured an overdone Italian Red Skull. What will be particularly interesting is to see what effect this movie will have on the comic book.

Marvel has almost no shame in changing the comic books to reflect the movies – for instance, Peter Parker is currently “Back in Black,” wearing a black costume similar to the one in Spider-Man 3. Although they justify it in the story, it’s clear the real reason he’s wearing the costume is to tie in the movie better. A Captain America flick most likely will bring Steve Rodgers back from the dead… if he hasn’t already come back by the movie’s potential 2009 release date.

may the force be with you