Hugo Weaving in Talks for 'Captain America' Villain

Finally, some good news to report on the Captain America front. You know, since the movie's called The First Avenger: Captain America and the film fits into Marvel's overall plan for that entire series, which will probably run at least six years, you'd think it would be more solid leading up to this point. That hasn't been the case. Not until very recently.


Heat Vision Blog reports that Hugo Weaving, who almost made The Wolfman bearable, is the top choice to play the villainous Red Skull. Great villain, and so far, the best thing this one has to offer. We'll see if the news bears fruit, but Weaving worked with Cap director Joe Johnston on the previously mentioned Wolfman, and I've long been of the opinion that most superhero movies only go as far as their villain takes them.

Historically, the better actors have been the villains and not the heroes. In fact, for the most part, if anyone in the cast had an Oscar nomination for acting, it was always the bad guy: Nicholson, Spacey, McKellen, Dafoe, Hackman, Ledger. Don't know why that is. Recently, more heroes have fit that description, too - Halle Berry and RDJ, Nic Cage and Edward Norton - but it really only worked out for Downey.

Weaving does not have an Oscar nomination, though I always thought he deserved one for The Matrix. The point, however, is the same: He'll be the better actor, if only by default. The casting rumors about who will play super soldier Steve Rogers are terribly underwhelming. This is, however, not set in stone.

"The dealmaking with Weaving is in a delicate stage that will play out in the next day or so," writes Heat Vision. "Agencies grouse that Marvel plays hardball in the negotiating process and also demands multi-movie commitments, though the latter usually applies to actors playing its heroes." We've certainly heard that before.

But it's at least one thing going right for Captain America, a movie that should be a turn-key operation. There's no reason it has to be as difficult as Marvel has made it.