Captain America: The First Avenger / Trivia

Actor-Shared Background: Neal McDonough was not only from Irish family who migrated to America, but he was also born in Boston, Massachusetts; just like Dum Dum Dugan himself!
Awesome, Dear Boy:
- The biggest reason why Stanley Tucci took the role of Abraham Erskine was because he'd never had a role that required a German accent, and he wanted to try his out.
- Although Hugo Weaving's Money, Dear Boy attitude towards the movie is pretty much well-known, in 2016, he has more positive opinion about his experience with Marvel.
Hugo Weaving: "It was fun to play; I enjoyed the outrageousness of the German accent that I employed and I enjoyed the extraordinary mask and costume, even though it was unbelievably hot inside it. I enjoy mask work; I enjoy trying to animate masks and reveal certain things that the mask itself might not reveal. V for Vendetta was another example of that, but there was less animation within that mask versus the Red Skull. With Marvel, it’s pretty basic stuff: accept the deal and enjoy the ride. It’s not a major stretch for an actor, but on the other hand the difficulty with the Marvel universe is maintaining a link to a human dimension within such an extraordinary, technological CGI universe. In terms of me going back and doing another one, I don’t know. I’m not sure what they’re up to with the Red Skull."
Deleted Scene:
- An extension of the Norway attack in which Jan and another man run from a HYDRA Uber Tank.
- Bucky Barnes battles German soldiers at Azzano until he witnesses HYDRA use Tesseract weapons. Dum Dum Dugan uses a Thompson submachine gun on German troops. HYDRA's abandonment of the Nazi cause is shown more elaborately when a HYDRA Tank fires upon German troops before it captures the Howling Commandos.
- Steve Rogers gets his medal of honor in London from Colonel Chester Phillips and gives Howard Stark HYDRA weapons.
- Steve learns that his country won the war from Nick Fury.
Dyeing for Your Art: Chris Evans got ripped for the role and dyed his hair golden blonde (he's a natural brunet).
Fake American:
- Englishman Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, American playboy and captain of industry.
- Romanian-born Sebastian Stan as American Bucky Barnes.
- English Natalie Dormer as the American soldier who kisses the Captain. Although, amusingly, her only scene is set in England.
- English Jenna-Louise Coleman as one of the girls Steve and Bucky go on a double date with.
- English Lex Shrapnel as the American soldier Gilmore Hodge.
- English Laura Haddock as Captain America fangirl, who is most likely an American. Later retconned to be Peter Quill's maternal grandmother, who is definitely an American.
Fake Nationality:
- Australian Hugo Weaving, American Stanley Tucci, and Englishmen Toby Jones and Richard Armitage play Germans. Well, three of them played Germans; the sequel revealed that Zola was Swiss.
- Englishman David Bradley as the Norwegian keeper of the Cosmic Cube.
- American Howard Stark is portrayed by the English Dominic Cooper.
- Korean American Kenneth Choi as Japanese American Jim Morita.

Fan Nickname: Pre-serum Steve is often referred to as 萌やし (moyashi) or "beansprout" in East Asian fandom due to his small size.
I Knew It!: As confirmed by the sequel, Bucky survives and becomes the Winter Soldier.
- Over a dozen movies later, we learn that the Red Skull didn't die when he was seemingly disintegrated, as many fans suspected. Turns out he was actually transported to a distant planet and transformed into the guardian of the Soul Stone.
Money, Dear Boy: Hugo Weaving has gone on record stating that he is indifferent to the film and has very little interest in reprising his role as the Red Skull, due to the difficulty of the makeup process involved. However, as seen above under Awesome, Dear Boy, his attitude towards it has changed, potentially opening the door for his return.
Name's the Same: Schmidt (German for "Smith") seems to be a common name for Nazi scientists with special powers in Marvel comic movies. Which is probably why he goes by Sebastian Shaw now.
The Other Darrin: Howard Stark was portrayed by Gerard Sanders in still photos, John Slattery in archive footage and Dominic Cooper in life. Justified as all three depictions are from different time periods — the still photos are from around Tony Stark's pre-teens and beyond, the archive footage from his childhood, and in real life it's the '40s long before he's even born, so Howard ages significantly between each depiction. Slattery and Cooper have continued to portray the character in subsequent MCU works depending on what the time period depicted is.
Playing Against Type: Chris Evans—usually the Deadpan Snarker, Handsome Lech and Jerkass—as Captain America.
Quote Source: This movie provides the page quote for:
- All Germans Are Nazis
- Monster.Marvel Cinematic Universe
- Unique Protagonist Asset
Real-Life Relative: Eduardo Tejedo, Zola's Mexican Spanish VA, is the father of Ricardo Tejedo, who is the director of that dub.
Reality Subtext:
- Cap's early career mirrors how Captain America started as a propaganda piece, and early issues of the comic are made in-universe to help this. In fact, Golden Age comics like Captain America were used to promote and sell war bonds. Hence the Superman cover asking readers to buy one to "slap a Jap."
- His poor reception with the troops is the same as several 1940s actors who got out of the draft because they were making morale-raising war movies.
Star-Making Role: For Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper and Sebastian Stan - though Cooper already had some prominence through his role in Mamma Mia!. Additionally, while Chris Evans did get noticed after Fantastic Four (2005), this film is what really launched him to stardom.
Throw It In!: When Peggy tries to touch the newly enhanced Steve. Hayley Atwell was actually Distracted by the Sexy.
Uncredited Role: Joss Whedon did an uncredited rewrite.
Underage Casting: Stanley Tucci was in his early fifties while playing a character who's supposedly in his seventies.
What Could Have Been:
- John Krasinski was Marvel's first choice for the role of Steve Rogers before Chris Evans was cast. However, despite him screen-testing in the actual Captain America suit, Krasinski immediately declared "I am NOT Captain America" after seeing Chris Hemsworth walk by in his muscular Thor body.
  - Garrett Hedlund, Channing Tatum, Jensen Ackles, Scott Porter, Mike Vogel, Chace Crawford, Michael Cassidy, Derek Theler, Wilson Bethel, and Chad Michael Murray were also considered for the part of Captain America. Bethel would later go on to portray Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter in Daredevil while Murray would star as Jack Thompson in Agent Carter.
  - Ryan Phillippe, Scott Eastwood, Kellan Lutz, Ryan McPartlin, and Alexander Skarsgård carried out screen-tests for the titular role as well before the casting of Evans.
  - Sebastian Stan originally auditioned for the part of Captain America, but eventually went on to play Bucky Barnes instead.
- Emily Blunt was offered the role of Peggy Carter before Hayley Atwell was cast. Interestingly, Blunt was previously approached for the part of Natasha Romanoff in Iron Man 2 and her husband, John Krasinski, was one of the first candidates to portray Steve Rogers in the film.
  - Alice Eve, Gemma Arterton, and Keira Knightley were considered for Peggy Carter as well before the casting of Atwell.
- Jeff Goldblum was approached for a cameo as the senator who gets Steve involved in the USO, but it didn't work out. Goldblum would later join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as The Grandmaster in Thor: Ragnarok.
- Matt Salinger, the star of Captain America (1990), wrote to the director over a possible cameo. After a lukewarm reply, Salinger didn't push the offer any further and nothing more came of it.
- Chris Evans turned down the offer to play Captain America several times; not out of dislike for the role, but because he feared what the effects of the sudden increase of fame would be on his private life. Then Robert Downey Jr. convinced him to take the part and thus gain the freedom to sign on any other role he'd want to after, and the rest is history.
- Up until a very late stage in pre-production, HYDRA would have been a blatantly Nazi paramilitary organization, with swastikas on their uniform. The implication is still present in the final version, however, with the Schmidt being portrayed with a swastika arm-band when threatening Erskine in a flashback. In addition, deleted scenes also had HYDRA explicitly attacking Nazis in addition to Allied powers.
- Early drafts of the script featured Baron Zemo and Baron Strucker working alongside the Red Skull. They ended up being cut because Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely felt the characters would've been "wasted" in mere supporting roles. Strucker wound up appearing in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron while Zemo debuted in Captain America: Civil War.
- It was rumored Scarlett Johansson would appear as Black Widow. It would have been most likely that her role would have been Amanda Righetti's role as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent pretending to be Steve's nurse at the end of the movie.
- Wolverine and Magneto were originally planned to have cameos (the former as soldier and the latter in an internment camp), but it fell through due to copyright issues.