ShockTillYouDrop.com Managing Editor Ryan Rotten had a chance to talk with Johnston about the movie and what to expect.
Johnston confirmed at the press conference that the Red Skull will indeed be the villain of the first movie and told Ryan later a bit more about why they decided to set the majority of the movie during WWII:
"Virtually the entire story except the bookends are in World War II because we all recognize we have one chance to tell the origin story of how he became Captain America, you can't tell a modern story and then go back and tell the origin story. If you're going to do it, let's do it. Let's do it first. Everyone wanted to tell an origin story. There was a version where it was a modern story and it didn't work."
Thanks to Comingsoon.net and Shocktilyoudrop.com for the info.
EDITOR NOTE: While Johnston doesn't specifically mention the Red Skull in the above quote, "Ryan Rotten" of ComingSoon says that Johnston does confirm the Skull's appearance.