Now we (just about) officially have a Captain America, I am hoping we may begin to get info regarding other important aspects of the movie like sets, costumes, and supporting characters including Bucky and the Invaders.
In this article I have looked at the depiction of Bucky and some of the possible candidates for The Invaders
Bucky
The minimum enlistment age in the US was 17, so don’t think they can have him as a machine gun brandishing 13 year old for that and other obvious reasons. I am hoping they don’t go the Ultimate route and make him a Jimmy Olsen-esq fan follower. I would like to think they go with the more modern retelling that he was placed with Cap to be at his side doing the things he couldn’t be shown doing while being dressed up and used as a propaganda tool. However, I think it is more likely they will go with the more classic tale that he is Caps biggest fan, accidentally finds out who Cap is, becomes sidekick and propaganda tool.
The Invaders
For what we have heard, The Invaders will consist of 6 other members representing other countries, what we don’t know is who they will be and if they will in fact be superheroes.
My feelings regarding the subject are that if these characters are given amazing powers then it detracts from the point of Captain America. He is supposed to be the ONLY super-soldier, head-shoulders-above the rest, having him surrounded by people who can fly and crush tanks with there pinky finger isn’t going to help the perception of Captain America’s authority and standing. The fanboy in me wants to see these characters on screen but the movie goer and realist in me knows they shouldn’t.
As for who the Invaders will be, most of the originals are non-choices (
Sub-Mariner and the
Human Torches due to rights issues with the Fantastic Four franchise – though a Chris Evan’s cap meeting a Human Torch would have got a laugh) they could go with the many other WW2 Cap related supporting characters but make them all powerless with only hints at there comic incarnation. For example, have
Miss America be another person from the USO show, or have
Whizzer be a nickname because the character is fast on his feet in battle etc. But for me that’s the easy way out and isn’t really enough.
I myself would look a little more outside the box…
I warn all fanboys now that some of my opinions and suggestions diverge from comics canon by a long way so hold on to your hats and keep your “He was never an Invader”, “He wasn’t born yet”, “he’s evil”, etc under control.
I think we can all assume when they say the Invaders will be representing countries that these countries will be members of the Allied Forces.
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War (1939-1945). The Allies became involved in World War II either because they had already been invaded or were directly threatened with invasion by the Axis or because they were concerned that the Axis powers would come to control the world.
After 1941, the leaders of the British Empire, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the United States of America, known as "The Big Three", held leadership of the allied powers. France, before its defeat in 1940 and after Operation Overlord in 1944, as well as China at that time, were also major Allies. Other Allies included Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippine Commonwealth, Poland, the Union of South Africa, and Yugoslavia.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allies_of_World_War_II)
Out of that list the UK, USA, USSR, France, China, Australia, Canada and the Union of South Africa seem like viable options.
With Captain America and Bucky representing the US lets look at the other countries:
UK
Well there is only one real choice here, being the only real useable Invader it has to be
Union Jack.
James Montgomery Falsworth has no superpowers but a distinctive costume and a multitude of connections to wider universe. He was active in the first war with other unpowered adventures in the
Freedom’s Five and has two children
Jacqueline (aka Spitfire) and
Brian (the second Union Jack).
Having a substory where Brian takes the mantle of James during the film maybe some mentions of a sister would be good to see.
In the comics, Brian got captured by the Germans and experiment on using a reproduction Super-Soldier Serum gain some enhanced abilities, near the levels of Captain America, he escapes and becomes a guerrilla warfare fighter named the
Destroyer before taking the role of Union Jack.
USSR
Id have to say the best choice here is the Russian unpowered equivalent to Captain America,
Red Guardian. The first Red Guardian, Alexei Shostakov, appeared alongside Cap a couple of time but is better known for being
Black Widow's husband.
They would have to modify the connection to Black Widow (maybe he married BW's grandmother) and im not sure how I feel about two shield using heroes.
EDIT: on further research i appears Shostakov didn't use a shield.
Alternatively, they could go with an Abomination-style Super Soldier serum side-effect character, meaning someone like
Ursa Major; the human bear, could be used.
China
I know its stereotypical, but its got to be a kung-fu guy mostly because most of Marvel's Chinese characters are kung-fu guys. The first name that comes to mind of course is
Shang-Chi, but he should be saved for when they get to making the
Luke Cage/Iron Fist leading to
Heroes for Hire movies. Looking back for an older character I went to Shang-Chi's dad,
Fu Manchu, however Marvel lost the rights to the name so there goes that. In the end I came up with a compromise,
Lin Sun, who was one of the
Sons of the Tiger.
Canada
Unlike the other countries (apart for the UK), Canada has an abundance of heroes but most of them are mutants. Sifting through i came up with two ways they could go with the back story and a couple of characters that could fit:
Going the native route, you could use
Shaman (Michael Twoyoungmen), or his daughter
Talisman (Elizabeth Twoyoungmen), think as them to be depicted like “Billy Sole” from the original Predators movie
Or, you go on the assumption that the
Weapons Plus programme moved up into Canada like the comics, which would be nice un-rights-issue way of nodding
Wolverine, where a future attempt produced another close but flawed super-soldier. In an Abomination-y side-effect way, a character like
Wendigo or
Sasquatch could work but its more likely they will stick with a just an enhanced soldier which you may think would be a low powered
Guardian (James Hudson). However, it would be more appropriate for them to use a long forgotten Invaders ally
Major Mapleleaf.
Australia
Another country where there is a distinct lack of superheroes. The two I see to be usable are either
Boomslang or
Dreamguard but neither seem to be the right fit maybe an amalgamation of the two. This may be a case where Marvel may have to change a character’s origin and say they are from down under.
France
Now American opinion of France being what it is, there not many heroes from there so my choice is a little out there so bare with me,
Batroc the Leaper could really b a good fit. Best known as a Captain America villain, Batroc's abilities of just being a very good Savat fighter works well. Dont worry I realise he's a bad guy and in the end of a group film like this there is always someone that turns on the rest. Well here is your turncoat.
Swordsman (Jaques DuQuesne) is another choice but id prefer to save this character for a future Cap film and have him, and
Baron Zemo, being the baddies.
Africa
The suggestion has already been making the rounds and with the write story i agree that
T'Chaka's
Black Panther would make a great addition to the group. Having him join the fight would mean there would have to be a very good reason but if anything it would echo Namor's decision to join the war. The character itself is great and fits perfectly, it also opens up a whole new section of the movie universe and makes a
T'Challa Black Panther spin-off film seem even more likely.
So that’s it, 7 suggestions for the 6 possible Invaders and if i had to kick one out id get rid of Australia as there isnt a really interesting character from there. My suggestions fit the more grounded view Marvel have taken with there movies. If they go with the original Invaders i will be very surprised, some fanboys might really like the idea but when you come down to it adding lots of powered characters for no reason other than to appeases the comic fans usually ends up a disaster (Spider-Man 3, X-Men Last Stand etc).