Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have been working on the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger for a long time. The writers were hired to work on the script four months before the first Cap film was even released, and have been talking about for almost just as long. But just like any film that makes its way through the Hollywood system, getting notes from executives, producers, directors and everyone in between, Captain America: The Winter Solider has certainly evolved and changed as its made its way closer and closer to the production stage.
A perfect example of this is the film's use of flashbacks. In the project's earliest stages one of the key things that Markus and McFeely regularly discussed was the idea of having the story set in modern day with flashbacks to World War II that would help inform the action. In the time since, however, one way that the film has changed is that that particular plot device has been toned down.
Speaking with Collider, the screenwriters revealed things have changed since the "anything goes" period back in 2011. "We were heading down a particular road that had a few more generous flashbacks, and we didn’t go quite down that road," McFeely said. Frankly, [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige came in and said like two words and we went “Oh, those are two really good words. Let’s go that way.” I mean I’m very pleased with where we’ve ended up."
Another major development with the project is the inclusion of Black Widow, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent played by Scarlett Johansson in both Iron Man 2 and The Avengers. In her time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe she hasn't had a great deal of experience working with Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America (Chris Evans), but reading the writers' ideas about how their personalities will somewhat clash is quite interesting, particularly in her modernity and his old school ways.
"[Black Widow is] a great—both in attitude and in profession—a great contrast to Steve Rogers," Markus told the site. "She’s incredibly modern, not very reverent, and just very straightforward whereas Steve is, you know a man from the 40s. He’s not a boy scout, but he is reserved and has a moral center, whereas her moral center moves."
But while the script has changed since its earliest stages, the writers say that what they have has actually been nailed down for a good amount of time (which is a good thing considering that production on the sequel began on Monday). Added McFeely, "Anything we do these days is really about, 'Well that’s a door and we need a window,' as opposed to big stuff. And then there will be stuff for cast, so we’ve had the privilege of going 'Alright now that it’s Robert Redford, what does that mean?' And so that was great."
Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be in theaters on April 4, 2014.
