<P> In December 2009, director Joe Johnston indicated that he planned to start filming in April 2010 . In a separate interview that month, he described the film's pre-production: "Rick Heinrichs is production - designing and we're set up down in Manhattan Beach, California...We have eight or ten really talented artists, and we all just sit around all day and draw pictures and say,' Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could do this?' It's that phase of the production where money doesn't matter:' Let's put all the greatest stuff up on the wall and (then later) see what we can afford ."' The film, he said, will begin "in 1942, 1943" during World War II . "The stuff in the' 60s and' 70s (comic books) we're sort of avoiding . We're going back to the' 40s, and then forward to what they're doing with Captain America now ." In February 2010, Johnston stated that the Invaders will appear in "the entire second half" of the film, leading fans to speculate this was the World War II - era Marvel superhero team of that name, and in November Johnston refuted speculation that the Sub-Mariner, an Invaders team - member in the comics, would be included . Johnston later explained that "the Invaders" had been discussed simply as a possible name for the squad of commandos Captain America leads in the film . Christopher Markus, one of the screenwriters, said the unnamed group was "called the Howling Commandos in the script, but no one says that out loud ." </P> <P> The design as a whole tried to create technology that could be built in the 1940s, though with the added Cube technology in Hydra's case . Abandoned Nazi projects or actual vehicles from the period were used as inspiration . Daniel Simon, who was previously responsible for many vehicle designs in Tron: Legacy, was appointed Lead Vehicle Designer . Director Johnston cited Simon's book Cosmic Motors as a reason to trust his influence, saying "he's sort of the guy I wanted to be when I was designing stuff for Star Wars". The Red Skull's car, for instance, was based on two Mercedes - Benz vehicles from the 1930s, the 540K and the G4 . </P> <P> Variety reported in March 2010 that Chris Evans was cast as Captain America and Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull; Marvel Studios confirmed the latter in May . Ryan Phillippe and John Krasinski were also considered for the role of Captain America . In April 2010, Sebastian Stan, who had been mentioned in media accounts as a possibility for the title role, was cast as Bucky Barnes . Stan is contracted for multiple films . Also in April, Marvel announced that Hayley Atwell had been cast as Peggy Carter, and that the film's name had been changed from The First Avenger: Captain America to Captain America: The First Avenger . The next day it was reported that Joss Whedon would be rewriting the script as part of his negotiation to write and direct The Avengers . Whedon said in August, "I just got to make some character connections . The structure of the thing was really tight and I loved it, but there were a couple of opportunities to find his voice a little bit--and some of the other characters'--and make the connections so that you understood exactly why he wanted to be who he wanted to be . And progressing through the script to flesh it out a little bit". Samuel L. Jackson revealed in an interview that he would reprise his role as Nick Fury in the film . </P> <P> In May, Toby Jones entered final negotiations to play Arnim Zola . Iron Man director Jon Favreau said a younger Howard Stark would appear in the film, played by Dominic Cooper . Atwell revealed that Tommy Lee Jones would have a role in the film . By June, Neal McDonough was in talks to play Dum Dum Dugan . Four days later, he confirmed he was taking the part . The same day, Stanley Tucci joined the cast as Dr. Abraham Erskine, the scientist who created the super-soldier serum . In November 2013, McDonough revealed that he is signed to appear in multiple projects for Marvel, not limited to films . </P>

Who was in the running to play captain america