20 facts you might not know about 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'

Joe Johnston was hired to be the director of the first Captain America, and he hired the writing duo of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Those two got to work on a sequel before The First Avenger even hit theaters, a show of faith in a film that could have ended up another The Incredible Hulk. However, Johnston did not return as director.

When it came time to replace Johnston, a handful of choices were considered. Eventually, three front runners emerged: George Nolfi, F. Gary Gray, and the brother duo of Joe and Anthony Russo. When Gray dropped out to direct Straight Outta Compton, the choices became even narrower.

Ultimately, Marvel went with the Russo brothers to direct The Winter Soldier . Partially, they got the role for ideas they brought to build on the initial story pitch. However, Kevin Feige was also interested in having them direct because of “For a Few Paintballs More,” an episode of the cult sitcom Community that Joe Russo had directed.

Markus and McFeely knew they wanted to make the sequel a modern story and eventually came to abandon the idea of any World War II flashbacks. They then thought of the Winter Soldier storyline from the comics written by Ed Brubaker. However, apparently, it took six months before the writing team felt confident they were up to adapting Winter Soldier as a film.

It is well worn to say that The Winter Soldier is Marvel’s “’70s conspiracy thriller” film, mainly because the writers and directors beat that into the ground during the movie's promotion. Did they oversell it a bit? Perhaps, but the influence is there. In particular, Markus and McFeeley said they were inspired by the movie Three Days of the Condor and even took its storytelling template a bit for their screenplay.

The star of Three Days of the Condor ? Robert Redford was partially cast in The Winter Soldier to pay tribute to those movies and because, you know, why not get one of the biggest movie stars to ever live in your movie? For his part, Redford said he took the role to “experience this new form of filmmaking that's taken over where you have kind of cartoon characters brought to life through high technology.”

Markus and McFeeley decided to pair Captain America with Nick Fury and Black Widow because, unlike Iron Man and Thor, he didn’t have supporting characters from the first film to play off of — with him having been frozen for decades and all. They also thought about including Hawkeye but felt there wasn’t enough for him to do. Joe Russo said that Jeremy Renner was unavailable anyway. The screenwriters also decided not to include Red Skull because he was too cartoony for the film. However, Hugo Weaving didn’t really enjoy playing Red Skull, so including him would have surely involved recasting.

Throughout preproduction, names such as Anna Kendrick, Felicity Jones, Emilia Clarke, and Imogen Poots were bandied about for an unnamed lead female role. Well, there’s only one notable new female role in The Winter Soldier: Sharon Carter. As such, we assume Emily VanCamp is the one that ended up with the role all those women were considered for.

Though Stan only found out that the subtitle for the film was The Winter Soldier from a friend who attended Comic-Con and heard the news, the actor was quick to delve into preparing for his part. In addition to researching the Cold War, the KGB, and brainwashing extensively, he also would go around on set practicing with a plastic knife to not need a stuntman to do his fight scenes.

Hayley Atwell, who played Peggy Carter in The First Avenger, said she would not be in The Winter Soldier . Then, Stanley Tucci, who played Dr. Erskine in that film, said Atwell would indeed be in The Winter Soldier, which is odd because Tucci’s Erskine is not actually in The Winter Soldier. Atwell does appear but as a 96-year-old Peggy, not in a flashback. Initially, the directors tried to use prosthetics and makeup, but unhappy with the look, they opted for CGI aging.

Stan Lee, of course, has a cameo in The Winter Soldier as a security guard. On top of that, Joe Russo and Markus and McFeeley have cameos in the film. Additionally, Brubaker, the writer of the Winter Soldier comic arc, has a cameo as a scientist working on the Winter Soldier.

Jackson plays Nick Fury, but he also famously played Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction. In that film, Jules recites a Biblical passage a few times, Ezekiel 25:17, that was made up for that movie. In The Winter Soldier, Fury's tombstone features Ezekiel 25:17 inscribed on it in homage to Jackson’s iconic role.

Cap brandishes a list of things he needs to catch up on after being frozen for so long. Some of them, such as Thai food and Star Wars, made the list in every country. However, the movie localized the list for different markets. So while in the United States, you get the Moon landing, you get the Beatles in Britain, Daft Punk in France, Steve Irwin in Australia, and so on.

At one point, Fury tells a story about his grandfather being an elevator operator. Now, it’s not the crux of the story, but the detail likely made its way in because of the actor playing Fury. Jackson’s grandfather was an elevator operator in real life.

You can see a copy of All the President’s Men on Steve Rogers’ bookshelf, and Redford co-starred in the film based on the book. Additionally, in Redford’s character Alexander Pierce’s fridge, you can see a jar of Newman’s Own. That is a company founded by Paul Newman, an actor long associated with Redford.

Garry Shandling returned in the role of Senator Stern, which he first played in Iron Man 2. Now, Shandling had not done a lot of acting in the 2010s, but he was a comedy legend, and this role was, unfortunately, his last role to come out while he was still alive. It is also his last live-action role. Shandling provided a voice in The Jungle Book, which came out posthumously for Shandling.

Big movies often shoot under fake titles to try and avoid drawing too much attention. The First Avenger was filmed under the working title “Frostbite.” Meanwhile, The Winter Soldier had the working title of “Freezer Burn,” staying on theme.

After the success of The Avengers, the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” was truly born. As such, films had to adhere to the “universe” of it all, and the Russo brothers have been a big part of that. They read the script for Avengers: Age of Ultron, following The Winter Soldier, to help guide them in their filmmaking choices. Joss Whedon directed the mid-credits scene that led directly into Age of Ultron.

The First Avenger is one of the least successful Marvel movies at the box office. Perhaps what audiences wanted was a modern story. Or, you know, the massive success of The Avengers created extra excitement for Captain America. All we know is The Winter Soldier earned $259.8 domestically and $714.4 million worldwide from a budget of $177 million. That was a significant increase on The First Avenger, which earned $370.6 million.

The Academy often throws Marvel a bone by giving their movies a technical nomination, though rarely a win. Indeed, The Winter Soldier earned one nomination for Best Visual Effects and did not win. The only notable award it won was Favorite Action Movie Star for Chris Evans from the People’s Choice Awards.