Captain America: Winter Soldier marches forward

Chris Evans has confirmed that filming for the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger will begin next spring.

In related news, Marvel studios recently began filming Thor 2: The Dark world, which we incidentally just got a video from the set of:

When production on Thor 2 is finishes up next March, production will begin on Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The film has already been tapped to hit theaters at the beginning of the 2014 Summer blockbuster season, which gives the studio a full 13 months to finish all stages of production.

The Winter Soldier focuses on the return of Bucky Barnes, Cap’s childhood friend, who was ostensibly ‘killed’ in the first film. The title suggests that he will first return as he did in the comics, where Bucky turns out to have been captured by the Russians on a fateful mission.

He is subsequently brainwashed into working for them and ultimately becomes Winter Soldier, one of their top assassins. It’s not clear yet if Winter Soldier will be the primary antagonist or a friend who must be saved a la Hawkeye in Avengers.

Recently Joss Whedon signed on to be a sort of continuity consultant on all of Marvel’s films, making sure they line up with the greater Marvel Film Universe and especially the Avengers films, which Whedon helms.

Returning to the cast, Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson have been confirmed. I’m going to assume that Sebastian Stan will be back as Bucky/Winter Soldier, despite no official announcement to that effect. Anthony Mackie will be playing a new recruit to the team, Falcon, an animal telepath who flies with a hi-tech suit. No female lead has been cast yet, but Anna Kendrick, Felicity Jones and Imogen Poots are all in the running currently.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier hits theaters on April 4th, 2014.