The Art of Avengers: Infinity War book is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s shown us interesting alternative takes on pretty much every major character in Avengers: Infinity War, and revealed that some really cool ideas were being discussed that never made it to the movie. Now, this latest one is going to make longtime comic book fans of Captain America very happy, as they were considering putting him in the black and red U.S. Agent costume from the source material.
For those who don’t know, U.S. Agent has a long and interesting history in Marvel Comics, with his initial concept being to show an example of patriotism gone wrong, and the hero was indeed originally named Super-Patriot (subtle). While he might have started off as a villain, he gradually became more heroic as the years progressed, eventually standing in for Cap himself. When Steve Rogers returned, U.S. Agent continued fighting, but in a black costume with a red stars and stripes pattern across the chest to differentiate himself from Captain America.
Marvel Studios Head of Development Ryan Meinerding spoke a bit about their thinking behind putting this costume in Infinity War, saying the following:
“The Secret Avengers look came about because him being more clandestine and not part of a larger group like the Avengers meant that he could be wearing more black. That’s where the U.S. Agent stuff came out, too, where he could be wearing black and red, and seeing if there was any value in that. The costume took a long time because I think Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios President] was looking for ways of Cap still feeling iconic. He didn’t want him stepping away from the super hero stuff for the whole movie.
And if you put him in fatigues at the beginning of the movie, there’s not really a reason for him to get out of them or change costumes at any point in the rest of the film. So we were searching for a while, including versions that were riffs on U.S. Agent and some things that were riffs on Nomad — subtle ones, but still trying to go there to see if there was something interesting to mine, as if he’s almost taken on a different persona.”
Personally, I’m pretty pleased with what we got in the finished film. Captain America’s outfit in The Avengers is a major blot on that pic (Chris Evans reportedly pleaded with Joss Whedon to be allowed to just wear his First Avenger costume), so the stylish and professional looking suit he turned up in worked extremely well for me. And with reports of a time jump going into Avengers 4, it looks as though he’s going to be getting yet another redesign.
However, if the rumors are true (and I think they are), what we’ll see next May might just be Chris Evans’ final Captain America costume. And what a ride it’s been.
