With The Avengers now a billion-dollar memory, Disney and Marvel Studios are already hard at work on 'Phase Two' of the Cinematic Universe, with Robert Downey Jr. currently filming Iron Man 3 under director Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) and Game of Thrones-helmer Alan Taylor busy prepping Thor: The Dark World ahead of principal photography later this year. Meanwhile, with Anthony and Joe Russo (Community) recently confirmed as directing Captain America: The Winter Soldier, pre-production is now also well underway on Chris Evans' next solo outing and Anthony Russo took a few moments yesterday to discuss the upcoming sequel during a press event for the brothers' new comedy series Animal Practice... "I can't talk too much about specifics, that's the way Marvel handles things. I can say in general that there's sort of a darker, edgier sensibility at work there that we found appealing, and that is going find its way into Captain [America] in the modern day," Russo tells The Huffington Post. "We're trying to grow [Cap] as a character, and certainly he's come a long way, from where he started in pre-World War 2 to where he is in modern-day America. So the character has room for growth because of that huge journey that he's been on, Number 1. Number 2, part of the appeal of these movies is the ensemble. Captain America isn't the only character in the film, there are other characters that are perhaps lighter in nature."
Apart from Evans, the only other names confirmed as appearing in the cast of Captain America: The Winter Soldier so far are Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Anthony Mackie (Gangster Squad) as Falcon, while Sebastian Stan will also reprise his role from Captain America: The First Avenger as Bucky Barnes and - presumably - The Winter Soldier. However, it's likely we'll be seeing plenty of other familiar faces too, with present-day S.H.I.E.L.D. expected to feature heavily, along with flashbacks to Captain America's days in World War II: "We're making the movie for first-time viewers, not just for fans," says Russo. "So, because Cap does have this complicated history -- he was this skinny guy who became a super-soldier, he was born back then and he's living [now] -- in the storytelling, you need to convey that to an audience who doesn't know Cap's story."
Check out the rest of the interview here.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is currently scheduled for release on April 4th, 2014.
