Joseph Riggs wrote:
[...]
> The MSNBC story I read mentioned in its very last line
> that Marvel is... "developing a Captain America
> movie."  I'm not sure how close to an actual film that
> is, but Marvel has its own film division these days
> that is supposed to release films starting in 2008.

IIRC some of the films this division has created include the animated 
Ultimates featurettes as well as the animated Iron Man movie (released 
in the last couple of months). I've only watched the Ultimates movies, 
so maybe Iron Man is different...but so far, I'd say they're OK, but not 
as good as the average episode of the Dini/Timm DC comic adaptations 
(Batman/Superman/Justice League).

Oh, and as for "developing a film" - my understanding is that the 5th 
Superman movie's development took

	17 years, three confirmed directors, nine screenwriters, and
	approximately $50 million in combined resources for the seven
	different films without any filming ever taking place
		- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canceled_Superman_films

So I wouldn't assume that means any real progress toward an actual film.

> And you're right in that Captain America doesn't
> really fit with a lot of what Marvel is writing these
> days.  He's the Star Spangled Boy Scout of Marvel's
> super-hero community, and more and more Marvel seems
> to be obsessed with stories about conspiracies and
> other under-handed dealings.  Someone like Cap doesn't
> really fit in with that sort of thing (at least not on
> a regular basis).  Thus one of the reasons that I'm
> not as surprised by this as I might have been.

In a recent discussion of Civil War, somebody pointed out that where 
Punisher used to a dark anti-hero who served as a contrast to the normal 
Marvel characters, these days he fits right in with everybody else - 
he's become the norm.

[...]
> According to the stories that pop up from time to
> time, video games have taken the market share that was
> once dominated by comic books.  Thus the need to
> develop intellectual property to license in order for
> the company to continue to make money.

That's...perhaps technically correct, but somewhat misleading. Video 
games might be taking market share that once belonged to monthly 
pamphlet-style comics here in America, but comics as a whole are still 
doing pretty well (manga in particular has pretty much shown that Marvel 
and DC have basically thrown away large portions of their mindshare, 
rather than having it stolen from them by other entertainment media).

Alan Zabaro