Variety, April 30, 2012: Steven Spielberg To Direct Captain America Film

Christine Everhart-After DreamWorks, with Disney's backing, won a bidding war for a screenplay revolving around famed World War II hero Captain America in mid-March, it has been officially confirmed that Steven Spielberg has agreed to direct and co-produce the film.

Spielberg will be joined as producer by Kristie Macosko Krieger (Amblin Entertainment), Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy (the Kennedy/Marshall Company), Kevin Feige (Marvel Studios) and Jeff Skoll (Participant Media).

The screenplay for the film was written by Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely, the screenwriters of the 'Narnia' films, and appeared on the 2011 'Black List' of best unproduced screenplays.

When it was revealed earlier this years that Captain America-real name Steve Rogers, born July 4 1918-had been found alive in the Arctic, a fierce bidding war erupted in Hollywood, as various studios fought for the rights to the script, with the studios' preferred directors for the film revealed two weeks before DreamWorks's bid won:

20th Century Fox-Ridley Scott

Paramount-Edward Zwick

Universal-Robert Zemeckis

Warner Bros.-Peter Jackson

Sony-Ron Howard

Lionsgate-Joe Johnston

The Weinstein Co.-Ben Affleck

Disney will distribute the film through their Touchstone Pictures banner, as part of the five-year agreement between the two studios.

With Spielberg's quick decision to take on this project, the fate of his upcoming science-fiction epic 'Robopocalypse', is unknown, though it is possible Spielberg may abandon directing duties on that film altogether in favour of this latest historical venture, or instead shoot both films one after another, as he has often done in the past.

Steven Spielberg's latest film, 'Lincoln', will be released into theatres this November.

July 1 2012

As Natasha Romanoff walked towards the entrance to the apartment building, she felt a breath of relief as nobody in the streets of New York recognised her, in spite of her efforts having all over the news a few weeks ago.

Though the repelling of the Chitauri invasion was not her doing alone-she had a lot of help, to the point where she could argue her contribution was minimal-Rogers and Barton alternated between fighting Loki's army and helping civilians seek shelter (many went underground into the subways, where there was little danger), Thor and Banner's…other half did the heavy hitting, while Stark was the one who dealt the killing blow (no thanks to the World Security Council-Fury had really torn them a new one afterwards).

Noticing the lobby was for the most part empty (there was a woman reading a newspaper), she walked up to the reception and asked the secretary "Do you know where Mister Rogers's apartment is?"

The secretary looked up and replied with some curtness "No. 704."

Natasha gave a fake smile, told the secretary "Thank you," and went on her way.

704 was located on what Americans still called 'the seventh floor' despite really being on the sixth floor (Natasha wasn't sure why she eschewed that system in favour of the British one when the USSR had also counted their floors/storeys including the ground).

Bracing herself, she knocked on the wooden door four times loudly.

Almost as soon as she had lowered her fist, the door opened and Steve Rogers appeared. Going by the look on his face and the flour on his apron and hands, he had not been expecting anybody to visit him, let alone her.

"Yes?" he asked politely.

"Can I come in?" she asked. "To talk."

"Yeah, yeah, you can come in," he replied, stepping aside to let her in.

'Once a gentleman, always a gentleman,' she thought to herself.

Steve's apartment was nice, small, and homey. The oven was turned on, with something inside, and the counter looked messy with the flour and drips of egg yolk, so Natasha's suspicions earlier were confirmed.

"What's cooking?" she asked.

"Uh, Victoria sandwich," he replied, looking unsure as to take off his apron or not. "I just put it in when you knocked."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Is it okay if I go clean myself up a little?"

"Knock yourself out," she said back.

He smiled uneasily, before taking off his apron and hanging it up before he cleaned up the mess and washed his hands of the flour and yolk.

"So, how's SHIELD going?" he asked, attempting to make conversation.

"Okay," she replied, looking around the apartment and noticing a thick pile of pages tied together on the cleaner side of the counter, with pens resting on top. "The Helicarrier's undergoing repairs, but we're still unsure if it's going back up."

Steve turned and saw her notice it.

She picked it up and read the words on the front. "So did they send this to you or did you spend the past month writing it yourself?"

"No, no, no," he shook his head, wiping his hands with a tea towel. "They sent it to me two days ago in the mail, with a letter asking me my opinion on it and to let them know if I had any issues with it."

"And I'm guessing by the pens, you've been making notes on what did and didn't happen?"

"Pretty much, yeah. It's more truthful than most real-life movies I know about-"

"They're called 'documentaries'," Natasha quipped.

Steve couldn't help but laugh. "I think you know what I mean. It's about 70% real, which I think is good; because there were enough of these kinds of movie made in the '30s and '40s that were just…full of baloney. But there was still some stuff I felt could be made closer to reality-for Buck's sake, at least."

Natasha, through her readings and briefings, was well aware of Rogers's close friendship with the late Sergeant Barnes.

"So what're you aiming for-for his sake?" she asked. Partially out of curiosity and partially out of hope this discussion would finish soon so she could start the one she had been sent to have with him.

"Truth-wise? About 80-85%."

"That's a good jump," she said.

He nodded in agreement. "It is."

Sensing Natasha was anxious to change the conversation, Steve then asked, "What is it you want to really talk about?"

"Fury wants you to do something for him," she replied.

"Again?" he asked.

"Well, compared to what happened in May, it's going to be a lot more low-key," she continued, before asking "You ever been to Gotham?"

Steve shook his head. "I've heard of it, and the people in it. It was a rough place even when I was your age."

"Technically, you're still my age," Natasha said back with a cynical smirk.

"Ha, ha," said retorted Steve lightly. "Anyway, why does he want me to go to Gotham?"

"Reconnaissance," she replied. "He asked me about it too. I said yes, and he suggested you work alongside me."

"As…partners?" he asked with some trepidation.

"Yes, as partners."

"Like…you and Clint Barton, partners."

"Yeah. Partners like me and Clint."

"You still haven't told me why exactly."

"There's been a vigilante operating in Gotham for the past couple of years-since around 2005."

"So, 7 years," said Steve.

Natasha sent him a glare, and continued. "Fury ignored him at first, because he was mostly sticking to the Gotham area, but after everything that's happened since Stark outed himself as Iron Man, he's decided to contact him just to be safe. Hopefully, with you there, it'll work this time."

"So he's tried to go after this guy before?"

"Yeah. Twice. The first time, we sent in Clint. He came back just a little ruffled. The second time, we sent in three guys and they wound up having a very intense conversation with him while hanging from a building, in which he implied that if they kept following him, they'd be needing wheelchairs."

Steve winced visibly. "Did he mean it?"

Natasha shrugged. "I've no idea. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Anyway, do you want to take this on, or would you rather we just leave you alone to your cakes?"

Steve sighed, looked at his fellow Avenger and said "I'll do it. But I wouldn't mind a word with Fury first."

"He figured you'd say something like that, and he'll meet you tomorrow, in Central Park. Dress inconspicuously."

"I'll try to," said Steve, nodding and smiling politely. "Though, uh, his coat's not the most inconspicuous."

"He'll be dressed a little more subtly, don't worry," assured Natasha, glancing at the door. "I guess that wraps up just about everything."

"You're sure you don't to, uh, stay for a little while?"

"I'm sure," she replied, "I have other things to do. Though it was a kind offer."

"See you around, then."

"Bye."

When she walked out of the building, Natasha hailed for a taxi, and after two tries, was finally able to get one to bring her back to JFK Airport.

Sitting alone in the back, with the driver smart enough to see she wasn't interesting in talking to him, she found herself contemplating the mission ahead.

She had never gone to Gotham City before. Neither, to her knowledge, had Stark, though she suspected it was because he had a greatly-exaggerated and highly one-sided 'feud' with local billionaire Bruce Wayne. And considering both that and his ego, it was certainly for the best to keep him out of this.

The Batman. They were going into one of the worst cities in America-its crime rates regularly appearing in the country's top 5 since the 1960s, horrific wealth inequality and massive corruption in government, judiciary and police that was only recently being truly investigated-to at the very least look for the vigilante regarded as having brought all of this to the forefront of debate and knowledge, while also becoming a figure of controversy himself.

Then there were the new costumed criminals who has sprung up in Gotham after the old Mafia Families fell, with the Joker being the most notorious of them. Whether they had been influenced by the Batman or not was still a matter of argument, though she knew that several of his enemies (namely Deadshot, the KGBeast and 'Killer Croc' Jones) had been around for a while before the Batman began his crusade.

'I wonder how he'll react to seeing us encroach on his territory again,' she thought. 'The fact that I'm a woman probably doesn't matter to him, seeing as he's more than willing to kick Poison Ivy's ass. Then again, while I am a redhead and have been told I'm hot by many different people, I'm not a psychotic environmental extremist with the ability to control plants, which means I would probably get along better with him than she does.

'Captain Rogers, though-how would they interact? To say the Batman's been rough on criminals and corrupt cops (who aren't any better than the former) is like saying hurricanes leave the East Coast damp. Would Rogers find his activities, his methods, distasteful? Once he's better-educated on the matter, would he see the Batman as a criminal? Or maybe he'd sympathise with him-it's possible he performed actions far more brutal and violence in the war than what the Batman's doing now, and thus see his actions in a pragmatic light. If he can let go of that damn idealism, at least.

'Hopefully though, if we just try our best not to interfere in what he does, maybe he'll hear us out, regardless of whether or not we actually get him to agree to join up.'

AN: This is my third attempt at a Batman/Avengers crossover. My first two were originally published here, but I deleted them a while ago.

Regardless of future MCU developments, the X-Men will not be involved.

Batman won't be the only DC character to show up here, don't you worry.