Casting for Captain America has been highly public, with every young male actor vying for the role. I was pulling for “Office” star John Krasinski, but he got dropped early on. Channing Tatum was apparently in the top 3, if Marvel wanted to go the unlikable stone faced dancer type.

Now it appears that Chris Evans has been forgiven for his participation in the two laughable Fantastic Four movies by being given potentially the biggest role in Marvel’s movie universe. For DC fans, imagine if John Wesley Shipp was given the role of Superman and you might begin to appreciate how odd this casting is on paper.

That said, its hard to argue that Evans isn’t a likable guy on screen and his performance as Johnny Storm was one of the things that didn’t stink about the F4 flicks.

Slightly less surprising is Hugo Weaving as Red Skull. Having already played Agent Smith in The Matrix and Megatron in Transformers, Weaving could be on his way to being typecast as the ultimate villain. At least this time he’s not a robot.

“The First Avenger: Captain America” is set for release in 2011 and will be directed by Joe Johnston. Shooting begins this shortly, and will be set largely during World War 2.

If you can’t wait to see a Captain America movie, catch the absolutely shitty direct to video one on hulu.

news via THR Heat Vision: 1 and 2