I’m coming to you from the junket for Iron Man 2 where I just spoke to Marvel Studios own Odin, Kevin Feige. Running after Kevin in a hallway in the Four Seasons Hotel I got him to confirm that the Howling Commandos will show up in the Captain America movie.
In the original Marvel Universe, where Nick Fury was a white guy who fought in WWII, the Howling Commandos were Fury’s elite squad. They were made up of a colorful group of characters, including ‘Dum Dum’ Dugan, Gabe Jones, ‘Rebel’ Ralston, Dino Manelli and ‘Izzy’ Cohen. They were what we’ll kindly call ethnic archetypes, and they engaged in all sorts of WWII action throughout the 60s. And of course, in the Mighty Marvel style they occasionally fought alongside Captain America himself.
Now they’ll be fighting alongside him in The First Avenger: Captain America, but they may not be specifically called ‘The Howling Commandos.’ ‘The characters will be there as part of the larger Marvel Universe,’ Feige told me. One character he would confirm was Gabe Jones, a black guy known for carrying his trumpet into battle.
Feige also said there was an international component, following up on my previous reports that The Invaders would be in the film, although I’m not entirely certain that the current iteration of the script calls them The Invaders. I think it’s possible that the members of The Invaders and The Howling Commandos might find themselves interacting, but that’s just a guess.