Some interesting tidbits…

Hayley Atwell based her performance as Peggy Carter on Ginger Rogers: “She can do everything Captain America can do, but backwards, and in high heels.”

Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan are about the same height. A camera trick (not CGI) made Captain America look much taller than Bucky Barnes.

Unlike some of his other fellow actors and actresses who play parts in the film, Chris Evans didn’t have to audition for the role of Steve Rogers/Captain America, since the filmmakers were desperate to have him play the part.

Chris Evans declined the role three times before accepting the part. Not out of dislike for the role, but because he feared what the effects of the sudden increase of fame would be on his private life. Then Robert Downey Jr. convinced him to take the part, and thus gain the freedom to sign on any other role he’d want afterwards. After that, he had a meeting with director Joe Johnston and the producers, who convinced him to take the role.

Shields made of different materials were used depending on what was needed for the shot. Rubber shields were used for when Captain America punches people with it. For scenes where he put the shield on his back, magnets were used to keep it in place. In many of the scenes where he is seen throwing the shield, Chris Evans would mime out the actions of catching and throwing the shield, with the shield being added later, using CGI.

Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter) surprisingly touching Chris Evans’ chest, as he emerged from the pod upon turning into Captain America, was very much improvised, and the surprise on her face is genuine, as she admitted in interviews she was very taken by Chris’ physique and nearly broke character and ruined the take that made it into the film as a result.

Lots of the shots were done by a Los Angeles company called LOLA, that specializes in digital “plastic surgery”. The technique involved shrinking Chris Evans in all dimensions. They shot each “skinny Steve” scene at least four times. Once like a normal scene with Evans and his fellow actors and actresses in the scene, once with Evans alone in front of a greenscreen, so his element could be reduced digitally, again with everyone in the scene but with Evans absent, so that the shrunken Steve could be re-inserted into the scene, and finally, with a body double mimicking Evans’ actions in case the second technique was required. When Evans had to interact with other characters in the scene, they had to either lower him or raise the other actors and actresses on apple boxes, or elevated walkways to make “skinny Steve” shorter in comparison. For close-ups, Evans’ fellow actors and actresses had to look at marks on his chin that represented where his eyes would be after the shrinking process, and Evans had to look at marks on the tops of the actor’s head to represent their eyes. The second technique involved grafting Evans’ head onto the body double. This technique was used mostly when Evans was sitting or lying down, or when a minimum of physical acting was required.

Stan Lee made a cameo appearance as a General. The officer sitting next to him was played by Reb Brown, who played the title character in Captain America (1979) and Captain America II: Death Too Soon (1979).

Stan Lee’s cameo appearance in this film is an exception in the tradition of him appearing in films featuring Marvel Comics superheroes. In this case, Lee had nothing to do with the initial creation of Captain America, but his first story he ever wrote was “Captain America Foils the Traitor’s Revenge” in Captain America Comics #3 in 1941, which also had the first appearance of Captain America throwing his shield as a weapon.

Chris Evans was paid $300,000 to play the title role.

Wyatt Russell auditioned for Captain America but lost to Chris Evans. Years later, Russell would portrayed John Walker/Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) which in the comics, Walker replaced Steve Rogers as Captain America.

Rogers’ phrase “I can do this all day” is later brought up in future MCU installments such as Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame.

There are no opening credits, not even a title.

Sam Worthington and Will Smith were in early talks for the role of Captain America. Later on, Garrett Hedlund, Channing Tatum, Scott Porter, Mike Vogel, Sebastian Stan, Chris Evans, Wilson Bethel, John Krasinski, Chad Michael Murray, Michael Cassidy, Chace Crawford, Derek Theler, and Jensen Ackles were on the final shortlist for the role. Kellan Lutz, Ryan Phillippe, and Alexander Skarsgård carried out auditions, but ultimately, the role went to Evans.