A couple weeks ago, while doing promotion for Iron Man 2, Jon Favreau told Marvel fans that the great Howard Stark, father to Tony, would likely be making an appearance in next year's The First Avenger: Captain America. Played by Mad Men's John Slattery in the new film, Favs also said that the role would likely be recast, as the incarnation would be at least 30 years younger than the man we saw in the tapes from the 1974 Stark Expo. Now, it appears, that role has be cast.
Speaking with Salon, English actor Dominic Cooper has revealed that he will be playing a young Howard Stark in the upcoming Joe Johnston film. While the quote is unavailable in the video interview that was posted, the introduction states that "he's also slated to play Howard Stark (aka, Iron Man's father) in the upcoming "Captain America," likely a quote that came off-camera. Cooper is currently promoting Stephen Frearss Tamara Drewe at the Cannes Film Festival.
If he can put on a convincing American accent this doesn't sound like too bad a choice. While saying that he looks like a young John Slattery is preposterous, it wouldn't be too hard to believe that he's a relative of Robert Downey Jr. Considering it was revealed in Iron Man 2 that Howard Stark was a founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D, it's more than likely that his character will play an important, albeit limited, role in next summer's film. Obviously the young version of the character won't get much play in the overarching Marvel film universe, but even for a minor role they could have done worse.
