Redford Confirmed As Head Of S.H.I.E.L.D. For Captain America: Winter Soldier

Spinoff reports that Oscar winner actor/director Robert Redford will be playing the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the upcoming Captain America: Winter Soldier movie.

“The Captain America thing is just a very simple thing,” he continued. “I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something just to be different. Something bold, different. And that felt like a good thing to do. That was it, nothing more to it than that. Well, it’s bold in terms of expectations, I guess. ”

Redford joins cast members Chris Evans (Captain America/Steve Rogers), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier), Toby Jones (Arnim Zola) and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), along with Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), Frank Grillo (Crossbones) and Max Hernandez (Agent Jasper Sitwell).

It's not clear if this means Redford's character will be replacing Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) as the leaser of S.H.I.E.L.D. for some reason, or if Redford is referring to something more like a government official who overseas the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization from behind a desk somewhere, similar to the commission of suits seen on the computer monitors in The Avengers movie. Previous rumors had indicated that Redford might be playing an older 'Dum Dum' Dugan. A younger version of Dugan appeared in the first Captain America movie played by actor Neal McDonough. In the comics the Dugan character has periodically stepped in for Nick Fury to run S.H.I.E.L.D., so it's feasible with this latest information that the Dugan theory could still hold true.

Captain America: The First Avenger is slated to open in theaters on April 4, 2014.