It turns out cinema icon/avatar of rugged handsomeness/guy your mom would totally bang Robert Redford is weighing in on his role for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In itself what he has to say is not terribly surprising. But it is setting off more than a few fan theories. Minor spoilers for the movie and major spoilers for the comics ahead.
To be fair, all we know is that Redford isn’t the hero, according to an interview:
“I like the idea of playing a villain… I did that just because it’s a different thing for me to do.”
This isn’t a surprise; you don’t hire Robert Redford for a minor role, the movie is described as a “political thriller” and having a “covert foe” and using the sorting algorithm of bad guys, the most famous guy who isn’t the hero is the bad guy (try it, it works nearly every time).
But, as fans have pointed out, Aleksander Lukin was the Winter Soldier’s handler, and also one of many cans the Red Skull used to keep his brain in. So, the big reveal of the movie might be that Hugo Weaving lives inside Robert Redford’s brain.
Considering Hugo Weaving was a one-and-done for the Red Skull, it’s not a big surprise they might be looking to keep the Skull while ditching the actor. Still, it’s worth noting that Batroc the Leaper and Crossbones will be in this movie, they’re both mercenaries… and Hydra has had more than one leader over the years.