Why Stanley Tucci Found His Marvel Role Both Insulting And Flattering

Marvel Studios

Joe Johnston's 2011 actioner "Captain America: The First Avenger" studiously avoids real history, creating a curious, secret sub-pocket of World War II where a super-being like Captain America (Chris Evans) could exist. In the film, the Captain doesn't take to the battlefield to fight actual Axis powers, but a secret cadre of separatist super-Nazis called Hydra. Hydra is ruled by a rogue Nazi called Johann Schmidt who, because of a facial mutation, has the nickname of "Red Skull" (Hugo Weaving). He believes in the Führer, but feels that taking over the world would be easier with magical widgets and super laser guns, both of which he has access to. Under the cloak of secrecy, Captain America fights the Hydra agents and deflects their super-weapons. 

It was a strange balance to strike. On the one hand, Captain America — in name and look — is the central figure of America's military during WWII. On the other hand, everything he does is covert and hidden from the public. This allowed the film's writers to tell a fantastical story of tesseracts and vibranium without dramatically altering known world history. It also explains why Captain America didn't single-handedly take down the Third Reich the instant he was created: He was too busy fighting secret Super Nazis. 

Both Captain America and Red Skull were "enhanced" by a special serum called the Super Solider Serum. They both went from being weak and wimpy to being over-muscled and acrobatic. In the myth of the film, the Serum was developed by a scientist named Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), who developed it Germany in the 1930s and then fled the Nazi regime, gaining new employment from the American military. Erskine was a key figure in the famed superhero's development.

In 2025, Tucci looked back on "Captain America" in an interview with Variety, and he recalled Dr. Erskine with fondness. There was, however, one detail he objected to: Erskine was 70 years old, while Tucci, at the time, was only 50. 

Marvel Studios

Actual antisemitism isn't explicitly mentioned in "Captain America: The First Avenger." It's implied that Dr. Erskine is Jewish, and that he fled his hometown of Augsberg, Germany to escape persecution, but the closest explicit clue audiences get to his religion is a passing reference Erskine makes to the fact that "after the last war, my people struggled." This was another way that the filmmakers took a heady edge off of an otherwise lighthearted adventure film with a WWII backdrop. It's a political film without politics. It's weird. 

Although the film might have been a little vague about the character's personal trials, Tucci loved appearing in "Captain America," and loved his character. Tucci has appeared in both small, low-budget indies and mega-budget supra-blockbusters, and seems adept at adjusting to both worlds. Erskine was a great figure who was allowed to deliver vital exposition to the title character, and was present in many of the film's early scenes. 

The only issue: Dr. Erskine is 70. Tucci is still a little miffed that casting directors looked at his 50-year-old face and assumed he could easily play a man two decades his own senior. To quote: 

"[Y]ou also have the fun big movies that you do. I loved 'Captain America: The First Avenger.' It was one of the greatest roles and jobs I've ever had. I was there for three weeks and had a wonderful time, and I also loved playing that character. I was cast as a 70-year-old man at the age of 50, so that was disturbing, but that's all right; I was flattered and insulted at the same time ... You have to mix it up, as they say."

It's a credit to Tucci's talents that he was able to so adroitly play a 70-year-old man without much notice from fans or critics. He is adaptable and capable in most respects, even if the fact that the filmmakers thought he could play a man 20 years his senior might have hit him a little bit too hard in his vanity.