With production on The First Avenger: Captain America set to begin later this year, the rumour mill as to who will be taking the title role has inevitably begun to do its work. And it seems that the current front-runner is Captain Kirk himself, Mr Chris Pine.

Pine, who is currently headlining two franchises for Paramount - Star Trek, and more than likely the Jack Ryan reboot too - is believed to be the front runner for the role, according to a report at Cinema Spy. The site does concede that this is an uncorroborated story, but its source says, "Just thought you guys might like to know that Paramount and Marvel are pretty close to closing a deal on casting Steve Rogers/Captain America and fans might be excited to learn that the short list includes somebody a lot of fans speculated about, Chris Pine. From what I'm hearing, he's the frontrunner right now, though that could change. Can't tell you who the other couple of choices are, cause that'll work against me for reasons I don't want to get into."

It doesn't sound like the most certain story we've heard, but there's been little in the way of Captain America casting rumours to this point (expect everyone linked with Spider-Man over the past month to be wheeled out at some point, though). Pine is entirely feasible, if he's got the room to juggle all his franchises and their demands in the years ahead.

Joe Johnston - he who has just delivered The Wolfman - is in line to direct the film, with the shoot beginning in the summer. The release date for the film is 22nd July 2011. So the casting needs to be complete fairly sharpish...

Cinema Spy