You might think that, with Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes reborn as the Winter Soldier and Frank Grillo playing the villainous Crossbones, Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers would have enough to deal with in the Captain America sequel. But no – Marvel and the filmmakers are apparently bringing in another heavy to challenge him, with UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre cast as Batroc the Leaper.
GSP, as he’s known for expediency, is a Canadian mixed martial artist who appears a good fit for Batroc’s skills. The mercenary and thief, who first appeared in the Marvel universe in 1966, served in the French Foreign Legion, who, though he's not super-powered, trained himself in the savate, a form of foot boxing.
After leaving the Legion, he began selling his skills as a warrior and a thief to the highest bidder, ending up in confrontation with Captain America more than once.
There are no details of how he’ll be brought into the sequel, but we can expect him to cause no end of trouble for Steve as the Captain continues adapting to life in modern times and in the wake of the Battle of New York.
Joe and Anthony Russo are directing the sequel, working from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Emily VanCamp, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Maximiliano Hernandez and, assuming he locks in a deal, Robert Redford.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is set for release on April 4, 2014.