**UPDATE: **Our long, international nightmare has indeed come to a close. As of yesterday, the Heat Vision Blog reports that Chris Evans has officially agreed to become Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America.
There's no word as to whether he's agreed to the Big Marvel Deal, i.e. appearing in some capacity in nine movies, but we're sure the company will have locked him down for at least a couple of sequels, not to mention the eventual Avengers.
While long casting searches aren’t uncommon, especially when a studio is looking for a lead in a big tentpole (and, given the contract the eventual actor will sign, films beyond that), it’s rare for it to have leaked so readily.
So far, we’ve seen the likes of Michael Cassidy, Patrick Flueger, Scott Porter, Wilson Blethel and Mike Vogel, John Krasinski, Chace Crawford and Garrett Hedlund all testing, with Ryan Phillippe also in the mix.
Earlier reports had director Joe Johnston and his casting team looking for an largely unknown thesp, but with Evans they’ve got a proven star and a man used to the effects slog of big superhero roles after two films playing Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four and Rise Of The Silver Surfer.
As to whether fans will accept Evans as Captain America, that’s anyone’s guess. For now, break out those promised celebratory balloons...