Robert Redford reveals his role in 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'

When it was revealed that Robert Redford would be joining the cast of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we learned that he would be playing a high-ranking member of S.H.I.E.L.D., the secretive espionage organization that employs Nick Fury. What was unclear was just how high on the food chain Redford's character would be, and now we know via a conversation with Spinoff Online that he'll rank right at the very top.

When asked about his role, Redford revealed that he will be the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., and thus will be handing down the orders to Fury. He went on to elaborate on why now was a good time to make his first jump into superhero films....

Redford: “The Captain America thing is just a very simple thing.I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something just to be different. Something bold, different. And that felt like a good thing to do. That was it, nothing more to it than that. Well, it’s bold in terms of expectations, I guess. ”

The bigger question is whether he's signed to one of Marvel's standard multi-picture deals, and if he could possibly appear in the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series. Some of the Internet speculation has been that Redford could play the original, meaning Caucasian, version of Nick Fury, or perhaps an aged version of his Howling Commandos. Since Redford didn't reveal his character's name, those theories will likely continue until we get something more official.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens on April 4th 2014.