Captain America: The First Avenger

Released in 2011 as the fifth film in the MCU, this one took the story back to the 20^th century, centering on WWII, and brought to life the villainous Red Skull, Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), the head of an advanced weaponry wing of the Nazi regime. In a twist, this is merely the front for a worse outfit: Hydra. With WWII as the backdrop and the allied nations seeking to stave off the Axis Powers in the European theater, the conflicts spill into one another when a new force for good is born, Captain America, out of the scraggly kid from Brooklyn who wants to do his part like every other red-blooded American, including his best friend James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Stan).

Steve is the ideal, if not the precise, image of what the Army was looking for. Brave, loyal, and willing to fight for what he believed in. While not fearless, his ability to act in the face of fear sets him apart in the eyes of a scientist tied to the Allies – Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), who created a Super Soldier Serum for the military. He has been holding out on administering it to anybody, though, because he has been waiting to find the person who has the right temperament to build off from, not necessarily the right physicality. After all, the Serum would tackle that part. He sees in Steve this ideal, which is why he sets into motion Steve’s acceptance into the Army, which would lead to him becoming Captain America.

Yet, war and all of its associated horrors are on full display – the race to figure out a new weapon to outpace the enemy, the strategic sacrifice of soldiers who can be saved at the expense of other soldiers, the mind games, and on and on. On The Allies’ side are Chester Phillips, Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Abraham Erskine, and Margaret “Peggy” Carter (Hayley Atwell) leading the efforts from where Steve is stationed as part of the Strategic Scientific Reserve. Their goal is twofold, to ensure the successful activation of the Super Soldier Serum and to discover the Axis Powers’ secret weapon. Both fall squarely on Steve Rogers’s shoulders as the film unfolds.

When the time finally comes, the moment is defining, from the questions and concerns about whether the Serum will even work to the feelings of joy when it does, only to be dashed when a spy is found amid their number, leading to the death of Erskine. Heinz Kruger (Richard Armitage), the Red Skull’s top assassin, executes his plan flawlessly until Steve’s enhanced form gives him the nascent hero the ability to catch up with him. As the first actual antagonist that Steve faces, Kruger’s damage is immense – killing a man that Steve had viewed as a friend and a mentor, something that feels like it will become a recurring motif for Steve throughout the MCU.

Captain America finally breaks away from the dog and pony show he was forced into, considering those in command have no faith in his ability to do what needs to be done. This isn’t because they don’t understand the merits of Erskine’s program but because the Army feels that he would do better at boosting recruitment numbers than fighting on the front lines. Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones), who ultimately gives the go-ahead, is one of those people, viewing him as more of a liability than an asset on the field – that what makes a good soldier isn’t their physical fitness, but their ability to execute the mission. Steve must prove himself, ironically, by going against the orders of his superiors to save countless soldiers who had been captured and were being held behind enemy lines. Anybody who thought that Steve would be pro-registration clearly never watched this movie.

During this sequence, the rest of Steve’s team is formally introduced: Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan (Neal McDonough), Gabe Jones (Derek Luke), Jacques Dernier (Bruno Ricci), James Montgomery Falsworth (JJ Feild) and Jim Morita (Kenneth Choi). As five of the first people he rescues, they become his loyal companions, willing to walk through fire with him. With Bucky completing the unit, it feels like they have an unstoppable team. The Howling Commandos form the backbone of the Allies’ response to the Red Skull, leading mission after mission with unmitigated success.

Only time will tell if they replace it. The ideals that he stands for and the beliefs that he espouses and fights for are something that we can all get behind. The First Avenger, acting as the fifth film, is around when it became clear they had something big on their hands. The Avengers was already deep into production, and pieces were being placed on the board, which would take years to fully realize. The Tesseract is one of those pieces, but is certainly not the last.

The relationship between Steve and Bucky is foundational – their friendship is literally the crux of the entire film. Steve idolizes Bucky and wants to live up to the bar that his friend has set. In that same vein, Bucky sees Steve as the true hero long before he becomes Captain America – because Steve is who they’re fighting for in this war. The safety and security of the ones that they love. As the two are able to band together and lead the Howling Commandos, their camaraderie sets the stage for a climactic second act. Anybody who knows where their story goes from there will see all of the telegraphed signs.

While romance is always a factor in the film, the slow burn that brews between Peggy and Steve is not a central piece of this film’s story. This lets Peggy live and breathe as a character outside of her potential romantic relationship with Steve. Peggy may not get to fight often in this film, but when she does, she holds nothing back. Her grace and poise only add to her effectiveness as a combatant, as it belies her deadly precision with a firearm. Throughout the film, subtle sexism is woven in as a reminder of what the military and the world were like in the ‘40s. Still, her presence is not a question of ability or physicality like it is for Steve at the outset – where most of the Strategic Scientific Reserve members are scientists, she is a spy. A damn good one, at that.

As the main villain, Red Skull comes across as a terrifying figure—not just because of his appearance but also because of his designs for the world. World domination may be a standard villain goal, but with the ideals of the Third Reich in mind (even if he had no intention of following Hitler’s ambitions), it becomes even more terrifying. Seeing him go toe to toe with Captain America, as the only force that can give Steve Rogers a real fight, makes their final battle a harrowing one.

On its own, Captain America: The First Avenger is a powerful film. It evokes a kind of emotional resonance that not all films can match (regardless of how good they are). Considering it is the fifth film released, this is high praise. Upon its initial release, there were already questions about relying on him, let alone Thor and Iron Man, with the X-men, Spider-Man, and Fantastic Four series seeming to be the gold standard. Looking back over the past seventeen years since the MCU’s inception, each franchise is slowly integrated into the MCU one by one. I suppose the only regret many fans will have is that we will not get to see these characters interact on the big screen unless some major moves happen behind the scenes.

Yet, this does nothing to lessen the anticipation bubbling for Captain America: Brave New World. What was once set to be a television series was reworked into a feature-length film to showcase the power and range of Anthony Mackie, one of the most dynamic additions to the franchise. Each film has built toward this moment, and as the time finally comes to sit down and watch it, I can barely wait.