Captain America: The First Avenger

I could do this all day…

Captain America: The First Avenger is the 5th movie in the MCU. Opening in present day with the discovery of a huge ship, that we later know is called the Valkyrie. Inside the ship, they discover Captain America’s shield, before entering the world war II time frame in which is the film is set.

We then meet the Red Skull. Seemingly he is obsessed with Norse mythology, he even finds the Tesseract in a village that was referenced in Thor. He then takes the Tesseract in order to create powerful weapons. We then get to Steve Rogers, small, weak, but full of heart. Rewatching this film I realized that this movie is all heart. Steve is such a strong character, his relationship with Bucky is quite well developed in a short amount of time and his chemistry with Agent Carter is outstanding. I really, really enjoyed watching this film again.

The only part I kinda didn’t like, was the montage of the missions Cap and the Howling Commandos went on. That being said, I recognize that given our 2-hour time frame and where we need to finish the film, it was necessary. I believe you could of easily had a Captain America WWII trilogy, however, we had to get Cap to present day, for the Avengers.

Notable Characters

Red Skull, I believe is a pretty good villain. His motives and intentions are established pretty quickly as is his ruthless and obsessive nature. Ultimately his fate is pretty satisfying and is now just sat there waiting to be paid off. Holding the Tesseract, he’s seemingly vaporized by it. However subsequent viewings and the added knowledge that the Tesseract is actually the space Infinity stone, he totally got teleported somewhere. Secretly, I’m hoping he shows up in Infinity War now.

Bucky is probably one of my favorite characters in the MCU. I’m a sucker for a good guy turned bad, redemption story. I used to think that he should have fallen from the Valkyrie, jumping on one of those planes, getting his hand stuck and it exploding. Similar to the Ultimates animated film, however that would have pulled focus from one of the best scenes in the MCU. I found Bucky to be very compelling and the relationship between him and Steve is presented very well.

I also have a serious soft spot for Agent Carter, she’s an absolute badass with a heart of gold. Her and Steve’s relationship, for me, is so heartfelt. The scene where Steve is flying the Valkyrie into the water and they are talking over the radio is absolutely heartbreaking, then the final line of the film is a gut punch, “…I had a date”. Gets.Me.Every time.

Sound Design

Notable sound design moments, the Tesseract weapons have a really cool design. What caught me off guard though was Captain America’s handgun, it sounds so awesome. It almost reminds me of Padme’s gun from Star Wars: Episode I, but, a more grounded version of it. The soundscape of this film goes a really long way in establishing the time period of the movie, so much so that it really helps sell the moment he wakes up in present day and the modern soundscape is in effect, it changes the whole tone of the movie, makes it slightly jarring and as a result, we are right in that moment with Steve.

World Building

Having a glimpse into the history of the MCU is very cool and interesting. The familiar but alternate history it presents with the existence of HYDRA and Captain America himself I feel is very well represented and even believable. Every World has a history and we get to explore it, hopefully, this won’t be the last time we see a period piece, a movie with the original Hank Pym and Wasp would be awesome. It’s also very fun seeing where Tony gets a lot of his traits from.

Final Thoughts

Captain America is a film with so much heart and emotional impact for me. Steve’s character is through and through, a good man and I feel very well developed alongside his supporting cast, a lot of whom play an important role in films to come.

MCU Ranking