Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Release date: July 22, 2011

Thor was a more risky proposition for Marvel than Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk were, but the gamble paid off. Captain America presents a risk of a different sort. Would a film starring a patriotic all-American hero work, given that America isn’t exactly popular with other countries?

This time, we’re going back to World War II, and weedy little Steve Rogers is desperate to join the army and fight in the war, due to his strong sense of justice and dislike of bullies. He is scouted by Dr Erskine, a scientist who defected from Nazi Germany, and is chosen as the test subject for Erskine’s Super Soldier Serum. The serum amplifies a person’s nature as well as their capabilities, which explains why Bruce Banner turned into a big green rage monster, and why Emil Blonsky turned into Marvel’s version of Killer Croc. Cast in the name of God, Steve’s not guilty, and his kind heart results in him being chosen. The experiment is a complete success and Steve becomes buff, but a German spy kills Dr Erskine and destroys the remaining serum. Steve is able to capture the spy, who is revealed to be working for HYDRA, a rogue division of the Nazis led by Johan Schmidt, the Red Skull, which has acquired the Tesseract, a magical artefact native to Asgard (you may remember from the post-credits scene in Thor). The spy kills himself with a cyanide tablet before he can be interrogated. Meanwhile, the Red Skull has used the Tesseract to make disintegrator rays for HYDRA, and turns on the Nazis so that HYDRA can, you guessed it, take over the world.

Because Steve’s pursuit of the spy was seen by the public, he becomes Captain America, a propaganda character created to sell war bonds and raise morale. Cap eventually learns that the 107^th division has been captured by HYDRA, and because his friend Bucky was assigned to the 107^th, he decides to sneak off to rescue them. He succeeds, and in the process learns that HYDRA have several weapon factories. Several successful operations are launched to destroy them. Cap then leads an operation to capture HYDRA’s head scientist, Arnim Zola, while he’s on a train. The operation succeeds, but Bucky is knocked out of the train and seemingly falls to his death.

Zola’s interrogation reveals the location of Red Skull’s evil mountain lair, and Cap leads an operation to eliminate HYDRA once and for all. Red Skull escapes on his plane, loaded with bombs to destroy the world’s cities, but Cap is able to get on the plane before it leaves. During the ensuing battle, Red Skull holds the Tesseract and is consequently magicked away, but the plane is still on course to complete its bombing run. Cap sacrifices himself to fly the plane into the sea, and is frozen for 70 years, until SHIELD finds the plane in the present day and thaws Cap out.

Fortunately, he looks better than this when he's defrosted.

While Captain America could be described as a superhero film, a more accurate description would be a war film with a superhero in it. Like Thor, this different approach sets the film apart from previous entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and again demonstrates the franchise’s greatest strength: it can give each film a different tone in order to set each individual hero apart and prevent monotony from setting in. The period setting helps with this, as not being set in the present day like the other entries helps the film distance itself further and stand up in its own right.

Above, I alluded to a potentially hostile reception to Captain America as a character outside the US due to the patriotic concept of the character being potentially off-putting to those who are antagonistic towards America. Fortunately, this turns out not to be a problem. The creation of the Captain America character for the purposes of US propaganda during World War II is the ideal way of justifying the patriotism, as well as being a neat reference to the character’s real-life beginnings.

Decking Hitler in the schnozz, like a boss!

The setting provides a tonal shift to something like the film serials of the 1940s, or Indiana Jones for a more modern example, in which the difference between good and evil is clear: good is pure and incorruptible, while evil has no redeeming qualities. Red Skull is an entertaining pantomime villain, even if his shallow, one-dimensional villainy prevents him from being as captivating as Loki. Captain America is likewise portrayed as an absolute force of good that can do no wrong. This likeability makes him very easy to root for, as well as providing a nice contrast to Iron Man, Hulk and Thor, who are shown as being more flawed, though still good. This portrayal is faithful to the spirit of the Captain America character, and that is beneficial to the film.

Captain America may not threaten to be one of the best entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, feeling like it’s on a smaller scale, but it still provides a good time for those fancying a good old-fashioned Good vs Evil story. Besides, all the pieces are now in place for the Avengers.

Stan Lee Spotter: Stan Lee appears as a military officer at an awards ceremony Captain America doesn’t attend. Stan thought he’d be taller.

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