As we count down to the long-awaited uber-team-up Avengers: Infinity War (out May 4), EW’s Marvel Movie Club is preparing by revisiting the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in the weeks leading up to the mega-sized movie. EW’s Chancellor Agard (that’s me!) will revisit one Marvel movie a week, every week, to reassess its powers and hopefully answer important questions along the way like “What was The Incredible Hulk?” “Does Nick Fury wash his eye-patch?” and “Is there a point to Hawkeye?” This week, Chris Evans’ star-spangled hero reminds us that perpetual brooding isn’t the necessary requirement for being a compelling superhero in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Now, we’ve finally reached my favorite Phase One movie: Captain America: The First Avenger. Directed by Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer), this World War II-epic was our first introduction to Chris Evans’ star-spangled boyscout who just really hates bullies. It’s an astounding movie that feels part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe without feeling like it’s just another building block for the universe. Sure, the movie introduces important elements like the Tesseract, the magical cube with undefined powers that factors heavily into Avengers; HYDRA, the world domination obsessed organization that began as the Nazis’ special secret weapons division; and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s predecessor, the Strategic Scientific Reserve, which was the Allies’ response to Hydra. But you can watch the movie and not really care about what those things mean outside of how they’re used here. Unlike most Marvel movies, Captain America feels like a standalone film, which is mostly due to the fact that it’s set in 1942 — meaning, there’s no reason to cutaway to S.H.I.E.L.D. in the second act
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As I rewatched Captain America, two things stood out to me. First: Evans is Captain America from the moment we meet scrawny, pre-Super Soldier serum Steve Rogers. Evans gives such a compassionate, earnest, and soulful performance that makes you root for Steve right from the start. Throughout the entire movie, you really just want to give him a hug because there’s still an awkwardness and melancholy to the character even after he undergoes his transformation — which is still surprising now because that’s definitely not how you felt about character in the comics. In the main Marvel Comics continuity, Cap was a stern solider, and in the Ultimates universe, he was a jingoistic jerk. Neither portrayal was very huggable. Now, when most people think of the character, they think of Evans because he took ownership of the role in the same way that Robert Downey Jr. did with Tony Stark.
The second thing I realized while watching the flick is that I had almost completely forgotten who was in the cast. Of course, I remembered Hayley Atwell, who made a case here for having her own Peggy Carter-centric spin-off, and Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, the first in a long line of Marvel villains who want everything and nothing (I dare you to try and keep count of all the times the Red Skull talks about becoming a god or surpassing humanity). However, I completely forgot that Stanley Tucci (#TucciGangAssemble), rebellious Aunt Hailey from The O.C., Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s Kenneth Choi, and several other recognizable actors also appeared in the movie.