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Captain America
Director: Jon Favreau
Producer(s): Avi Arad
Writer(s): David Self
Release Date: May 2, 2008
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Captain America is a 2008 film directed by Jon Favreau based on Captain America. It is the second film in the Ironized Marvel Cinematic Universe. It focuses on World War II soldier Steve Rogers being frozen in ice and put into suspended animation where he decides to help the secret agency S.H.I.E.L.D. fight for America against former Nazi Red Skull as well as Baron Helmut Zemo.

Originally a subject of lawsuits over which company owns the rights to the characters, soon Marvel made a deal to independently make the film and thus production began, with Favreau hired to make the film as a comedy in agreement with producer Avi Arad. David Self wrote the script and the film was released on May 2, 2008.

Captain America was chosen next because he was the leader of the Avengers, of which team's film was built up by the previous ones. Iron Man was also leader of the team and thus his film was made next, titled Iron Man: Prototype.

Captain America was met with mixed reviews, ones with positive and ones with negative thoughts due to the comedic outline of the film. It was also controversial over the comedy mixed with the American war-themes of the movie.

While the supporting characters are only in the opening flashbacks, Bucky Barnes appears in the post-credits where Hydra, the villains of the film, are seen brainwashing him into becoming the Winter Soldier, teasing the sequel, titled Captain America: The Winter Soldier, was released in 2013.

There was also a third film, titled Captain America: Serpent Society.

Cast[]

  • Ryan Phillippe as Steve Rogers/Captain America: A former World War II soldier and the only successful test subject of the Super Soldier Serum.
  • Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury: The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Jackson was the inspiration for the character in the Ultimate character universe, and was cast to please fans. Jackson was described in the film as "someone who is unsure if he can trust this Captain America guy. He isn't sure if this is true and decides to do so because the agents want him to. He is reluctant because he is unsure since he lost his eye. Through the film, he becomes more trusting of Cap, and soon becomes one of his greatest friends from the present. Or rather, S.H.I.E.L.D. is now his greatest friend".
  • TBA as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
  • Will Ferrell as Baron Helmut Zemo: The son of Heinrich Zemo the previous Baron who wants revenge on Captain America for killing his father. Favreau, who previously worked with Ferrell in the movie Elf, cast him in the role due to Ferrell's history in being in comedy films, saying "Ferrell feels like the guy you'd want to cast if you're making a comedy".
  • Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson: An agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a fan of Captain America. He is also the man who convinced Nick Fury into recruiting Captain America.

Plot[]

The film begins with the sun rising as a helicopter is picking up a cube of ice with what appears to be a human body inside of it. While the opening credits play, the chopper flies off after successfully picking up the body and taking it in.

It then cuts to S.H.I.E.L.D. where agent Maria Hill arrives and approaches director Nick Fury. Hill tells him that they've picked up the body of Captain Steve Rogers, a World War II veteran known as "Captain America" who ended up in suspended animation following a crash into the water from his plane. Fury says he doesn't know who that is, and Hill tells him to check the S.H.I.E.L.D. as it has data on him.

Fury arrives to his mainframe where he finds Rogers' file and begins reading while his agents are seen putting the ice on a place with a lamp on top as they begin to thaw Captain America from the ice. Fury then reads that Steve was born in 1920, and continues to read as it cuts to some flashbacks.

It shows the Lower East Side, where it shows baby Steve in his crib while his parents Joseph and Sarah Rogers are preparing for the day. Steve begins crying while Sarah begins working quickly. Joseph tells her to be a little bit more faster, and Sarah says that in a poor family it is not so easy. Joseph goes downstairs and back up, where he says that this is terrible. Sarah complains thinking that he is about the cooking again until Joseph said that on the news some not-so-serious event happened and lifts the newspaper he had received. Sarah wonders why he thinks about this more serious than his job as a soldier before Joseph is called into action. He arrives there and returns almost unharmed.

However, it cuts to six years later, when Steve is six years old. As he eats, Sarah says that Steve's father should be here by now. However, as he is called downstairs by a man, he reports to her something about Joseph, with Sarah returning and crying broken down. Steve walks up to her and asks what happened, and she (pausingly from tears) tells that Joseph was killed from his latest battle. Steve asks what they should do, then Sarah holds her son's small hand and tells that hopefully he will become a soldier like his father to fight against the forces of evil in the war. It then shows Steve going to school, junior high, and then high school.

As a teenager, Steve visits his home to see his mother again as she cries out his name in pain. He runs to her bedroom where she is seen coughing. He asks what's wrong and Sarah negatively that it's the end of her journey. Steve holds her hand, while she coughs again before passing out and dying. Steve cries before he tells that he promises to enlist in the military to avenge them both.

It cuts to a paper with a stamp reading REJECTED, where it shows that adult Steve has many health issues passed on from the ones his mother died from, and that Steve was too frail and can get himself killed in the war. The man shouts "next!" as Steve sighs, before walking off. Then, as Rogers roamed the streets, he looked around and told that one day he could become a soldier if he believed hard enough. Then, a car driving pulled over with the man walking up to him. He introduces himself as Dr. Joseph Reinstein, who asked Steve if he really wants to enlist in the military.

Steve answers "yes!" before Reinstein puts him into his car as they drive over. Then, it cuts to Fury in the present continuing to read the file and then it shows the rest, where meanwhile at the Strategic Scientific Reserve, Steve arrives and is soon put into a machine while being met by Howard Stark as well. The presentation is on Project: Rebirth, which will involve in the subject being injected with the Super-Soldier, created with vita radiation.

As Steve screams in pain as the procedure happens, once the machine opens up, Steve walks out and looks at himself. As he takes the look, he notices his frail body is gone and has grown muscles. However, one of the audiences, is revealed to be the Nazi Heinz Kruger who shoots Reinstein as he is dying. Kruger says "you are a traitor, Abraham Erskine!" only for the doctor to say he was never on Hydra's side. Steve is confused by what "Reinstein" was called and what Hydra was. During this, as he walked up to the dying doctor, who explained that he was a German doctor named Abraham Erskine and used Joseph Reinstein as an alias to fight for America against the Nazis, and that Hydra was one of their organizations, before he tells Steve to stop them if he can, before he dies.

Steve then notices Kruger running off before Steve arrives and punches him in the face, knocking him down. He dodges Kruger's bullets and jumps in the air continuously before getting to Kruger and kicking him into the Super Soldier machine, and it electrocutes him, accidentally getting killed. Steve is congratulated for his victory before it shows him being handed a red, white, and blue uniform. He jokes if he will be called "Super-Soldier", although the military tells that the codename is Captain America. Steve jumps into it and is handed a bulletproof shield and a sidearm as he is told that he is ready to fight.

Meanwhile at Camp Lehigh, Steve arrives where he meets with young James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, and seems to form a friendship with him. During this, Steve is posing as a private while during a montage he is seen as Captain America fighting and defeating Nazis as he becomes the subject of the news. Then, it cuts to Bucky holding a newspaper and showing it to Steve, saying that he wonders who Captain America is while Steve pretends his best.

However, one night, Steve is called by his phone as he hears from the caller that they need help from Captain America. He then dons his costume but during this night, Bucky arrives and is shocked to see that Steve Rogers is Captain America. Steve says that this secret must be kept and in exchange, he offers Bucky a place as his sidekick. He dons a homemade costume and the two walk out and are prepared to fight the Nazis. It then shows Captain America being handed a new circular shield by president Franklin Roosevelt with Cap joking that he is unsure if he wants to use a garbage can lid, but Roosevelt explains that it was designed from Vibranium by Howard Stark, one of the most powerful elements.

It then shows Captain America and Bucky fighting Hydra scientist Baron Heinrich Zemo, who is defeated but ends up escaping.

It then cuts to 1945, Heinrich then takes over an experimental drone plane and then Captain America and Bucky arrive, where they order him to surrender. Then, Heinrich begins flying the plane trying to get Cap and Bucky off. While in mid-air, Steve and Bucky get on, when Heinrich is about to drop a bomb. Bucky prepares to deactivate it, despite Steve's warnings. However, he is unable to defuse it in time as then it detonates and kills Bucky and Heinrich while Steve is thrown into the water, presumed dead as his body ends up freezing in the ice. It then shows a newspaper with a picture of Captain America, reading CAPTAIN AMERICA, BUCKY AND ZEMO DEAD as it closes out, revealing that it is being read by Heinrich's son Helmut. He is shocked, blaming Captain America for his father's death before dropping onto the table and grieving.

It then cuts back to the present where Fury had finished reading Steve's file and is unsure if he should trust this guy, but decides "okay". He walks up to Steve's body where it is freezing. He is finally thawed from the ice, taken out of it and while still unconscious, the agents remove the Captain America uniform from his body now that he is no longer a soldier and give him some average clothes. He then wakes up with a scarf on his neck as he is freezing. He is confused over what he is seeing before noticing the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

He believes them to be agents of Hydra, and then jumps in and attacks Fury, who overpowers and defeats him. Fury simply explains that they are not Hydra and rather a counter organization called the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division or rather S.H.I.E.L.D. for short. Steve asks what they want from him, only for Fury to tell him that he has no clue. He tells that Steve is a man out of time and the year is now 2008. He is shocked and they sit on the table where Steve is drinking tea to get back up again. Steve asks what happened to people like Peggy Carter and Fury explains that she, as well as other people from Steve's age, have aged and may now have passed away. While Steve looks down on the table depressed, Fury explains that S.H.I.E.L.D. will have his back, though he speaks in a reluctant way.

Steve thanks them and Fury says that the organization was founded by Howard Stark, surprising Steve with Fury telling that he died as well, with Steve frowning again, saying that now he has no friends, especially since his best friend, Bucky, had been killed in action with Fury saying that sadly they weren't able to find Bucky's body frozen like his saying that it is gone. But then he says that the Zemo uniform has been found, as the person himself had been killed, with Steve saying that it's great to see his greatest enemy now killed.

Meanwhile at the Hydra base, there is a new incarnation of people who discuss their situation. Then, a man in the shadows appears, speaking with Will Ferrell's voice, "I'm in". Meanwhile, a few days later at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, as Fury is unsure of recruiting Steve in the first place, then Phil Coulson, the agent who convinced him, saying that it was a great choice to recruit him. Fury says that when he was placed in this type of situation he lost his eye and for Phil it is easy to say as he was a huge Captain America fan.

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