Captain America: The First Avenger (movie)

Captain America: The First Avenger is the fifth film in The Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fifth film in Phase One. It takes us back to the past and explores the origins of Captain America.

Cast

 * Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
 * Hugo Weaving as Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
 * Sebastian Stan as James "Bucky" Barnes
 * Stanley Tucci as Abraham Erskine
 * Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
 * Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark
 * Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Chester Phillips
 * Toby Jones as Arnim Zola
 * Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan
 * Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury
 * Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark
 * Edward Norton as Bruce Banner
 * Nathan Fillon as Simon Williams
 * Scarlett Johanson as Natasha Romanoff
 * Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton
 * Chris Hemsworth as Thor Odinson

Plot
The movie begins in the year 1942, forces of HYDRA led by Johann Schmidt intrude in a stone church in Tønsberg, Norway, seeking a cosmic item known as the Tesseract, which has powers untold. After discovering the ancient artifact, the HYDRA soldiers murder everyone in the village. A year later 1943, a young man named Steven Rogers, is once again rejected for WWII military combat, despite trying multiple times at different enlistment offices, due to his frail stature and numerous health issues. Later, Steve attended the Stark Expo with his friend, James "Bucky" Barnes. After overhearing a conversation between Steve and Barnes about wanting to help out in the war, Dr. Abraham Erskine allows Steve to enlist as a candidate of Project: Rebirth, a "super soldier" experiment under the supervision of Erskine, Chest Phillips, and Peggy Carter. During basic training, Phillips is unimpressed by Steve, believing that Erskine's claims that Steve is the right person for the procedure to be false, however, he is convinced when Steve jumps on top of a grenade. Although the grenade was a fake, Steve's selfless sacrifice convinces Phillips that he's the right person for the experiment. The night before the experiment, Erskine reveals that Schmidt underwent an imperfect version of the same experiment, and suffered negative side-effects due to his obsession for power and becoming a "superior man". However, Erskine reassures Steve and says that he chose him because he felt that Steve was an inherently a good man, and one that, since he had been weak his whole life, would not lose respect for his newfound strength.

In Europe, Schmidt and Arnim Zola, successfully harness the energy of the Tesseract with the intent to use it to power Zola's machines. Soon, Schmidt discovers Erskine's location and dispatches an assassin to kill him. In New York City, Erskine subjects Steve to the super-soldier treatment, where he is put in a special chamber and injected with the Super Soldier Serum. Steve emerges from the chamber taller with a muscular physique. After the success of the experiment, one of the attendees reveals himself to be Heinz Kruger, Erskine's assassin hired by Schmidt, and he shoots Erskine, killing him. Kruger grabs the last vial of the Super Solder Serum, and escapes into the streets of New York. A chase ensues, and Steve uses his newfound speed and agility to chase down Kruger's car on foot. Despite his attempts to escape via submarine, Kruger is caught by Steve and commits suicide by cyanide pill before he gets interrogated. In the process, the last vial of the Super Soldier Serum is broken. With Erskine dead and the Super Solder Serum lost, the SSR is ordered to join the war and take direct approaches engagement with HYDRA. However, Phillips decides to leave Steve behind to research him in an attempt to recover Erskine's serum. Senator Brandt approaches Steve and offers him the chance to promote war donations, which Steve agrees to. During his work for the USO, Steve preforms in scripted stage shows as the character "Captain America". Captain America soon gains great popularity, appearing in films, comic strips, and memorabilia. However, Steve begins to grow weary of only being in stage shows instead of directly fighting in the war.

Schmidt shows off his new Tesseract-powered weapon called the HYDRA Cannon to 3 Nazi officers. However, he ended up using it to kill them after they find out that Germany was one of Schmidt's targets. Schmidt claims that HYDRA will no longer follow the agenda of Adolf Hitler and will follow his agenda instead. HYDRA continues to use the Tesseract to create weapons, which gives them the potential to become a major threat to the war, and the world. While on tour in Italy, Steve hears that Bucky's team was lost in a battle with HYDRA. Despite Phillips saying that his mission is in vain, Steve refuses to believe that Bucky is dead and becomes determined to mount a solo rescue mission with help from Peggy and Howard Stark. Rogers manages to sneak into HYDRA's main facility, where he finds and rescues most of the captured soldiers who cause a riot escaping while Steve continues to look for Bucky, who he finds being operated on. Schmidt finds the escaping prisoners and Rogers moving through the facility and sets the building to self-destruct mode. As the building begins to explode, Schmidt confronts Steve on a catwalk, where he jokes about their similarities following the mutual use of the Super Soldier Serum. Schmidt states the he thinks that they have risen above regular humans, and then reveals his face to be a mask. Underneath the mask, is a red, skull-like face that earned Schmidt, the name of "Red Skull". Schmidt and Zola make their escape, while Steve and Bucky make it to the roof where they barely managed to escape before regrouping with the other soldiers and returning back to base.

After the rescue of allied soldiers, Steve gains the respect of superior officers and is acknowledged as a soldier and is given a high rank and the chance to fight as Captain America opposing HYDRA directly. Steve recruits Bucky, Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita, James Montgomery Falsworth, and Jacques Dernier as his team of Howling Commandos. Steve and the Howling Commandos take out several known HYDRA bases. Howard Stark suits Steve with his own custom uniform and a Vibranium shield. In 1945, the Howling Commandos assault a train carrying Zola. Steve and Bucky engage in a fight with various soldiers where Bucky loses his arm and falls where he is presumed dead much to Steve's sadness, while Jones locates and captures Zola. Steve is distraught by the loss of his best friend, and is convinced by Peggy to use his sadness as a motivation to stop HYDRA for good. Using information from the last HYDRA HQ, Steve leads an attack to stop Schmidt from using weapons of mass destruction on the United States. Steve hops on top of the Valkyrie, HYDRA's aircraft bomber, as it takes off. A fight ensues between Steve and Schmidt, where the machine containing the Tesseract is damaged. Schmidt tries to hold the Tesseract by hand, and is disintegrated, where they come to conclusion that he died. The Tesseract burns through the plane and falls into the ocean. Steve sees that there is no way to land the plane without detonating the weapons, instead he crashes the plane into the Arctic shelf while making a sorrowful goodbye to Peggy, making a promise to take her dancing, knowing he'll never be able to get that date. Stark was able to recover the Tesseract from the ocean floor, but he couldn't find Steve's body or the HYDRA airship. Steve awakens in a 1940's style hospital room. He finds out that he's out of place from an anachronistic radio broadcast and leaves the hospital. He ends up in present-day times square, where he is approached by Nick Fury, who tells him that he's been "asleep" for 70 years, much to Steve's amazement. He then tells Steve that he's putting together a team.

In a post credits scene, in a S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Steve questions Fury about his "team" while being showed videos of other heroes in battle.

Continuity and References

 * Steve Rogers/Captain America is introduced.
 * James "Bucky" Barnes is introduced.
 * Abraham Erskine is introduced.
 * Peggy Carter is introduced.
 * Colonel Chester Phillips is introduced.
 * Howard Stark is introduced.
 * Dum Dum Dugan is introduced.
 * Johann Schmidt/Red Skull is introduced.
 * Arnim Zola is introduced.
 * Nick Fury appears.
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man is seen.
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk is seen.
 * Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow is seen.
 * Thor Odinson is seen.
 * Clint Barton/Hawkeye is seen.
 * Simon Williams/Wonder Man is seen.