1: captain america: the first avenger

“I’m just a kid from Brooklyn.” 

— Steve Rogers.

Main takeaways:

• Aly: I really liked this movie. I thought it was a perfect mix of action and storyline – especially for being an action movie. The nods to the historical events that were taking place during the time the movie was set really added to the plot. I think that starting with this movie our MCU binge was a great choice since we get a nice variety of settings. Since I watched Endgame before I watched this movie, it was interesting to see characters I had only seen (and not learned about) before. Characters like Bucky and Peggy were especially interesting to see since they were in their natural habitat.
• Ally: This is a really good movie. It’s a great place to start if you’re doing an MCU marathon, because it sets up a number of future films (Winter Soldier, Civil War, and Endgame, to name a few) and requires very little prior knowledge of the MCU to understand. The plot is complex and exciting and the action scenes are fun to watch (aside from the scene where a HYDRA agent flies into the propeller of the bomb and spews blood everywhere). The villain is well developed and has obvious motivations and goals, making for a good dynamic between him and our hero, the one and only Captain America. This movie introduces a lot of important characters aside from Captain America, like Bucky. It gives good insight into Cap’s relationship with Bucky, which becomes extremely important in later movies like Winter Soldier. It also develops the origin story of America’s most famous hero and shows his true character and values, as well as how important his days in the army were and how being a soldier is so much of his identity. The cast is outstanding of course (shoutout to king Stanley Tucci) and Chris Evans is the perfect person to embody the leading role. Overall, it’s one of the best MCU movies and does a great job of getting the audience acquainted and enamored with the character of Captain America.

Favorite scene:

• Aly: My favorite scene was when Peggy punched and out of line soldier in the face. He was being rude to her because she was a woman in the army, so she had him step out of line and then punched him. In a male-dominant film, seeing a strong female character who knew what she believed in and stood up for herself was very refreshing, and definitely needed in this film.
• Ally: The scene where Cap flies the plane into the ice. Although I think he could have jumped out before crashing the plane, effectively forgoing the entire freezing-for-70-years thing, this scene is still iconic. The dialogue is romantic and adorable and this is the scene that really gets you invested in Cap’s relationship with Peggy, which makes the freezing-for-70-years thing more emotional. Hayley Atwell’s acting is phenomenal, and watching this scene for the first time made me a believer in their relationship. Not going to lie, I teared up a little at this one. Knowing that he’s not going to be at the Stork Club at 8:00 on Saturday is too much for me to handle.

Favorite / least favorite character:

• Aly: Peggy takes the cake as the best character in my opinion. She is a lot of the brains behind the operations, and she helps to move the story along in a lot of instances. As I mentioned before, a strong female character makes the movie 100x better, and her relationship with Cap makes him more interesting, in my opinion. Peggy helps Cap show his emotional side in the film, and I think that adds a lot to the film as a whole. My least favorite character, on the other hand, would have to be Arnim Zola, the little scientist man behind the HYDRA  schemes. He was very annoying, and he seemed to only want to serve the evil side. Of course, in his mind, he probably thought he was doing the right thing, but his justification is irrelevant. He seemed to be the real brains behind the HYDRA operation, so while I know he was integral to the story, he was far from my favorite.
• Ally: Captain America obviously drives the entire movie, and he’s a phenomenal character that you can really root for, but my favorite character is Bucky. I may be biased, because I’ve seen the rest of the MCU movies and I love Bucky in the future films, but he’s funny and charming and Sebastian Stan is certainly a god amongst men. If I were watching this movie for the first time without having seen any other Marvel films, I think Peggy Carter would be my favorite character for her wit, her beautiful accent, and the way she stands up for what she believes in. She made me, a longtime believer in Captain America and Black Widow as a pairing, become a true shipper of Peggy and Steve. 

There’s not a bad character in the film per se, because Red Skull is a good villain with believable motivations. I will say that I absolutely despised the secretary who kissed Cap because she served only to make Steve look bad in front of Peggy and I hate when movies use miscommunication as a device for conflict. Still, she only played a minor role and Peggy and Steve end up together anyway, so it ultimately didn’t matter. 

Ranking (out of 10):

• Aly: 9/10 for sure. I thought this movie was very well done, and I think it was a great representation of what Marvel can do with their films.
• Ally: 9/10! I definitely recommend this movie, especially if you’re doing a Marvel marathon. Don’t skip it!