Captain America: The First Avenger is a 2011 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero Captain America. It is the fifth main installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fifth main installment of Phase One.
It takes place after the events of Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor, but in terms of the overall storyline, much of the film precedes these two and Iron Man itself until near the end of the film. It was directed by Joe Johnston and stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America.
A sequel called Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released on April 4, 2014.
Plot
In the present day, scientists in the Arctic uncover a circular object with a red, white and blue motif.
In March 1942, Nazi officer Johann Schmidt and his men invade a castle in Tønsberg, Norway, to steal a mysterious tesseract possessing untold powers, and killed the old man who guarded it along with everyone else in the village.
Meanwhile in New York City, Steve Rogers attempts to join World War II military but gets rejected due to his frail physical appearance and many health issues. While attending an exhibition of future technologies with his friend Bucky Barnes, Rogers again attempts to enlist. After Overhearing Rogers' conversation with Barnes about wanting to help in the war, Dr. Abraham Erskine allows Rogers to enlist.
He is recruited as part of a "super-soldier" experiment under Erskine, Colonel Chester Phillips, and British agent Peggy Carter. Phillips is unconvinced by Erskine's claims that Rogers is the right person for the procedure, but relents after seeing Rogers commit an act of self-sacrificing bravery. The night before the treatment, Erskine reveals to Rogers that Schmidt underwent an imperfect version of the procedure and suffered side-effects.
Back in Europe, Schmidt and Dr. Arnim Zola successfully harness the energies of the Cosmic Cube, intending to use the power to fuel Zola's inventions. Schmidt, having discovered Erskine's location, dispatches an assassin to kill him.
In America, Erskine subjects Rogers to the super-soldier treatment, injecting him with a special serum and dosing him with "vita-rays". After Rogers emerges from the experiment taller and more muscular, one of the attendees shoots Erskine killing him, the shooter reveals himself to be Schmidt's assassin, Heinz Kruger.
Rogers run after Kruger and after a long chase manages to catch him, but the assassin immediately commits suicide by cyanide capsule before he can be interrogated for info.
With Erskine dead and the super-soldier formula lost, Philips decides to leave Rogers behind and allow scientists to study him and attempt to rediscover Erskine's formula. U.S. Senator Brandt offers Rogers to tour the nation in a colorful costume as "Captain America" which Rogers accepts. Meanwhile, Schmidt assassinates three Nazi officers sent to oversee his operation and declares his secession from the Third Reich, claiming that HYDRA 'could grow no further in Hitler's shadow' and will now follow his agenda, rather than the Fuhrer's.
In 1943, while on tour in Italy performing for active servicemen, Rogers learns that Barnes' unit was lost in a battle against Schmidt's forces. Refusing to believe that Barnes is dead, Rogers has Carter and Howard Stark fly him behind enemy lines to mount a solo rescue attempt.
Rogers manages to sneak into the fortress of Schmidt's HYDRA organization, he frees the captured soldiers and Barnes who is tied up in a room and appears to be sick and weakened. Rogers takes a quick second look at the map in Barne's room which shows the locations of all the HYDRA bases. Rogers confronts Schmidt, who reveals his face to be a mask, removing it to display the red, skull-like face that earned him the sobriquet "the Red Skull".
Schmidt escapes and Rogers returns to base with the freed soldiers.
Rogers recruits Barnes, Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita, James Montgomery Falsworth, and Jacques Dernier to attack the other known HYDRA bases. Stark outfits Rogers with advanced equipment, in particular a circular shield made of Vibranium, a rare, nigh-indestructible metal.
Rogers and his team successfully sabotage various HYDRA operations. The team later assaults a train carrying Zola. Rogers and Bucky fight the soldiers on the train but Bucky fall from the train to his apparent death. Gabe locates Zola on the train and captures him.
Using information extracted from Zola, the final HYDRA stronghold is located and Rogers leads an attack to stop Schmidt from using weapons of mass destruction on American cities.
Rogers climbs aboard Schmidt's aircraft as it takes off. During the subsequent fight, the cube's container is damaged. Schmidt physically handles the Cosmic Cube, causing him to dissolve in a bright light. The cube falls to the floor, burning through the plane and falling to Earth's ocean.
Seeing no way to land the plane without the risk of detonating its weapons, Rogers crashes it in the Arctic. Stark later recovers the Cosmic Cube from the ocean floor, but is unable to locate Rogers or Schmidt's aircraft.
Rogers awakens in a 1940s-style hospital room. Deducing from an anachronistic radio broadcast that something is wrong, he flees outside into what is revealed to be present-day Times Square, where Nick Fury tells him he has been "asleep" for nearly 70 years.
Steve breathes heavily and sadly tells Fury that he had a date. Sometime later, Fury approaches Rogers, proposing a mission with worldwide ramifications. (It then cuts to a short teaser for The Avengers.)
Cast
- Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes
- Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
- Hugo Weaving as Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
- Stanley Tucci as Dr. Abraham Erskine
- Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark
- Toby Jones as Arnim Zola
- Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
- Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Chester Phillips
- Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan
- Kenneth Choi as Jim Morita
- J. J. Feild as Montgomery Falsworth/Union Jack
- Derek Luke as Gabe Jones
- Bruno Ricci as Jacques Dernier
- Richard Armitage as Heinz Kruger
- Erich Redman as Schneider
- Jan Pohl as Hutter
- Anatole Taubman as Roeder
- Peter Stark as a HYDRA Lieutenant
- Natalie Dormer as Private Lorraine
- Amanda Righetti as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent
- David Bradley as the Church Keeper
- Sophie Colquhoun as Bonnie
- Jenna-Louise Coleman as Connie
- Damon Driver as Sergeant Duffy
- James Payton as an Adolf Hitler actor
- Stan Lee as a confused army general
- Laura Haddock as an autograph seeker
Appearances
Locations
- Earth
- Odin's Vault (mentioned)
Events
Items
- Captain America's Shield
- Captain America's Uniform
- Super Soldier Serum
- Vita-Ray Chamber
- Vita-Rays
- Infinity Stones
- HYDRA Cannon
- HYDRA Assault Rifle
- HYDRA Pistol
- HYDRA Flamethrower
- M1911 Pistol
- Thompson Submachine Gun
- MP 40
- Synthetic Man
- Cyanide Capsule
Vehicles
- Captain America's Motorcycle
- Johann Schmidt's Coupe
- Focke-Wulf Triebflügel
- Schnellzug EB912
- HYDRA Light Armored Vehicle
- HYDRA Tank
- HYDRA Armored Personnel Carrier
- HYDRA Personal Submarine
- Valkyrie
Organizations
Mentioned
See Also
- Captain America: The First Avenger (soundtrack)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (junior novelization)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer
The Blu-ray release of Captain America: The First Avenger included a Marvel One-Shot that shows a robbery that Agent Phil Coulson managed to stop on the way to study Mjølnir. It takes place between Iron Man 2 and Thor.
Videos
Trailer
External Links
Captain America: The First Avenger on Wikipedia- Captain America: The First Avenger on Marvel Database
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