Captain America: The Winter Soldier

**Captain America: The Winter Soldier** is a 2010 superhero film set in the Marvel Media Franchise, the thirteenth film in the universe. It is also a sequel to *Captain America*. The film stars Chris Evans, Morena Baccarin, Luke Grimes, James Marsden, Ana de Armas, Topher Grace, Tobey Maguire, and Samuel L. Jackson and was released worldwide on May 21, 2010. The film ran 109 minutes and grossed $1.066 billion on a $200 million budget.

## Plot

A year after the events of *The Avengers*, Steve Rogers has continued to be with S.H.I.E.L.D. and works on a team alongside Sharon Carter, great-niece of Peggy Carter, Steve's 1940s love, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, a fellow superhero, and Jasper Sitwell, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. On one mission, the three of them find a Hydra submarine which was used recently. They find a prison, who Steve recognizes as his best friend and sidekick from the 40s, Bucky Barnes. They take him back to S.H.I.E.L.D., where he has no memory of anything before being found in the ocean by Hydra in 1944. Steve realizes that Hydra is still out there and has been hiding for over 60 years. Steve and Sharon investigate the submarine where they find a lead that guides them to Idaho. Once there, they discover that Hydra has infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and several agents are actually Hydra.

Returning to Washington D.C., where S.H.I.E.L.D. is headquartered, Steve and Sharon reveal this information to Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Clint begins acting strange and Sharon believes he is Hydra. Steve interrogates Clint, who tries to convince him he is his friend. However, at that moment, the Triskellion, the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, is attacked. All of the Hydra agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. have revealed their true affiliation. Steve and Clint manage to escape, though learn Sitwell is actually Hydra. They collect Sharon, who was injured, and escape with Fury. They are chased by Bucky, who still alligns with Hydra. However, they fake their deaths and escape to Rhode Island. While there, they meet America Chavez, a college student who was inspired by Captain America.

The four S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and America learn that the world believes S.H.I.E.L.D. to be run by Hydra. Everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. was given the choice of either joining Hydra or dying, most took those options, though a small portion of agents escaped and has set up in Los Angeles. Fury leaves Rhode Island to help out the California bunch. Steve, Clint, Sharon, and America attempt to escape to fight back in D.C. but they are attacked on their way by Bucky. Steve tries to convince him of his past life, though he is convinced by Zemo otherwise. Clint and America are captured while Steve and Sharon get on a train to L.A. Now in Los Angeles, Steve realizes the bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. is much smaller than he thought, just a couple tens of people.

With only two quinjets, Steve, Sharon, and Fury board one and promise to bring it back. Now in D.C., the three try shooting at the Triskellion to kill Zemo and hopefully end his reign of Hydra. However, they learn Clint and America are still in there. Sharon gets in and rescues the two after incapacitating Sitwell. Fury and Steve find a Helicarrier, a large flying S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle that can hold the entire agency. The two start it up and find Sharon, Clint, and America being attacked by the Hydra agents. Fury and Steve get the Helicarrier next to the Triskellion and Sharon, Clint, and America jump out of the building, landing on the Helicarrier. Steve drops Fury, Sharon, Clint, and America off, where Fury discovers the Quinjet has been destroyed.

Steve flies the Helicarrier into the Triskellion and jumps out. The entire building is demolished, killing most of Hydra inside. However, Zemo, Sitwell, and Bucky survived and leave with the remaining agents to start Hydra again with the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. bases and information. Fury discovers another Helicarrier in the underground of the Triskellion and brings it back to the L.A. base. They discover they have allies where most of their old bases were and unite them to start S.H.I.E.L.D. anew. However, Clint leaves the agency to spend time with his family, who worry he is dead, while Fury discovers that Hill is alive in their St. Petersburg safehouse.

In a mid-credits scene, Tony Stark downloads the last of the online S.H.I.E.L.D. files, marked Ultron.

## Cast

* Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
* Morena Baccarin as Sharon Carter
* Luke Grimes as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier
* James Marsden as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
* Ana de Armas as America Chavez/Miss America
* Topher Grace as Jasper Sitwell
* Tobey Maguire as Baron Zemo
* Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury

## Production

A sequel to *Captain America*, was put into development after the major success of the first film. The film's intended release date was April 3, 2009. However, when *The Avengers* was put into development to crossover all of the heroes, the "untitled *Captain America* sequel" was postponed to May 21, 2010. In 2008, the film was given the title, *Captain America: The Winter Soldier*, and Anthony and Joe Russo were hired to direct, with a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, returning from the first film. Chris Evans signed a new four film contract to portray Captain America in two *Captain America* sequels and two *Avengers*sequels. Morena Baccarin revealed that she had signed on to the film, but would not be portraying Peggy Carter, as she did in the first. Luke Grimes and Tobey Maguire also signed on for the film, returning from the first as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier and Baron Zemo, respectively. Markus & McFeely revealed that Captain America, Bucky, and Zemo would be the only returning characters from the first film. James Marsden signed on to the film to reprise his role as Hawkeye from *The Avengers*, as part of a six-film contract, that included *Iron Man: Rise of the Patriots* and *The Avengers*. Additionally, in April 2009, Ana de Armas and Topher Grace joined the film as America Chavez/Miss America and Jasper Sitwell, respectively. Filming began on June 24, 2009 and finished on September 13.

## Reception

### **Box office**

*Captain America: The Winter Soldier* earned $415 million in North America and $652 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $1.067 billion, the highest in the MMF at the time and the fourth highest grossing film of all time at it's peak, now the nineteenth highest grossing film.

### **Critical reception**

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 99% based on 293 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Deftly blending comedy, adventure, and honest emotion, *Captain America: The Winter Soldier* is a rare sequel that really works." *Captain America: The Winter Soldier*was the best-reviewed film of 2010 on Rotten Tomatoes and the best reviewed superhero film ever. Metacritic, another review aggregator which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, gave the film a score of 92 out of 100 based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". TIME named *Captain America: The Winter Soldier* the "best film of 2010," as did Quentin Tarantino. In 2011, TIME named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Superhero Films." Audiences surveyed by Cinemascore gave the film a grade "A" rating.