Captain America: The First Avenger | |
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![]() "When Patriots Become Heroes" | |
Directed By | Joe Johnston |
Screenplay By | Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely |
Cast | Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper |
Produced By | Kevin Feige |
Cinematography By | Shelly Johnson |
Film Editing By | Jeffrey Ford, Robert Dalva |
Music By | Alan Silvestri |
Studio | Marvel Studios |
Distributed By | Paramount Pictures |
Franchise | Marvel Cinematic Universe |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Release Date | July 22, 2011 |
Runtime | 125 Minutes |
Rating | PG-13 |
Budget | $140,000,000 |
Gross | $370,569,774 |
Overview[]
Captain America: The First Avenger is a 2011 American produced superhero film starring Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, and Stanley Tucci. It was directed by Joe Johnston and is a film adaptation of the long standing patriotic superhero Steve Rogers aka Captain America from Marvel Comics. This film is part of the the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or the MCU).
Captain America: The First Avenger was part of the MCU Phase One Series and the fifth produced chronologically. It also had two direct sequels, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War with it's primary star Chris Evans reprising his role throughout numerous related films in the MCU as well. It also directly inspired a spin-off film, Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter which in turn resulted in a spin-off television series, Agent Carter due to the popularity of its breakout character of Peggy Carter as portrayed by Hayley Atwell.
During WWII, sickly Steve Rogers is desperate to serve his country in any way he can. Volunteering to be an experimental test subject, he is transformed into what is intended to be the first of a new breed of super-soldiers by Dr. Erskine.
But an assassin kills the good doctor and leaves Rogers as the sole success. Rogers instead becomes a propaganda tool with a humiliating and garish patriotic costume and is dubbed Captain America.
Until his best friend is captured and lost behind enemy lines. And now the novice and inexperienced Rogers must risk everything to save him on an unsanctioned and unauthorized mission. A mission that will test him and truly transform him into the legendary soldier that the newsreels purport him to be ― Captain America: The First Avenger!
Plot[]

An Unexpected Discovery
In the present day, a Russian oil team discovers a strange derelict in the frozen Arctic wastes. Investigating, they uncover a frozen red and blue discus with a white star emblazoned on it and are stunned.
Seventy years earlier, it was the darkest days of World War II. It is 1942 and the Nazis are on the rise thanks to their new research & development section known as Hydra led by the fanatical Johann Schmidt.
Schmidt has taken on the sobriquet of the Red Skull due to the grotesque alterations to his face as a side effect of experiments he conducted upon himself to enhance his physical abilities. A monster whose face mirrors his twisted soul, the Red Skull is absolutely ruthless and determined to conquer the entire world.
And he might very well be able to do so as he has just uncovered an ancient supernatural artifact known as Tesseract. The Tesseract holds the key of boundless energy and is being weaponized as the cornerstone to Hydra's unstoppable arsenal of high-tech weapons as created by Dr. Arnim Zola.

"I can do this all day."; Puny Steve Rogers stands up to a bully
The United States has entered the war on the losing side and Bucky Barnes and his best friend Steve Rogers have applied for military service. Barnes is accepted but sickly and physically frail Steve Rogers is summarily rejected. Despite this rejection, the patriotic Steve is determined to serve and secretly tries applying again and again, failing every single time. After his fifth attempt, his efforts attract the attention of Dr. Abraham Erskine.
Erskine is attempting to perfect the process used by Schmidt to enhance a human to the peak of human performance and offers Rogers a chance which he eagerly accepts. While Rogers and a platoon of men are undergoing basic training under the stern eye of a British officer, Peggy Carter; Erskine's superior, Colonel Chester Phillips is openly contemptuous of his chosen test subject.
Erskine counters that Phillips' candidate might be strong, fast, and obeys orders but is a bully. Phillips sneers at that and proffers that niceness doesn't win wars, wars are won by guts as he grabs a dummy grenade and throws it at the platoon. Everyone in the platoon reacts instantly by ducking and running away for cover including Phillips' candidate. Except for Rogers who charges forward and flings himself onto the dummy grenade, covering it with his own body. Peggy Carter is impressed with his willingness to sacrifice himself and becomes closer to Rogers as a result.

Transformed into the Super-Solider
Phillips concedes to Erskine's choice as although physically inferior to the other potential candidates, Rogers' intelligence, determination, and courage shine through and he is chosen to be the first to undergo the process.
Rogers undergoes the painful transformation into the world's first super soldier, but a Hydra assassin murders Erskine who as a safety precaution; has never fully committed the entire formula to paper. Although Rogers is able to avenge the doctor, he is also the last recipient of the process and its only success. However instead of being sent to the front lines, Rogers instead finds himself being used a propaganda tool and mascot in a gaudy costume and is dubbed as Captain America.

Captain America's USO Show
But when he learns that Bucky is captured and held behind enemy lines, Rogers disobeys orders and goes AWOL to rescue him with the help of Peggy. Infiltrating Hydra's base, Rogers frees hundreds of prisoners before rescuing Bucky and battling the Red Skull briefly.
Returning victorious, General Phillips is able to convince his superiors that Captain America belongs on the battlefield. Rogers recruits several of the freed prisoners including his friend Bucky to serve as the nucleus of a special strike force dubbed "The Howling Commandos". Rogers is also equipped with a special shield constructed by Howard Stark. This circular shield is composed out of vibranium, a unique alloy that absorbs vibrations and is nearly indestructible.

Captain America Victorious!
With the Howling Commandos, Captain America proceeds to beat back Hydra on all fronts; sabotaging their war machines and destroying their hidden bases even as he and Peggy become romantically closer and she promises him a dance one day when they aren't so busy. Pushed to the brink of defeat, Hydra's chief scientist Arnim Zola is being rushed to confer with the Red Skull only to be captured by Captain America and the Howling Commandos which also costs them the life of Bucky Barnes who falls to his death.
Zola reveals critical information that leads to an all out assault on Hydra's Main Base which is preparing for a last strike on the United States with a strategic bomber armed with super-weapons designed to wipe out cities. With the help of Phillips, Peggy, and the Howling Commandos; Captain America is able to force their way through the formidable defenses. Sharing one kiss with Peggy, Captain America leaps onto the Red Skull's bomber as it flies off and fights him aboard. The Tesseract is released during their struggle and the Skull attempts to grabs it; on;y to be dissolved into thin air before it falls into the ocean.
Discovering that the bomber is locked on target for the United States, Captain America decides that he has to crash the plane in the Arctic. Peggy begs him not to sacrifice himself but Rogers proclaims that he has to do this where the weapons won't be able to harm anyone and asks for a rain check for their dance. Peggy tearfully agrees, demanding that she'll meet him a week later when the radio cuts out leaving only static.
With the Red Skull dead and Hydra crippled, the Nazis find themselves losing badly and the war turns in the Allies' favor. Victorious, the surviving Howling Commandos meet up in a bar and amongst the noisy revelers quietly raise their glasses and salute the Captain even as Howard Stark recovers the Tesseract on the ocean floor, but cannot find any trace of Captain America, grimly determines to continue searching.
Rogers next awakens in an old fashioned hospital room with a radio playing a live Dodgers game when a young nurse enters the room. Rogers however demands an explanation as he was at that Dodgers' game back in 1941. Panicking, security guards enter the room and Rogers throws them through the wall to find himself on a sound stage replicating the 1940s. Racing through the corridors, he is able to find a door leading to the outside.

"I had a date."
Fleeing, Rogers realizes that he is in New York City but one barely recognizable when he is soon surrounded by numerous S.H.I.E.L.D Agents and Colonel Nick Fury slowly steps out and introduces himself and that they had created that room to try and break things to him gently. Fury explains that Rogers has been asleep in suspended animation, frozen in the ice and that the year is 2011. Over seventy years after his last mission until the crashed wreckage of the Hydra bomber was discovered by the Russians in the present.
Shocked, Steve looks around lost and brokenly proclaims, "I had a date."
Cast[]
- Chris Evans as Captain America
- Tommy Lee Jones as Chester Phillips
- Hugo Weaving as Red Skull
- Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
- Sebastian Stan as James "Bucky" Barnes
- Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark
- Neal McDonough as Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan
- Derek Luke as Gabe Jones
- Stanley Tucci as Abraham Erskine
- Kenneth Choi as Jim Morita
- Bruno Ricci as Jacques Dernier
- JJ Feild as James Montgomery Falsworth
- Toby Jones as Arnim Zola
- Richard Armitage as Heinz Kruger
- Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
- Natalie Dormer as Pvt. Lorraine
- Michael Brandon as Senator Brandt
- Sophie Colquhoun as Bonnie
Production[]
A Captain America film project based on the Marvel Comics' character was in development as early as April of 1997 but a 2000 lawsuit filed by co-creator Joe Simon over copyright issues of the character resulted in the project entering limbo for several years. In 2003, the lawsuit was settled and the project proceeded apace and sought new producers and writers to push the film forward with Marvel Comics seeking to enter an agreement with Warner Bros. to film the project. By 2005 however, Marvel Comics was able to secure financing from Merrill Lynch for ten films and immediately decided to seek to self-produce and develop their characters into independent films; of which it was decided to move forward with one of these films being based on Captain America as part of what would become the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was conceived as a "stand alone" film as most of it would be set during World War II but would be loosely connected to the MCU in the present day as part of the character arc.
In 2006, David Self was hired to write the script and Joe Johnston had several meetings and discussions about helming directorship of the film project itself but the entire script got put on hold due to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America Strike. Following the successful film release of the 2008 Iron Man film, talks with the Guild enabled the film to finally pushed forward with Marvel announcing The First Avenger: Captain America tentatively being released in 2011.
Pre-production began in 2009 and Ryan Phillippe, John Krasinski, Sebastian Stan were all heavily considered for the role of Captain America before Chris Evans was finally cast in March of 2010 along with Hugo Weaving as his arch-nemesis, the Red Skull. Principal photography began on June 28, 2010 and finished on December 3, 2010. However several reshoots and additional scenes to more appropriately tie the film into the forthcoming Avengers film necessitated additional shooting for most of April of 2011.
The film was shot on location in Manchester, Liverpool, Aldershot, and the Bourne Woods in England; Caerwent in Wales; Curoiss in Scotland; Simi Valley, Manhattan Beach, San Marino, Downtown Los Angeles in California; and Times Square in New York City. Additional shooting was completed in studios in Universal Studios in New York, Raleigh Manhattan Beach Studios in California, Pinewood Studios and Shepperton Studios in England.
Alternative Movie Titles[]
- Captain America
- Captain America: First Avenger
- The First Avenger
- The First Avenger: Captain America
Additional/Alternate Movie Taglines[]
- The First Avenger
- When Patriots Become Heroes
Reception[]
Captain America: The First Avenger debuted in a exclusive premiere on July 19, 2011 in the El Capitan Theater at Hollywood, California with a second special screening at the San Diego Comic-Con International on July 21. It officially opened on July 22 in the United States and Canada. Domestically, it opened in 3,715 theaters and earned $4,000,000 in the special midnight showings before it would go on to earn $65,058,524 for that weekend and catapulting it immediately to the top number one most popular movie for that week.
However, it was quickly eclipsed by its second weekend by the premiere of Cowboys & Aliens and The Smurfs which pushed it to the third most popular movie slot. A number of successive movie premieres including Rise of the Planet of the Apes continued to push it further down in the rankings so that by its third weekend, it had plummeted to the fifth slot.
It was toppled out of the Top 10 by its fifth weekend showing and would slowly but steadily fall over the next few weekends before closing out its 16-week box office run. Nevertheless, Captain America: The First Avenger earned an overall a gross total of $176,654,505 domestically with an additional $193,915,269 from the foreign markets for a combined worldwide gross of $370,569,774. The film far surpassed all of the other 2011 superhero films such as Thor; Green Lantern; and the prequel X-Men: First Class and is considered to be one of the top-grossing World War II-era films.
Due to certain cultural and political concerns, several foreign countries including Russia and South Korea chose to release the film under the alternative title of "The First Avenger" rather than "Captain America: The First Avenger".
The film received mixed reviews overall by critics who praised it for its "retro" feel for its vintage World War II background while others such as Karina Longworth of the Village Voice criticized it as "hokey" and "utterly unnecessary franchise transitioning". The Rotten Tomatoes website gave it an 80% "Fresh" Rating with Metacritic scored it a "66 out of 100" and gave it generally favorable reviews.
Captain America: The First Avenger also won accolades from the BMI Film & TV Awards for its music score and the Visual Effects Society Awards for Outstanding Compositing. Actor Chris Evans won the 2011 Scream Awards for his performance in the film as "Best Superhero" as well.
Trivia[]
- Marvel superheroes are not unfamiliar to the actor who plays Captain America, Chris Evans. Several years earlier, Evans played another Marvel superhero; portraying Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch in the 2005 film, Fantastic Four and the 2007 sequel; Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
- Stan Lee made a brief cameo appearance in the film even though he did not create the character of Captain America. However Stan Lee's first writing job was in Captain America Comics #3 "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in 1941 and helped successfully revive the character in the modern age in Avengers #4 with Jack Kirby in 1964, reestablishing him in the Marvelverse.
- Reb Brown who portrayed Steve Rogers/Captain America in the 1979 films Captain America and Captain America II: Death Too Soon made a brief cameo sitting beside Stan Lee in the film.
- The Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) made a brief comment in the beginning of the film, "the Fuhrer digs for trinkets in the desert" was actually a subtle reference to the 1981 film, Raiders of the Lost Ark owing to the fact that the director Joe Johnson had worked on the film.
Associated Pages[]
Objects[]
Weapons[]
- Captain America Shield
- Tesseract Gun
Vehicles[]
- Valkyrie
Teams & Groups[]
Locations[]
- Arctic
- New York City
- Tonsberg, Norway
External Links[]
Trailer[]
Captain America The First Avenger - Trailer