Captain America: The First Avenger

The first Captain America movie is still one of the most interesting takes on an origin story in the MCU. It starts as a period piece in the 1940s showing Steve Rogers becoming a symbol of the wartime American ideal, fighting Nazis and wielding his iconic shield. (Sadly, as the MCU has become more of a fence-sitting corporate product that’s seemingly scared of alienating anyone, the series has gotten less willing to sit with what it means to be a representative of that ideal, as exemplified by Brave New World.) The First Avenger is an idealistic movie led by Chris Evans at his most golden retriever, and it feels strangely classic Hollywood in a way Marvel hasn’t felt in a while. The funny thing about looking at old MCU movies is that you realize just how much of the identity of individual heroes has been lost as the franchise has been put on the assembly line. The First Avenger may not have been a spectacular film but it at least had a voice and perspective, unlike the several dozen other movies in the series that could have been made by anyone. — Kenneth Shepard