There are few stranger varieties of motion pictures than a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie sequel. Most MCU sequels really feel much less like their very own film and extra like an episode of a TV present that is determined to concentrate on a particular character for the week. You understand how a typical episode of “Misplaced” would highlight one forged member whereas the bigger plot continued to progress round them? By the point we bought to the mid-2010s, that is how most non-“Avengers” MCU motion pictures felt.
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The “Captain America” motion pictures are maybe the largest instance of this. “The First Avenger” ended with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) waking up 70 years after World Struggle II; a typical second film within the sequence would’ve adopted up on the cliffhanger, making Steve’s struggles to adapt to the trendy world a significant focus. However as a result of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” occurs after “The Avengers,” Steve has already gone by that battle in a unique film. As a substitute, “The Winter Soldier” finds him thriving within the 2010s and associates with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), and the viewers is predicted to know that getting in.
This development solely grows extra excessive with “Captain America: Civil Struggle,” which is barely a “Captain America” film a lot as an unofficial “Avengers” story. When you’re solely watching the “Captain America” motion pictures on their very own, this might hardly be a satisfying conclusion to the Steve Rogers trilogy. Issues would get much more complicated should you instantly adopted the movie up with “Captain America: Courageous New World,” which might reveal that Steve retired and gave up the Captain America mantle between motion pictures.
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Certainly, regardless of having the identical superhero moniker of their titles, all 4 “Captain America” motion pictures really feel unusually disconnected. Not solely do they closely characteristic characters who have been launched outdoors the “Captain America” movies themselves, however there are only a few actors who’ve caught round all through the entire journey. The truth is, there’s just one character who seems in all 4 movies, and his continued presence is particularly stunning, contemplating what occurred to him all the way in which again in “The First Avenger.”
Bucky Barnes is the one fixed all through the Captain America motion pictures
Characters like Peggy (Hayley Atwell) or Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) might come and go, however James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Shaw) is right here to remain. He is launched in “The First Avenger” as Steve’s unflinchingly supportive greatest buddy, each earlier than and after Steve will get swole. And whereas Bucky holds his personal in one of many movie’s battles, he will get unfortunate throughout an ambush and falls off a practice, plunging down into the Austrian Alps.
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This may be a controversial opinion, however I feel Bucky is form of boring in “The First Avenger.” He is just a little too healthful to be fascinating and just a little too much like Steve to really feel memorable. That is why it was a nice shock in “The Winter Soldier” when Bucky returned as a brainwashed superhuman Hydra soldier. Bucky was now not a goody two-shoes; he was a tortured anti-hero who was solely saved as a result of Steve refused to surrender on him.
Bucky’s evolution all through the MCU is sluggish and regular. By the point “Civil Struggle” picks up, Bucky continues to be a wildcard and is now being protected nearly solely by Steve, as practically everybody else needs him lifeless for one sympathetic cause or one other. From there, issues enhance for Bucky over the following few MCU movies; by the point he reveals up in “Courageous New World,” he is largely again to the dependable, heroic man we met in “The First Avenger.”
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There’s an argument to be made that Bucky is the actual protagonist of the “Captain America” motion pictures. (Or, no less than, he is the principle protagonist of the primary three movies.) Whereas Steve Rogers is already the perfect chief from begin to end, Bucky is the one continuously compelled to alter. He is a person who falls into the depths of Hell and should painstakingly climb his method again out. This arc cannot occur with out Steve’s involvement, however that does not change the way it’s nonetheless Bucky, not Steve, who’s going by the extra compelling, transformative journey. Bucky is the true coronary heart and soul of the primary three “Captain America” movies; it is sensible that he’d be the one authentic character nonetheless round for the fourth.
