What can also be called The Avengers 9 is fast approaching, and superhero fanboys the world over are vibrating in their seats in anticipation. I have my tickets to the Thursday midnight show already, dear readers. Now that his perfunctory origin story is out of the way, and we’ve seen him teamed up with a well-known ragtag group of über-misfits, here is the Captain America story we’ve all been waiting for: Cap’s first in-depth taste of the modern world.
The film comes billed as a more down-to-earth thriller than the high-falutin’ inter-dimensional shenanigans of Thor: The Dark World, and more politically salient than the playful narcissism and end-of-an-era vibe of Iron Man Three. It’s already been garnering high praise from critics (including CraveOnline’s own William Bibbiani), and shows no sign of being any less beloved than most of the films in the Avengers’ cinematic canon.
That doesn’t mean we’re not speculating about the details. It’s what superhero fans do best: nitpicking. So let’s take a few stabs as to what might or might not be happening in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Witney Seibold is the head film critic for Nerdist, and a contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can read his weekly articles Trolling, and The Series Project, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
5 Questions about Captain America: The Winter Soldier
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How Big is The Falcon’s Role?
The Falcon is a less than prominent comic book character whose biggest claim to fame is that he was the first African-American superhero in Marvel’s menagerie. Anthony Mackie plays The Falcon in The Winter Soldier, and I think we’re all curious to see what this updated version of the character will be like. Will he be an influence on Captain America’s acclimatization to the modern world? Will he be an ally? And, most importantly, will he be welcomed into the Avengers?
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Will The Black Widow Be Explored?
This is the third film to feature The Black Widow, and while we know she’s a capable spy who can beat up a room of men while still tied to a chair (and there’s certainly nothing fetishistic about that), I feel that we don’t know a terrible amount about her past, her true nature, or the crux of her character. She has been a supporting player so far, and I can’t be the only one who wants to see her really grow into a more dynamic human being with a past, rather than be a pretty woman in a tight outfit.
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Will Cap Take to the Modern World Well?
The most interesting part of the Captain America story has yet to be addressed (even in The Avengers) and that is how a man raised in the 1940s will take to the world in 2014, having missed the interim half-century. What does he think of civil rights? Of disco? Of the Iraq war? Of Star Wars? Sure, the international conspiracies and Winter Soldiers will drive the plot, but these little character moments are what can really fill out the good Captain.
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How Will this All Play in to the Infinity Gauntlet?
Ever since the stinger at the end of The Avengers, the Marvel movies have been pointing toward the ‘90s crossover event The Infinity Gauntlet, which will likely be the theme of The Avengers 3 in several years’ time. We’ve already seen some of the Infinity Gems (now called Stones) and they exist in a weird cosmic/magical milieu that doesn’t seem to fit with Cap so well. I’m curious to see how they’ll tie in an Infinity Gem/Stone with what promises to be a Tom Clancy-type sociopolitical thriller. And if they do incorporate a Stone, how graceful will it seem? It was acceptable if not 100% smooth in The First Avenger. Maybe they’ll handle it more deftly here.
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What’s the Tone Like?
We can hear all kinds of rumors as to events and characters to appear in upcoming superhero movies – and we’re right a lot of the time – but something we have to see the movie to understand is what the film’s overall tone is like. Is it broad a comedic, mildly satirical, or steely and serious? Comic book movies have always had a careful line to walk when it comes to tone, balancing between something realistic, but no so realistic that the colorful costumes and outlandish sci-fi weapons seem out-of-place. Sometimes the tone is just right (as in Iron Man) and sometimes it feels a little off-balance (I may be one of the only people who thought Thor was a little lopsided). Let’s hope it’s steely and Tom Clancy-ish without being too serious. This is a comic book movie after all; it needs to be at least a little fun.
