Captain America
Genre: Action/Superhero/War
Director: Peter Berg
Writer: D.R. Cobb
Based on Marvel Comics characters
Cast: Glen Powell, Lars Mikkelsen, Willa Fitzgerald, Tom Selleck, Paul Mescal, Paul Reiser, Billy Campbell, Melissa George, Holliday Grainger, Noah Taylor, Jürgen Prochnow, Alexander Fehling, Alain Moussi, Jay Baruchel (Cameo)
Plot: Omaha Beach. Normandy, France. June 6, 1944. D-Day.
US Army Private First Class Steve Rogers (Glen Powell) and his fellow US Army soldiers charge out of a Higgins boat as they storm the beaches at Normandy. They are under heavy fire immediately from the German Nazi soldiers high up on the cliffs above Omaha Beach. Rogers is hit by a bullet in the base of his spine. He collapses to the sand, unable to move his legs. Despite massive blood loss, Rogers continues firing on the Nazi soldiers as he drags himself up the beach toward a bunker atop a hill. Rogers continues crawling along, dragging his legs behind him, until he gets closer to the bunker. Rogers pulls the pin on a grenade and throws it at the bunker. The grenade flies through the narrow firing hole and lands inside. The Nazi soldiers inside panic just before they are killed by the explosion. Rogers then passes out from his injuries.
Rogers wakes up in a military hospital as a nurse, Peggy Carter (Holliday Grainger), cleans blood and dirt off of his face. Rogers tries to get up out of the bed, but immediately falls to the ground. Rogers becomes agitated and demands to know what is wrong with him. With no doctor available to give Rogers his diagnosis, Peggy tells him that a bullet shattered Rogers’ spine, paralyzing him from the waist down. Peggy helps Rogers into a wheelchair and wheels him around the hospital, which is full of other soldiers injured in battle, many of which are worse off than Rogers. He asks her how the mission went at Omaha Beach. Peggy informs Rogers that over 2000 American soldiers were killed that day, and that Rogers is lucky to be alive. Rogers becomes depressed and asks to be taken back to his room. Peggy wheels Rogers back to his room and tells him that if he needs anything, just ask her. Rogers jokes that he probably can’t get a drink around the hospital. Peggy smiles and leaves. Late that night, Rogers is catching up on newspaper reports of the war effort when Peggy enters his room with a couple of bottles of beer. Rogers and Peggy drink the beer and get to know each other better.
At a remote outpost in the Bavarian Alps, Johann Shmidt (Lars Mikkelsen) discusses his plan to take over Hydra, an organization helping Hitler’s Germany in the war efforts against the Allied forces, with Hydra’s top scientist, Arnim Zola (Noah Taylor). Shmidt asks Zola how the progress on the Red Dust weapon is coming. Zola says that tests are going well and shows Shmidt a short film reel of the tests: A cloud of dust is dispersed in a chamber filled with captured French soldiers, causing their skin to boil and melt before the subjects die a painful death. Shmidt smiles and commends Zola on a job well done. Shmidt then tells Zola that once Hydra is under his command, they will use the weapon to destroy the heart of America.
Dr. Abraham Erskine (Paul Reiser) visits the military hospital alongside US Army General Chester Phillips (Billy Campbell). They walk through the injured wing looking at medical charts as they pass through. They eventually stop at Rogers’ room. Phillips mentions that he has heard of Rogers, with reports stating that despite becoming paralyzed below the waist during battle, he single-handedly took out a dozen Nazi soldiers. Erskine says that Rogers sounds brave. Phillips replies that he thinks they’ve found the right man for Project Rebirth. Erskine enters Rogers’ room and asks if he would like to regain the use of his legs. Rogers nods. Erskine tells Rogers that he may have a way to not only get him walking again, but also get him back to fighting the war. Erskine makes it clear that the project has not been thoroughly tested, and that there could be any number of negative side effects. Rogers agrees despite the risks. After Phillips and Erskine leave the hospital, Rogers excitedly tells Peggy about the experimental procedure he is about to undergo. Peggy becomes nervous about the idea, not wanting him to change since she is starting to fall for him. Rogers assures Peggy that the procedure won’t change who he is, it will just make his body stronger again.
At a secret Hydra base, Johann Shmidt meets with the Hydra leadership, overseen by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Jürgen Prochnow). Shmidt gives Strucker the good news that he has one of his Hydra agents undercover within the Allied military powers. Strucker isn’t impressed by the news until Shmidt tells Strucker that the enemy has developed a special procedure to create super soldiers. Strucker orders Shmidt to have his man kidnap the scientist in charge so that they can use him to make them an unstoppable army.
Steve Rogers is taken to a secret base to undergo the procedure for Project Rebirth. Rogers is placed in the Vita-Ray Chamber. His body is blasted with high doses of Vita-Rays while he is injected with a “super soldier serum”. When the procedure is over, everyone holds their breath to see if it worked. The Vita-Ray Chamber opens, and Rogers steps out. With the procedure seemingly a success, one of the military men in the observation room reveals himself to be a Hydra agent, Heinz Kruger (Alexander Fehling). He kidnaps Dr. Erskine and makes his escape from the base. Rogers begins to chase after, but he is not used to his newfound strength and finds it hard to coordinate all the new, stronger muscles in his body. Kruger manages to escape by plane with the kidnapped Erskine. Rogers walks all the way to the military hospital to show Peggy the new and improved Steve Rogers. Peggy insists that there was nothing wrong with him in the wheelchair, but that she is happy that he’s so happy. Rogers then kisses Peggy. Phillips finds Rogers and tells him that they must get to work assessing just how much stronger the super soldier serum has made him. Rogers suggests that he go after Kruger to rescue Erskine, but Phillips refuses to allow it. Phillips instead sends a unit led by British Army soldier James Buchanan Barnes (Paul Mescal) as part of a joint Allied forces effort to rescue Erskine before the enemy gets him to recreate Project Rebirth for them. Rogers shows his new abilities to be at the absolute peak of human potential. He can lift several hundred pounds and run and jump faster and farther than any human on record.
At his outpost in the Alps, Kruger hands Dr. Erskine over to his boss, Johann Shmidt. Shmidt forces Dr. Erskine to give him the same formula that he gave Steve Rogers. Erskine agrees and sets up a lab for the procedure. During the process, Erskine sabotages the super soldier procedure. Shmidt emerges from the chamber hideously deformed with red boney skin. Shmidt snaps Erskine’s neck with his bare hands. Shmidt catches his reflection in a mirror and calls himself “Red Skull”.
Barnes and his team manage to track down Kruger after he is spotted in a small town near Shmidt’s outpost. When they arrive in the town though, Barnes and his men are quickly surrounded by Hydra soldiers. Everybody in the team is executed except for Barnes, who is taken alive as a prisoner. Kruger interrogates Barnes to try to find out who sent him and what the Allied forces plan is. Barnes refuses to give Kruger any information, and is eventually beaten unconscious by Kruger.
General Phillips finally gives Rogers his first mission: entertain the troops as Captain America at a USO show. Rogers is annoyed, but follows the orders given to him by his superior officer. He dons a red, white and blue costume, complete with a big, round shield. During the show, Rogers fumbles the lines he is given, causing the crowd to groan. They are impressed however when the finale of the show arrives and Rogers lifts one of the USO hostesses in the show over his head - with one hand. After the show, Rogers pleads with Phillips to send him into combat. Phillips relents, stating that Barnes and his team never reported back on their mission to rescue Dr. Erskine. Rogers demands to be sent to find them, and Phillips finally begrudgingly agrees. Before he leaves, Rogers pays Peggy a visit. He tells her that he finally has a real mission as Captain America. Peggy pleads with him to be careful, kissing him. Rogers promises that he’ll be careful and suggests that maybe once the war is over and Hitler has been stopped, they could get married. Peggy says that she likes the sound of that.
At a Hydra leadership meeting, Baron Strucker is telling everyone how Shmidt’s plan to kidnap the US scientists has apparently failed. Just then, Red Skull bursts into the room and releases a small amount of the Red Dust. It kills all of the Hydra leadership, leaving himself in control of the entire organization. He then orders Arnim Zola to ready a rocket to disperse the Red Dust of Death over Washington, DC, the throne of America. Shmidt tells Kruger of the rocket, which Barnes happens to overhear.
Rogers single-handedly storms the outpost and locates Barnes. Rogers asks him where Dr. Erskine and the rest of his team are. Barnes regretfully tells Rogers that he is the only surviving prisoner in that base. Rogers breaks Barnes out of his cage. Barnes tells Rogers that the leader of Hydra is planning on dropping a bomb of some sort on Washington, DC. Rogers tells Barnes to go back to command and inform General Phillips about the bomb. Barnes says he isn’t going anywhere, insisting on helping Captain America stop the missile. When they sneak into the main hangar of the outpost, Barnes fights Kruger while Rogers chases after Red Skull, who is rapidly trying to get the Red Dust rocket ready for launch with the help of Zola. Rogers throws his shield at Zola, knocking him out. The shield bounces back to Rogers, and he uses it as a weapon against Red Skull. Red Skull has similar strength and abilities to Rogers and they are a fairly even match in their fight .Barnes manages to defeat Kruger. He grabs a gun and aims it at Red Skull and tells him to freeze or he shoots. Red Skull laughs, insisting it is already too late. Red Skull then presses a red button on a remote, initiating the rocket launch. Rogers punches Red Skull so hard that he goes to the ground. Rogers puts his boot on Red Skull’s neck and demands that Red Skull stop the launch. Red Skull just laughs though. Rogers jumps onto the rocket and tries to break open its console. The rocket launches with Rogers hanging onto the side of it. The building begins to fall apart from the launch of the rocket, with the roof of the building falling down on top of Barnes, Zola and Red Skull. With the rocket out over the Atlantic Ocean, Rogers finally breaks open the controls of the rocket. With the eastern coast of the United States in the distance, Rogers manages to reroute the rocket’s direction toward the north. The rocket and Rogers both crash into the ice of the Arctic.
78 Years Later.
At S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ, in Washington, D.C., Agent Sharon Carter (Willa Fitzgerald) barges into the office of Director Tony Stark (Tom Selleck). She informs him that an old Hydra weapon has been found frozen in an iceberg in the Arctic Sea. Stark isn’t impressed with this news until Sharon adds that Captain America’s body was found frozen alongside it. Stark orders Carter to go to the site and bring Captain America and the Hydra weapon back to HQ. Sharon arrives at the iceberg in a massive transport helicopter. The frozen body of Steve Rogers and the Red Dust rocket are both carefully loaded into the helicopter. On the way back to SHIELD HQ, scientists have begun melting down the ice surrounding Rogers’ body. The helicopter is suddenly attacked by Baltroc (Alain Moussi), a mercenary working for Hydra, who leaps into the helicopter from a small plane. He immediately opens fire on Sharon, claiming he’s there for both Captain America and the missile. Batroc closes in on Sharon and overpowers her with his expertise in the martial art of savate. With Sharon on the ground, trying to crawl for a weapon, Batroc secretly places a tracking device on the aircraft. Batroc is then about to kill Sharon, but a thawed Steve Rogers rises to his feet, grabs him and throws him out of the helicopter. Rogers asks Sharon for her name. He stops when she says the last name ”Carter”. He looks around and asks where he is. Sharon tells him that a better question would be “when”. Carter explains to him that he was frozen in the Arctic for almost 80 years. Rogers suddenly realizes that everyone he knew and loved would be dead by now. He breaks down and tells Sharon about his relationship with Peggy. Sharon reveals that Peggy was her great-aunt and she often told the family stories about how she knew a real superhero during the war.
Sinthea Shmidt (Melissa George) reports to her father, Red Skull, in an underground bunker in Argentina that Captain America is back along with the Red Dust rocket. Red Skull asks if Batroc was able to get to either before S.H.I.E.L.D. She shakes her head no, but indicates that Batroc was able to successfully plant a tracking device on the helicopter, so they will know where they are taking Captain America and the Red Dust rocket soon enough. Red Skull is disappointed in Batroc’s efforts as he already knows where they will be taken, thus making the tracking device utterly pointless. He orders Sinthea to ready a submarine to take them to the United States so
The SHIELD helicopter arrives at SHIELD HQ. A team of doctors immediately rush out to the helipad to check on Rogers’ status. Rogers angrily fights off the doctors, insisting he is fine. Tony Stark breaks up the confrontation, telling the doctors to stand down and leave Rogers be. Stark introduces himself as the director of SHIELD and a big Captain America fan. Stark has Sharon give a presentation that has been prepared for Rogers to explain some of the changes in the world during the time he was frozen. During the presentation, which covers various historical and cultural changes over the years, Rogers becomes restless and interrupts, asking if Hydra and the Red Skull are still active. Sharon confirms that Hydra is still active, though a shell of their former operation, while the Red Skull is suspected to still be alive, although he hasn’t been spotted in years now that his daughter Sinthea Shmidt is running Hydra these days. Rogers asks for a gun and a shield.
A group of Hydra submarines converge on the eastern shores of the United States and begin making their way through the Chesapeake Bay toward Washington. Once they get within sight of SHIELD HQ, the submarines fire air missiles at the building. In the chaos and destruction, Batroc leads a group of Hydra soldiers onto the shores and into the building to detonate the Red Dust missile. Sharon leads Rogers into a secret armory deep within SHIELD HQ. Inside the room, alongside displays of Stark’s old Iron Man suit and other superhero gear, is an updated version of Captain America’s old shield and his old costume all cleaned up. Stark emerges, telling Rogers that the shield is made of vibranium, a powerful and absorbent metal. Stark mentions that if the time ever comes, he’ll be ready to suit up again, but now it is Captain America’s turn to save the day and stop the Red Skull. Rogers suits up and grabs his new shield. He fights through a crew of Hydra soldiers until he sees a line of submarines floating along the shore. At that same moment, Red Skull spots Captain America through his periscope. He tells Sinthea that he is going to climb to the top to defeat Captain America once and for all. Sinthea pleads with her father that they will need to leave the area immediately if they are going to escape the blast radius of the Red Dust. Red Skull tells Sinthea to leave him there. Sinthea and the rest of the crew flee to another submarine to leave the area.
Batroc makes it through the defenses of SHIELD HQ, all the way to the containment room storing the Red Dust bomb. As he is preparing to set a timer for detonation, he is shot in the shoulder by Sharon, who is backed up by several other SHIELD agents. Despite the gunshot wound, Batroc attacks Sharon. As he gets the upper hand, Sharon points out the window and indicates that the Hydra submarines are leaving the area, rendering Batroc without an escape plan. As Batroc weighs his options, Stark incapacitates him with a stun gun. Noticing that the timer on the bomb is beginning to go down, Sharon begins to panic. Stark tells her to relax, insisting that his father invented that sort of timing mechanism, so he can easily stop it. Stark rolls up his sleeves and begins dismantling the bomb.
Captain America makes his way to the shoreline. Red Skull climbs to the top of his submarine, ready to fight. Rogers leaps from the shore all the way to the waiting submarine, hitting Red Skull with his shield in the process. SHIELD fires defense missiles at all of the Hydra submarines. Rogers and Red Skull continue fighting atop the submarine as it begins sinking. Red Skull insists that his bomb will go off soon, so their fight will mean nothing in the scope of history. Rogers overpowers Red Skull in a fight. Red Skull seemingly gives up, certain that the Red Dust will detonate soon enough.
Stark manages to disarm the Red Dust bomb with Sharon’s help. Red Skull realizes that the Red Dust bomb will not explode when his submarine is surrounded by SHIELD helicopters. The submarine is hit by SHIELD weapons and begins to sink into the bay. Rogers offers to help Red Skull and simply imprison him, but Red Skull opts to go down with the sinking submarine. Before sinking into the waters, Red SKull gives the “Hail Hydra” salute. Rogers is picked up by one of the helicopters and flown away as Red Skull’s submarine fully sinks into the Chesapeake Bay. The helicopter takes Rogers back to the mainland where he is greeted by Sharon and Stark. Stark gives Rogers a big pat on the back and asks if Rogers would consider working with SHIELD on future matters, stating that with everything that has gone on lately, the Red Skull and Hydra may be the least of their worries. Rogers promises to fight with SHIELD as long as they are defending the America the Founding Fathers fought to form.
Sharon Carter takes Steve Rogers to the grave sight of Peggy Carter in upstate New York. As they leave flowers at her grave, Sharon confesses that Peggy always told her to find a man like Steve Rogers. Sharon then gives Rogers a kiss.
Post-Credits Scene:
In an underground laboratory, Samuel Sterns (Jay Baruchel) tries to recreate Bruce Banner's gamma-exposure transformation on a series of gerbils to no effect. Rather than transforming the gerbil, the radiation simply kills it. Sinthea Shmidt then enters the room and tells Sterns that he better have some actual results soon or else.
