On your left! Before Anthony Mackie leads the latest star-spangled adventure for Marvel Studios, Captain America: Brave New World, we’re looking back at the film that introduced the masses to Sam Wilson and gave Chris Evans’s Steve Rogers his best cinematic experience, Captain America: The Winter Solider. As the ninth film in Marvel’s cinematic universe and a sequel to 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, The Winter Solider brings superhero cinema to another level for a political action-thriller unlike anything in the studio’s history before its 2014 release. Which begs the question: What the fuck happened to Captain America: The Winter Soldier?
Work on Captain America: The Winter Soldier began before Marvel released The First Avenger, with writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely penning the screenplay. Multiple directors approached the high-profile sequel, including The Bourne Ultimatum director George Nolfi and F. Gary Gray, known for directing Ice Cube’s Friday and the NWA docudrama Straight Outta Compton. Ultimately, Joe and Anthony Russo landed the illustrious gig, their first of many films for Marvel Studios, including Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
Taking place two years after the Battle of New York seen in Marvel’s Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier finds Steve Rogers keeping America’s ass firm and battle-ready in Washington, D.C. while working alongside Natasha Romanoff and Nick Fury to integrate the S.H.I.E.L.D. espionage agency into the fabric of society. As a part of S.T.R.I.K.E., S.H.I.E.L.D.’s counter-terrorism team, Captain America and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow board a ship overtaken by pirates led by Georges Batroc, a French mercenary and master kickboxer, played by Canadian actor Georges St-Pierre.
One stealthy infiltration action sequence and hilarious workplace banter later, Steve finds Natasha executing a secret objective for Nick Fury involving data from the ship’s computer. With his American flag-covered boxers in a bunch, Cap confronts Fury about compromising the mission, to which Fury introduces Steve to Project Insight. This directive outfits S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Helicarriers with spy satellites, giving S.H.I.E.L.D. information that helps them predict disasters and preemptively prevent crimes on a grand scale.
When Steve vehemently opposes the operation, and inaccessibility to Natasha’s data raises doubt about the mission, Fury turns to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Secretary of Internal Security, Alexander Pierce, played by Robert Redford, who, unbeknownst to Fury, is a member of the authoritarian paramilitary global terrorist organization Hydra. To make matters worse, Steve’s brother-in-arms, Bucky Barnes, who Steve believed to be dead, returns as the brainwashed murder machine, the Winter Soldier.
With Hydra’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. revealed, Steve’s BFF back from the grave, and the fate of the free world at stake, it’s up to Captain America, Black Widow, and Nick Fury to cut the heads off of Hydra again by exposing their corrupt plot to the world. Throughout the mission, Steve becomes disillusioned by the state of the world, realizing he’s been doing the evil organization’s bidding behind veiled orders and elaborate distractions.
As Captain America: The First Avenger superhero landed in theaters, McFeely and Markus began writing an outline for The Winter Soldier. After trading creative love taps with Marvel, the duo locked an outline down that would remain intact as production kicked into gear. While The First Avenger focuses on the patriotic popsicle coming to grips with his place in a foreign world, The Winter Soldier takes the concept further by pitting Cap against his worst fears on a global scale.
Steve’s fortitude throughout Captain America: The Winter Soldier speaks volumes about the character’s resolve. Here is a character who lives, sleeps, and breathes American values getting broken by the system he’s vowed to uphold and protect. He’s a man out of time facing a variation of the enemy he gave his life to dismantle so many years ago. Imagine if that group infiltrated the only semblance of organized justice you’ve ever known with a directive to poison the well. Then, they manipulate your best friend against his will to destroy all who oppose them. Captain America is the pinnacle of grit, courage, and integrity. However, he’s not going to let that debasement stand. It’s time for America’s ass to open a can of Whoop-Ass.
Regarding influences, McFeely and Markus studied Ed Brubaker’s iconic Winter Solider storyline to bring Bucky’s new and complex identity onto the silver screen and conspiracy thrillers like Three Days of the Condor, The Parallax View, and Marathon Man. One of the beautiful things about working with Marvel characters is that they’re constantly evolving. Sure, you might not like every direction they take, but by their very nature, they change with each creator’s influence. McFeely and Markus rebuilt the MCU’s Steve Rogers to be the spinning shield of a political thriller, giving audiences a fresh take on a beloved character.
During the scripting process, McFeely and Markus considered using Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, in the film. Unfortunately, the character was relatively new, only appearing in Thor and The Avengers. After studying the screenplay, the duo thought Clint would have little to do in the film, seeing as Steve and Natasha’s playful relationship serves as comic relief and a link to other MCU events.
After all was said and done, the Russo Brothers had a clear path in mind for The Winter Soldier. While they wanted the film to be fun, they also felt it should be topical. All you need to do is turn on the news, watch a video on YouTube, or pick up a paper to know the world is perpetually eating itself alive. In other words, there’s plenty of inspiration right outside your door. At the time, topics like drone warfare, shadowy surveillance, and strategic killings laid claim to most headlines. The Russos knew these concerns would fit nicely with the Winter Soldier story and embraced the chaos.
If you dig kooky character shenanigans, The Winter Solider has no shortage of could-have-been casting stories. At one point, Emilia Clarke, Teresa Palmer, Imogen Poots, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jessica Brown Findlay, and Alison Brie were in the running to become Steve’s love interest. The writing team eventually dropped the role from the film unless you count the introduction of Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter as a workaround. Frank Grillo stars in the movie as Rumlow, aka Crossbones, though his part almost went to Game of Thrones actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lost‘s Josh Holloway, or Abigail‘s Kevin Durand.
Captain America: The Winter Solider is Chris Evans’s movie, of course, but it also inducts Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, into the MCU. McFeely and Markus do an excellent job of establishing Sam immediately. After watching him host a meeting meant to comfort and help guide veterans’ mental health, you know who he is. Unlike other MCU characters, Sam remains relatively consistent throughout his journey, forever willing to help and eager to turn the tide of any battle. By the end of the Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he’s more than worthy of taking up the shield and turning his gaze to a Brave New World.
When Captain America: The Winter Soldier opened in theaters, it came out of the gate swinging with $10.2 million in Thursday previews. It quickly secured the top spot that weekend—make that three consecutive weekends. With rave reviews circulating water coolers and fans singing the film’s praises online, Marvel knew they had a bonafide hit and that they’d struck gold with Joe and Anthony Russo. The Winter Soldier earned $714.4 million at the global box office, banking $166.2 million in profit after promotional campaigns, merchandising, and honoring contracts.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has 34 movies, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier remains one of the best. Tragically, the concerns and concepts raised in the film remain threads in society’s fabric. As disturbing as that notion is, it makes for one hell of a viewing experience and a Marvel movie worthy of repeat viewings. After bidding farewell to Chris Evans’s Captain America in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and passing the torch to Sam Wilson, it’s essential to remember the first soldier to don the stars and stripes. Thankfully, Sebastian Stan’s Winter Solider returns in Marvel’s Thunderbolts* in May of this year, giving us more of a fantastic character established in the Russo’s super-powered political thriller.
As we prepare for a bold, new era of Marvel at the movies, never forget how many doors Captain America: The Winter Soldier opened for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Russo Brothers helped break the cycle of origin story, wash, repeat, by keeping the threat grounded, global, and ever-present. Few Marvel movies have achieved the heights of The Winter Soldier. However, the studio will have plenty of opportunities to try as more heroes get introduced and filmmakers continue to bend genres to reshape the superhero mold. Until then… on your left.
