Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Captain America, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and the ninth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. It stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America alongside Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Jenny Agutter, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson. In the film, Rogers, Natasha Romanoff (Johansson), and Sam Wilson (Mackie) uncover a conspiracy within the spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. while facing the Winter Soldier (Stan), a mysterious assassin.
Markus and McFeely began writing the sequel around the release of The First Avenger in July 2011. The script draws from the Winter Soldier story arc in the comic books written by Ed Brubaker, as well as conspiracy fiction from the 1970s such as the film Three Days of the Condor (1975). The Winter Soldier explores S.H.I.E.L.D. in a similar way to how the first film explored the U.S. military, after Rogers was shown working for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the MCU crossover film The Avengers (2012). The Russo brothers signed on to direct in June 2012 and casting began the following month. They wanted the film to be a political thriller that focused on topical ideas such as drone warfare, targeted killing, and global surveillance. Filming began in April 2013 in Los Angeles, California, before moving to Washington, D.C., and Cleveland, Ohio. Though the directors prioritized practical effects and intense stunt work to differentiate from previous Captain America portrayals, visual effects were created by six companies for 2,500 shots including the climactic Helicarrier sequence.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on March 13, 2014, and was released in the United States on April 4, as part of Phase Two of the MCU. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances, action sequences, storyline, and themes. It grossed $714 million worldwide, making it the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2014, and received several accolades including a nomination for best visual effects at the 87th Academy Awards. A sequel titled Captain America: Civil War, also directed by the Russos, was released in 2016.
Plot
Two years after the Battle of New York, Steve Rogers works in Washington, D.C., for the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., while adjusting to contemporary society. While running laps around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and Tidal Basin, Rogers meets and befriends Sam Wilson, a VA counselor and former USAF pararescueman. Rogers is then sent with Agent Natasha Romanoff and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s counter-terrorism team S.T.R.I.K.E., led by Agent Brock Rumlow, to free hostages aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel from pirates led by Georges Batroc. During the mission, Rogers learns that Romanoff has a secret assignment from S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury to extract data from the ship's computers.
At the Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, Rogers confronts Fury and is briefed about Project Insight: three Helicarriers linked to spy satellites, designed to preemptively eliminate threats. Unable to decrypt Romanoff's data, Fury becomes suspicious about Insight and asks senior S.H.I.E.L.D. official Alexander Pierce to delay the project. On his way to rendezvous with Agent Maria Hill, Fury is ambushed by assailants led by an assassin called the Winter Soldier. Escaping to Rogers's apartment, Fury warns him that S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised. He is shot by the Winter Soldier before handing Rogers a flash drive of the ship's data and tells him to trust no one. Fury is later pronounced dead during surgery.
Pierce questions Rogers about Fury, but Rogers refuses to answer. He is branded a fugitive, escapes from S.T.R.I.K.E., and is joined by Romanoff. They use the flash drive to find a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker in New Jersey, where they activate a supercomputer containing the preserved consciousness of Arnim Zola. Zola explains that after being captured by Rogers during World War II, he was recruited to S.H.I.E.L.D. and helped to secretly reform Hydra within its ranks. Over the decades, Hydra convinced the world to trade freedom for security and used the Winter Soldier to cover their tracks. Rogers and Romanoff narrowly escape a S.H.I.E.L.D. missile that destroys the bunker, and realize that Pierce is Hydra's leader within S.H.I.E.L.D.
Rogers and Romanoff seek refuge at Sam Wilson's home, whom they discover uses a powered "Falcon" wingpack. The trio captures S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell, a Hydra mole, and force him to divulge that Zola developed a data mining algorithm that can identify current or future threats to Hydra. The Insight Helicarriers would sweep the globe using satellite-directed guns to eliminate these threats. Sitwell is killed in an ambush by the Winter Soldier, whom Rogers recognizes as his presumed-dead best friend Bucky Barnes. Barnes survived due to Zola's experimentation and has been repeatedly brainwashed and cryogenically frozen to perform Hydra's missions. Hill extracts Rogers, Romanoff, and Wilson to a safehouse where Fury, who faked his death, plans to sabotage the Helicarriers by replacing their control chips.
After World Security Council members arrive at the Triskelion for the Insight launch, Rogers broadcasts Hydra's plot to the building. Romanoff, disguised as one of the Council members, disarms Pierce. Fury arrives and forces Pierce to unlock S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database so Romanoff can leak classified information, exposing Hydra to the public. Following a struggle, Fury fatally shoots Pierce. Rogers and Wilson raid two Helicarriers and replace the control chips, but Barnes destroys Wilson's wingpack and fights Rogers on the third. Rogers replaces the final chip, allowing Hill to take control and have the vessels destroy each other. He refuses to fight Barnes, who does not recognize Rogers but hesitates when given the chance to kill him. As the Helicarriers collide with the Triskelion, Rogers falls into the Potomac River. Rumlow, another Hydra agent, is injured in the destruction. Barnes rescues the unconscious Rogers before disappearing.
With S.H.I.E.L.D. in disarray, Romanoff appears before a Senate subcommittee to defend her and Rogers's actions. Fury, under the cover of his apparent death, pursues Hydra's remaining cells. Rogers and Wilson decide to find Barnes. In a mid-credits scene, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and his scientists at a Hydra lab dismiss the actions of Rogers and Romanoff as they examine an energy-filled scepter and twin test subjects who have been given superhuman abilities: one has superhuman speed, the other has telekinetic powers. In a post-credits scene, Barnes visits his own memorial at the Smithsonian Institution to learn about himself.
Cast
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America:An Avenger and a World War II veteran who was enhanced to the peak of human physicality by an experimental serum, frozen in suspended animation, and is now struggling to adjust to the 21st century. Describing his character's adjustment to the modern world, Evans said, "It's not so much about his shock with [technology]... It's more about the societal differences. He's gone from the '40s to today; he comes from a world where people were a little more trusting, the threats not as deep. Now, it's harder to tell who's right and wrong. Actions you take to protect people from threats could compromise liberties and privacy. That's tough for Steve to swallow." Evans trained in "parkour, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, karate, and boxing", as the Russo brothers believed that Rogers being brought to the present "also meant that he had studied and mastered modern fighting styles and techniques". The filmmakers also looked to make the character's shield, which has traditionally been used for defense, a more offensive weapon. Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow:An Avenger and a highly trained spy and assassin working for S.H.I.E.L.D. who teams up with Rogers. Screenwriter Christopher Markus said that Black Widow was a "great contrast" to Captain America, describing her as "incredibly modern, not very reverent, and just very straightforward whereas Steve is, you know a man from the '40s. He's not a boy scout, but he is reserved and has a moral center, whereas her moral center moves." The Russos added, "She's a character who lies for a living. That's what she does. He's a character who tells the truth. Give them a problem and they'll have different ways of approaching it. She's pushing him to modernize, and he's pushing her to add a certain level of integrity to her life." When asked about Romanoff's relationship with Rogers, Johansson responded, "By a series of unfortunate encounters, they will be in a situation in which their friendship becomes more intimate. They share many similarities because they live on the defensive without relying on anyone. Also, the two have been working for the government throughout their professional careers. With their friendship they begin to question what they want and what is their true identity." Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier:Steve Rogers' childhood best friend who has re-emerged as an enhanced brainwashed assassin after supposedly being killed in action during World War II. Regarding the character, Feige said, "Winter Soldier has been methodically, almost robotically, following orders for 70 years." Stan said despite his nine-picture deal with Marvel Studios including his appearance in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), he was not sure that Bucky would make an imminent return, and only heard the sequel's official title was "The Winter Soldier" through a friend attending San Diego Comic-Con. Stan did five months of physical training to prepare for the role and did historical research, stating, "I dove into the whole Cold War thing. I looked at the KGB. I looked at all kinds of spy movies, and all kinds of documentaries about that time, and what it was about. I grabbed anything from that time period. Anything about brainwashing." Stan also practiced daily with a plastic knife to be able to do the Winter Soldier's knife tricks without the aid of a stuntman. Regarding Bucky's transition into the Winter Soldier, Stan said, "You know, the truth of the situation is although he looks very different and there's different things about him, it still comes from the same person. I think you'll get to see that no matter what. I think part of my goal here was to make sure that you see an extension of that version but just a different color of that same version in a way. I think he's still the same guy; he's cut from the same cloth." Stan said he felt the character's introduction in The Winter Soldier was "a preview of the guy", with more aspects of the character being explored in the film's sequel Captain America: Civil War (2016).