Marvel May - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, let's continue Marvel May with Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

        So, the movie is set after the events of The Avengers, and Steve Rogers is adjusting to life in the twenty-first century. Activities of his include running around the reflection pool in Washington DC, which is where he meets and befriends retired pararescueman Sam Wilson. Steve also is working on covert ops missions for S.H.I.E.LD. and is partnered with Natasha Romanoff, as well as covert ops unit S.T.R.I.K.E. One such mission has Steve and co. sneak aboard a ship called the Lumerian Star, get past a band of pirates led by Algerian power fighter Georges Batroc aka Batroc the Leaper, all while rescuing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents taken hostage, including Jasper Sitwell. Steve learns that Natasha has a different mission, which entails recovering  satellite launch files on the computer drives of the Lumerian Star.

       At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, the Triskelion, Steve confronts Nick Fury, who shows Steve a new initiative at S.H.I.E.L.D: Project Insight. Insight uses three state-of-the-art helicarriers utilizing repulsor technology, courtesy of Tony Stark, and track threats in a microsecond. Steve is not okay with this, and goes on his way, visiting a wing of the Smithsonian dedicated to Captain America, and going to see Peggy Carter, who is now retired from service, and is revealed to have been a founder of S.H.I.E.L.D, which is why Steve kept working with them. 

      Fury, meanwhile, is locked out of accessing the Lumerian Star launch files, and goes to speak with secretary Alexander Pierce, who speaks with the World Security Council in regards to S.H.I.E.L.D. business. After this meeting, Nick is attacked by armed assailants, including a masked mercenary with a metal arm known only as the Winter Soldier. After this attack, Nick goes to meet with Steve, but the two are attacked once again. Steve goes after the Winter Soldier, and it is also here that he learns his neighbor across the hall from his apartment is an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent: Sharon Carter aka Agent 13. 

       With Fury hospitalized, Steve meets with Pierce, and leaves after a discussion about Fury's last words. Upon entering the elevator, Steve is surrounded by S T.R.I.K.E. and a fight breaks out, with Steve winning, and escaping from the Triskelion while under attack. Steve meets up with Natasha, and the two look for the source of the satellite launch files, which is the Army base Steve trained at in World War II, and is also the birthplace of S.H.I.E.L.D. It is here where we learn that HYDRA scientist Arnim Zola, who is now a living computer system, was recruited for S.H.I.E.L.D, rebuilt HYDRA from within S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, and created an algorithm that controls Project Insight. 

       Steve and Natasha then hide out with Sam, who offers to help get information from Sitwell, with the use of his special equipment from his time as a pararescueman: an Exo-7 wing pack, dubbed the Falcon pack. Sitwell reveals that Zola's algorithm tracks targets for Project Insight. Such targets include Steve, Banner, Stephen Strange (who we'll get to when we discuss Doctor Strange), and a number of others who may be considered a threat to HYDRA. Upon heading to make a plan, the group is attacked by the Winter Soldier, Sitwell is killed, and Steve learns a terrible secret: the Winter Soldier is none other than his previously thought dead best friend Bucky Barnes. 

          Steve, Natasha, and Sam, while being taken by S.T.R.I.K.E, are recovered by Maria Hill, and taken to an underground bunker where Fury is recovered and waiting for them. Together, they make a plan to reprogram the Insight helicarriers, and brake down S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA at the same time. The plan is successful, but at the cost of the members of the World Security Council, several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on the good side, and of course Pierce dies as well. S.T.R.I.K.E. leader Brock Rumlow, however, survived and is taken to a hospital, while Bucky, regaining his memories of his past, disappears. With S.H.I.E.L.D. gone, Natasha goes elsewhere, Nick goes to parts unknown, Sharon joins the CIA, Hill, joins Stark International, and Steve and Sam go off in search of Bucky, who we see in a post-credits scene at the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian. In a mid-credits scene, HYDRA member Baron Strucker, unconcerned about the truth about HYDRA being publicized, looks on at a pair of volunteers for his experiments: twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. 

        Okay, so this movie feels very much like a Jason Bourne style political spy thriller. The mystery and intrigue kept me on the edge of my seat when I first saw this movie in the theater. Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Cobie Smulders, and Samuel L. Jackson are all great in their returning roles from previous Marvel films, and newcomers like Anthony Mackie, Emily VanCamp, Frank Grillo, and Robert Redford are all terrific as well. Brothers Anthony and Joe Russo did an excellent job directing this film, and I highly recommend it as my favorite film of the MCU's Phase Two. Easy 5/5 rating for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This is Chuck signing off. Join me on Monday as Marvel May heads into the cosmos with Guardians of the Galaxy.