Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 2014
Two years after the events of 'The Avengers', the film opens with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) jogging around Washington, D.C. Catching up to him very quickly is Steve Rogers, aka Captain America (Chris Evans). Steve manages to do multiple laps over Sam until the latter gets tired and sits to rest. The two of them formally introduce themselves to each other.
Sam is a war veteran and he knows Steve has been adjusting to life in the 21st century, and that he has a lot to catch up on. He recommends Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" soundtrack to get up to speed on the last few decades. Steve adds it to his list, along with things like "Star Wars/Trek" and "Rocky". Steve then gets a text telling him to stand by the curb.
A car pulls up, driven by Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). She greets the two men and has Steve hop in the car. The duo join other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, led by Brock Rumlow (Frank Grillo), as they fly over the Indian Ocean. A S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel, the Lemurian Star, has been taken over by pirates, led by Georges Batroc (Georges St-Pierre).
They are holding hostages, including Agent Jasper Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez). Steve, in his Captain America outfit, dives out of the jet armed only with his shield and no parachute. He lands in the water and climbs onto the ship, beating every goon that comes in his way. Natasha and the other agents drop down to aid Cap. The agents defeat the pirates and rescue the hostages while Batroc tries to run and is caught by Cap.
They fight on the deck of the ship, with Batroc getting quickly back up on his feet even when Cap manages to take him down. "I thought you were more than a mask," he says smugly. Steve removes his mask and replies, "Let's find out." He continues the fight and knocks Batroc down for good with his shield.
Steve finds Natasha extracting files from the ship's computer using a S.H.I.E.L.D. flash drive. He calls her out on this as they're supposed to be helping Rumlow get hostages out.
She pulls the flash drive out, moments before a pirate runs past and throws a grenade at the two. Steve grabs Natasha and jumps through a window before it explodes.
At The Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in Washington DC, Steve confronts Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) about the motives behind Natasha's task. Fury knew Steve wouldn't be comfortable with it, so he asked Natasha. Fury reminds Steve that he can't trust anybody, even those who work closely with him.
He takes Steve into an elevator down to the underground level where there are three Helicarriers being worked on as part of Project Insight, an operation that connects the Helicarriers to spy satellites used to prevent any possible terrorist attacks.
This is in part to the events that took place in New York, but Steve sees this as more of an aggressive form of protection. Fury insists that he get with the program.
Steve visits the Smithsonian Museum to check out an exhibit dedicated to Captain America. A child recognizes him in disguise, but Steve holds a finger to his lips asking the kid not to point him out. The kid understands and keeps quiet.
Among the displays are mannequins with costumes of Steve's old commando squad, and one of his old friend Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), whom Steve saw fall to his death (in the first Captain America film). Steve checks out a video of his old love, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), in which she commemorates Steve on his actions as Cap.
He later visits an elderly Peggy, who has since been married and had children. She is ill and although she initially appears to recognize Steve, she slips back into a state where she believes to be seeing him again for the first time since he was lost, shocked to see him alive. He merely says, "I couldn't leave my best girl. Not when she owes me a dance."
Fury tries to access the files that Natasha got on the flash drive, but he is unable to get past security, something that was apparently set by himself. He goes to meet with Defense Secretary Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) as he is meeting with the World Security Council over the matter of the hijacking of the vessel. Fury tells Pierce that they need to delay Project Insight. Pierce says 'okay', but he wants Fury to have Iron Man stop by his niece's birthday.
Steve finds Sam counseling other veterans suffering from PTSD. After the group meeting, Sam reveals to Steve that he lost his friend Riley in battle in Iraq after he was shot down in the air with an RPG. Despite this, Sam still loves flying. He asks Steve what makes him happy. He doesn't know.
As Fury drives, he contacts Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) to rendezvous with him. Suddenly, a police car then smashes into Fury's car. More cars come, along with a SWAT team truck full of mercenaries in disguise. They surround Fury's vehicle and begin shooting.
The armor on the vehicle starts to become weaker once they bring out a battering ram to break through the driver's door window.
Fury manages to get out a mini-gun and return fire on the mercenaries. He drives away with two cars hot on his tail, though he shakes them off at an intersection where they get plowed by a truck. Fury commands the vehicle's computer to get him to a safe location and speeds off.
Before the computer can find a safe spot for him, a mysterious figure emerges and shoots a bomb that attaches itself to Fury's vehicle. It explodes and flips the car over. The assassin walks over to Fury, but he escapes in time by burning a hole through the roof of the car and the street below with a laser weapon.
Steve goes back to his apartment to find his pretty neighbor, Sharon (Emily Van Camp) going to do laundry. He offers to let her use his machine, but she says she just spent a lot of time in the diseased ward of the hospital and doesn't want to pass any sickness to Steve. She tells him that he left his stereo on.
Steve hears music as he cautiously enters his house, grabbing his shield for protection. He finds an injured Fury sitting on his couch. Out loud, Fury says his wife kicked him out, but he shows Steve through text on his phone that anybody could be listening. Before he can say anything else, Fury is shot three times. Steve looks out the window for the shooter.
Fury hands him the flash drive and tells him not to trust anybody. The neighbor comes in, armed with a gun. She is Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D., and she tends to Fury. Steve runs after the assassin, the same man from the streets.
Steve smashes through the walls to catch up to the assassin outside. He throws his shield at him, but the assassin catches it with one swift move in his left hand, then throws it back to Steve. Steve catches the shield and is shoved back a bit and looks up, only to find the assassin has disappeared.
Natasha meets up with Steve at the hospital as they watch doctors operating on Fury. Joining them is Agent Hill. The doctors try to revive him, but Fury flatlines. They call in his death. Afterwards, Natasha asks Steve why Fury was in his apartment.
He claims to not know, right as Rumlow tells him they need him back at S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha calls Steve a bad liar, and they separate. We see that Steve also hid the flash drive behind a pack of gum in the vending machine.
Steve is brought in to speak with Pierce. He also asks Steve why Fury was in his apartment, hoping to find clues to who killed him. They suspect Batroc after he was found the previous night in a safe house.
Pierce insinuates that Fury hired the pirates to infiltrate the ship so that he can acquire classified information, and was then killed after the deal went wrong. Steve denies the claim. Pierce asks him again why Fury was there. Steve only says that Fury told him not to trust anybody.
Steve hops on the elevator, which becomes occupied with more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at each floor it stops at, including Rumlow. Steve notices one agent looking sweaty, and others looking very suspicious.
He asks anybody if they'd wish to get out, prompting them all to attack him. They strap him magnetic cuffs to his wrists and hold an electric stunning rod to him, but Steve overpowers them and knocks everyone out cold. Agent Sitwell sees the battle through a monitor and orders the STRIKE team to get to the elevator.
Steve breaks off the cuffs with his shield and sees the STRIKE team heading his way. He breaks off the elevator wires to send the elevator down. The team still approaches, so Steve breaks through the glass in the elevator, falling dozens of floors and hits the plaza, landing on his shield. He runs to the garage and rides out on his motorcycle, evading the obstacles laid out by S.H.I.E.L.D.
A Quinjet emerges to shoot at Steve. He throws his shield into the propellers, jamming it, and giving him an opportunity to hop over it and escape. Sitwell orders S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to be on the lookout for Steve. Agent 13 demands to know why they're issuing a manhunt for Captain America. Pierce comes into the room and brands him a fugitive for withholding information on Fury's death.
Steve goes back to the hospital to retrieve the flash drive from the vending machine, but it's gone. Natasha appears, chewing some gum. Steve pushes her into a room and demands to know what she knows about the mysterious assassin.
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