A Tale of Two Captains

Date: May 5, 2021

Music Video of the Day: In fitting with the “captain” theme…

Interstellar News: Happy belated “May the 4th be with you” (and also with you) and Happy Cinco de Mayo. Tuesday night was movie night and the continuation of our chronological MCU movie marathon. Since it was Captain Marvel, it inspired me to discuss both it and Captain America: The First Avenger.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

“I finally get everything I wanted, and I’m wearing tights.” I completely adore this movie, and more so now that I’ve watched it a few times. Steve starts out as this scrawny kid from Brooklyn (I know, not really in the comics) who just wants to be useful and he goes from “zero to hero” thanks to Dr. Erskine. Every single time that Steve throws himself on top of the grenade gives me goosebumps. Stanley Tucci is amazing as Erskine and I cry every time he dies, even though I know it’s coming. Unfortunately Erskine’s demise causes Steve to become nothing more than a pretty face until he’s able to free the men who were captured and bring them back. Bucky has the best lines when Steve rescues him (“I thought you were smaller“, “Is this permanent?“) and just has so much admiration for his best friend. I mean he’s out of his mind on drugs and was probably tortured and he’s asking Steve all these questions… it’s wonderful.

When Bucky “dies”, I’m an absolute mess because Steve doesn’t know what he’s become. Having just finished The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I know it will get better for them both… but that’s a whole long way away and they both go through so much in the intervening 70 years. Peggy is amazingly bad ass and I can’t wait to start watching Agent Carter since I haven’t gotten around to it before. She holds her own and isn’t just there to kiss Steve. I absolutely lost it when she shot his soon-to-be shield made of vibranium, it’s just such a boss move. Tommy Lee Jones is crotchety old man goals (“I’m not kissing you“), Red Skull is absolutely nutty, Howard Stark gives us a good picture of where Tony comes from (“Fondue is just cheese and bread, my friend“), and Dr. Zola totally comes across as the guy who plays for whoever is winning (“Hail Hydra“). When Cap needs to put the ship in the water and he and Peggy say goodbye, I also cry like a baby, and totally love how bummed he is about missing his date when he’s woken up by Fury.

Some things I found interesting in light of all I know now…

• Red Skull says he’s seen the future and there are no flags. Almost 80 years later, enter the Flag Smashers.
• When Red Skull bare-hands the Tesseract, we see he kinda goes off into space… which foreshadows him heading to Vormir.
• Phillips tells Steve that he’s “not enough”, but then Steve goes off on his lonesome and rescues ALL THE PEOPLE.
• This gem from Howard Stark: “The moment you think you know what’s going on in a woman’s head is the moment your goose is well and truly cooked.”
• Erskine almost forgetting Rogers is having a procedure the next day, never getting to share the schnapps with each other, and then Rogers not being able to get drunk is too much irony for one movie.
• Dugan, Morita, Falsworth, and the rest of the team are just wonderful.
• Finally this gem from Bucky: “Oh, you’re from Paramus now? You know it’s illegal to lie on the enlistment form. And seriously, Jersey?”

Captain Marvel (2019)

“I’m kind of done with you telling me what I can’t do. I have nothing to prove to you.” This is may be the second or third time I’ve watched this movie, and it does get better with every viewing. It’s a total love letter to the 90’s, from the wardrobe to the soundtrack, and I dig it completely. I grew up in the 90’s and this movie makes me nostalgic but also shows me how far we’ve come. Women can do more things, like fly in combat, and technology has come SO MUCH further. It’s a story about discovery, about always getting up (hmmmm, someone else who doesn’t know when to quit), and about knowing who you can trust. I love that we get more backstory on Fury(“You know anything about a lady blowing up a Blockbuster? Witnesses say she was dressed for laser tag.”), we get to see baby Agent Coulson (“You think you can find others like her?“), Maria Rambeau (“And you were the most powerful person I knew, way before you could shoot fire through your fists.”) gets to be a bad ass mom to Monica (“I just think you should consider what kind of example you’re setting for your daughter.”), and we find out the truth about the Skrull/Kree war.

Danvers and Fury have such an amazing chemistry while working together, and it’s clear that Yon-Rogg is the bad guy much earlier than she realizes. I love Talos and how creeped out he is by Goose, who turns out to be not so pretty of a kitty after all but completely steals the show in every scene he’s in. The Fonz lunchbox, the Nirvana t-shirt, and the Blockbuster all bring me such joy. The biggest downer is when the movie opens with the tribute to Stan Lee, though his rehearsing lines for Mallrats helps balance things out… knowing he lives on in our hearts and minds. I may not love Captain Marvel as a character or as a movie more than Captain America, but she is a strong female role model who takes a different approach to making a difference. This movie helps fill in some of the gaps, like what happened to Fury’s eye and how the Avengers initiative got started, and also helps set up Endgame. One thing that bugs me is they use the S.H.I.E.L.D acronym here but not in Iron Man, which supposedly happens later. The Kree may be boring to me and Ronan the Accuser is totally lackluster because he’s just there to get his ass kicked, but it’s still a fun movie with lots of awesome action scenes and shapeshifting.

I’ll likely do more posts like this for the Iron Man movies and whatever else comes along when I have a gap in watching Star Trek and Sports Night.

TA Out!