Liked it a lot. Wonder if Rogers recovers his shield. (It was always interesting that he has a unique weapon -- both offensive and defensive -- that's irreplacable because it's made from all the vibranium in the world; yet he's constantly thowing it away.)
According to some gal on YouTube who likes math a lot better than I do, the estimated price of 12 pounds* of vibranium in movieverse is FIFTY-FOUR
MILLION U.S. dollars (even adjusting for decades of inflation, I direly hope Howard Stark helped them pay for all that). Pick up the #%$@ shield, Steve!
That definitely bothered me as a difference between Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. You see him going out of his way to keep the shield in his possession in TFA, but then in TWS it's like he can't wait to get rid of the thing (okay, I'm exaggerating, but just look at how he took the time to lay it down before grabbing the controls to Red Skull's plane). On the other hand, I can see how it was potentially a way for the scriptwriters to show how wrought up he was on a personal level in that scene- but that doesn't mean I have to like their decision, dangit!
The thing with Cap's shield is that, when they say it's an extension of the man himself, they're not just talking about how it's used in-universe. As a narrative device- I'm not really sure I can even explain what I'm trying to explain, except to refer y'all to the comic storylines wherein it's been used by someone else, broken+repaired, etc. His shield is his psyche (kind of). They CAN'T have him running around shieldless throughout the next movie any more than they could have changed Winter Soldier's identity- yes, the MCU is a different universe, but there are limits to how far it can stray.
* the listed weight of the shield
Assuming they're using the same background as the comic books, it became a little more accessible later on as the country that controlled the main supply let more of it out. It's still *really* rare, but I don't think if he did lose the shield, it's outside the realm of possibility to make another.
QFT'd.
And to add that comicside, it's actually a unique vibranium alloy made in America and behaves different than any other piece of vibranium (pure or mixed) you will find in universe 616 (I dunno for sure what it's made of in any of the alternate and cartoon universes, offhand). Not unlike how he's the only one for whom the serum has worked as intended. I was surprised watching the first movie to hear them note the MCU version as pure vibranium.
Or that someone can throw their shield and cause it to rebound back to them nearly every single time.
The vibranium is partially responsible for this, too. Well, that and the super-soldier-perfect reflexes, super-soldier-perfect hand-eye coordination, and buttloads of practice.
It is a fun time in the dark, but there's no Heath Ledger performance anywhere in sight. Certainly not from the Winter Soldier.
If Sebastian Stan's acting skills don't surpass the admittedly excellent technique behind Heath Ledger's Joker by, say, 2016 (and arguably, they might already) I'll eat my hat, coat,
and boots. If you aren't sold on his take on Winter Soldier, take a look at some of his pre-Marvel roles. The dude is almost single-handedly responsible for reminding me that acting could still be an art form.
I always wondered how the X-Men ever became so popular. I remember them as an also-ran team in garish yellow costumes -- kind of Marvel's B-movie-like comic book response to DC's Legion of Super-Heroes or Teen Titans.
I almost wish they'd stayed an also-ran. Never really found them enjoyable, and seems like nowadays you can't get a good print dose of Avengers without being roped in to enduring some X-Men too. (Of course, that could just be me exaggerating due to my lingering frustration with AVX. Yeah, I need to learn to let go.)
You know...I just realized something while I was biking back home from work.
This film just said that pretty much every person in America who supports the NSA datamining and drone warfare is not just a Nazi, but actually members of a secretive cult THAT WAS KICKED OUT OF THE NAZIS FOR BEING TOO EVIL.
Now that you mention it, very true.
Certainly I'd classify this as a mistake rather than an intentional Godwin. I mean, I always assumed that the reason HYDRA was made distinct from the Nazis comicside was to cut down on controversy by not having so many Nazis around, and not implying anything presumtuous about the role of the U.S. in WWII, and stuff.
Though to be fair, were they really shown the door by the Nazis for being too evil, or just for their evil goals not being 100% in line with Hitler's? I'd always thought the latter.