One thing we learned from Captain America: The Winter Soldier is such a no-brainer that it’s hardly worth mentioning, but mention it we must: Marvel Studios has worldwide audiences in their grip and they’re not letting go anytime soon. The latest film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) grossed an estimated $96.2 million this weekend, setting a new April record (handily besting the previous record holder, Fast Five) and bringing its worldwide gross to an already incredible $303.3 million. With critical acclaim, audience excitement and box office figures like that, these movies are bound to keep coming for years. Or if Marvel has its way, more than a decade to come.
But what’s next? Captain America: The Winter Soldier contained many hints about the future of the MCU, and we’re going to list the most prominent right here in Five Things We Learned, along with a conclusive observation about what makes Captain America, the hero, stand out in a marketplace crowded with costumed titans.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Five Things We Learned from Captain America: The Winter Soldier
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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Has to Change
The tie-in episode with Thor: The Dark World was a rip-off, barely related to the movie and hardly affecting the status quo of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." But the catastrophic events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier - specifically, the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been disbanded by the U.S. government - means that the ABC series is going to have to respond to those changes in the MCU status quo. Will the agents go rogue? Will S.H.I.E.L.D. remain in tiny, covert splinter cells? Will they start taking orders directly from Nick Fury a la "Charlie's Angels?" We'll find out very, very soon.
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The Avengers Are Going Private
A brief glimpse of Stark Tower at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier found the building looking very familiar to fans of the comics. The Avengers are going to move in soon, but without ties to any political power, what's to keep them in check? They're one of the most powerful forces on the planet, but if they're run by a corporation - even one as seemingly benevolent as Tony Stark's - what will be the ramifications? We'll find out in The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
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Loki's Scepter is Still Important
Loki's scepter controlled minds and demonstrated plenty of other powers besides. But whatever happened to it? We find out in the mid-credits teaser of Captain America: The Winter Soldier that's found its way into the hands of Hydra - specifically Baron Strucker, one of the main villains in The Avengers: Age of Ultron - and that it's been used to somehow give powers to Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch. The scepter is still in play, but is it one of the Infinity Stones? Kevin Feige played it coy in our latest interview.
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Doctor Strange is Already Here (Sort Of)
Rumored to be one of the new heroes introduced and given their own film in Marvel's upcoming Phase Three, Doctor Stephen Strange - a.k.a. The Sorcerer Supreme - was namechecked by Hydra agent Jasper Sitwell in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But is he already the Sorcerer Supreme or just, as Kevin Feige put it, "an unbelievably talented neurosurgeon who's opinionated and kind of arrogant?" The head of Marvel Studios thinks it's the latter... for now.
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Steve Rogers is a REAL American Hero
Enough about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One thing we learned about Captain America is that he's not going to let the 21st Century get him down. While most of the other superheroes at the multiplex struggle with complex ethics and basic morality, Captain America stands alone as a hero who knows what he stands for and fights against unbelievable odds to both protect those ideals and inspire them in others. He's an confident hero in a genre full of neurotics. That's what makes him special, and that's what really leaves us wanting more from this franchise.
