Why Captain America trilogy is my favorite trilogy of all time
This debate of what the best trilogy of all time has been a prolonged discussion throughout cinema circles for many years and will continue to be a debate amongst film fans for decades to come depending on what you like. This also depends on what intrigues you more as a fan of movies. Among my choices for this discussion are The Dark Knight Trilogy, Captain America, Back to the Future, and Bad Boys. This amazing list of trilogies that Hollywood has to offer in my opinion The Captain America Trilogy is the best of them all. The reason why is not because I’m consumed by fandom or even was the biggest Captain America comic fan. It is because this trilogy has mastered the art of evolution and versatility in film. Now my point in writing this piece is not to bash or shame the other films because they are extraordinary in their own right. The Captain America trilogy has made lots of us none of Captain America fans become intrigued with this character.
The First Avenger
The First Avenger was the first film in the trilogy and became a good intro to a hard character to transition the star-spangled hero into a live-action adaptation. The first avenger proved and created a superhero with the morals of superman and the will and strength of batman into one. We saw the transformation and the origin of a hero without him being rushed into it and witnessed the relationship with great chemistry thanks to the brilliant acting of Haley Atwell. The First Avenger has a lot of very strong character development for the protagonist Steve Rogers portrayed by Chris Evans. The development of Steve who is in no condition to be a soldier. Then you find out he has a heart of a goal and he will do whatever it takes to protect and serve his country is so noble. You are essentially rooting for this guy the entire movie. This is before he even gets the super-soldier serum. The villain of the movie Red Skull is also the perfect antagonist for an underdog who is power-hungry. My gripes with the film are maybe if the encounter with Red Skull was more philosophical maybe it would’ve made more people understand the motives, but I thought it was good enough for the story. Yes, is it a traditional origin story of an underdog of a superhero. ‘The First Avenger’ may be the weaker of the three films, but this for sure isn’t a mediocre one or a letdown by any stretch of the imagination in my humble opinion.
The Winter Soldier
The evolution of the first avenger to the winter soldier is probably to most of the mass film community one of the first notions of what qualifies this trilogy in the first place. The winter soldier has turned the underdog goody-two-shoes hero into a badass by instituting him into a different genre which is something we have never seen with any other trilogy. The second film in the Captain America trilogy is so dynamically different you would think that this was a reboot of the character.
The Russo brothers deserve so much credit for the MCU as a whole but especially for this feat in their debut. They kept the core of the character while giving him a modern less classical take than the first film which garnered him an even larger fan base. Steve Rogers in this film is no longer just a government pawn. He becomes a man that sees something is wrong and will stop it at all costs. Rogers’s morality became one of the biggest evolutions in the film that added another layer to the character. The question is what is right and wrong and who determines that as well as where is the line is drawn. The action in this film was some of the MCU’s best and most grounded that we’ve seen. I haven’t seen a lot of movies that pulled off the fight choreography that this movie displays here. I saw martial arts and ground & pound from a superhero character that hasn’t been seen before.
This movie gave me what I wanted all along from my comic heroes like superman and spiderman are shown with an edge but keep the core values and morals. Another thing that the film offered was arcs for Nick Fury and Black Widow and gave them a depth that no other film in the MCU has offered other than Endgame for Black Widow. It gave a sinister villain and anti-hero in bucky Barnes all-in-one action-packed greatly written film.
Civil War
The final film that puts the icing on the cake is Civil War. Not this film has almost every avenger and even adds Spidey and Black Panther to it. It also completes the Captain America story arc in such a rich way and moves the MCU in such a huge way that it’s breathtaking. This film while giving so much attention to other heroes is a personal story for Steve Rogers and his lifelong friend Bucky Barnes while maneuvering in his new avenger’s life. The writing in the film is amazing and gives a story that is filled with character moments and doubt even amongst the earth’s mightiest heroes. This movie could’ve been three different movies honestly it was that in-depth and made me want even more after.
This third film also balances the relationships between him and all his other avenger comrades so well and gives you the perspective of every character. This film finishes stronger than any third film of any franchise in recent memory which is why this trilogy is the strongest out of the bunch. Steve Rogers’s objective is to protect the innocence of his friend against all odds. He also deals with government interference and the Sokovia Accords. This trilogy has a collective arc and every film gets stronger and stronger with each installment while showing you the protagonist’s relationships and while giving us as fans an evolution we can follow with every obstacle. While giving us versatility and different genres all in the same franchise. I could honestly write about this trilogy forever because that’s how good this trilogy is. The unprecedented culmination of all these accomplishments is why the Captain America trilogy is the best trilogy of all time.