Original release date: July 22, 2011. It premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on July 11.

Rating: PG-13

Length: 2 hours, 4 minutes

Background:

“The First Avenger” is the first in the line of three live-action Captain America movies in the modern Marvel timeline. It’s the fifth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by release date or the first by chronological event order.

The movie was a concept long before today’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, however. It started in concept form in 1997 under Artisan Entertainment but found itself tied up in lawsuits until 2003. Work began under the current crew for a Paramount Pictures movie, and we all know eventually Disney took ownership.

Lots of big names were involved, with Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America in the forefront. Tommy Lee Jones, Haley Atwell, Stanley Tucci, and others joined the case. As the MCU had already started, we also meet Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as Nick Fury and there’s the mandatory Stan Lee cameo.

It did very well, making $65.1 million in its first week and moving on to a worldwide gross of over $370 million. Reviewers and fans loved it, but it didn’t win any major awards.

It did continue the MCU, with Captain America appearing in many followup movies including two more of his own.

Review:

Being the Captain’s first entry into the Marvel movie universe (at least the Cinematic Universe of today’s world), much of the movie focuses on the origin story of Captain America.

The movie takes place back in the timeline of World War II, with skinny little Steve Rogers not making the cut for the army. However, after a particular act of bravery during his second attempt at qualifying, Steve is injected with a dose of the super-soldier treatment which brings him back out taller, stronger, and (luckily enough) more handsome than ever.

An assassin steals the rest of the serum, so Muscular Steve goes on a nationwide, government-led tour of the nation to promote war bonds in his fancy Captain America garb.

In the meantime, the Tesseract is in danger. What’s the Tesseract, you say? I watched the movie and I still don’t remember, but Wikipedia declares it to be a mysterious relic with unknown powers. Ooooooooh.

All in all, it’s a decent little movie. As you might have learned, I zoned out a few times so it didn’t entirely keep my attention.

At the same time, much like Star Wars movies, it’s going to be hard to review Marvel movies. I can’t say too much because there’s a lot of story, the stories tie into other movies, and I could spoil so much.

Extras:

Trailer – Yep, it’s a 2.5 minute trailer.

Behind the Skull – This is a fun ten minute look behind the making of the red skull that I didn’t mention at all in the review but plays a big part in the movie.

Captain America’s Origin – You too can learn, at least as much as you can in three minutes, about Captain’s origins.

Delete Scenes: Attack in Norway (41 seconds), The Battle at Azzano (1 minute), Steve Rogers Gets His Medal (59 seconds), Steve Rogers Meets SPOILER ALERT NAME (two minutes) – The only one that really adds anything is the one where I hid the name of who Steve Rogers meets. Maybe don’t even go into the “extras” section on Disney+’s “First Avenger” area until after you’ve finished the entire movie including the closing credits.

The First Avenger – A little two minute clip of Steve’s journey that you can skip.

VFX of Captain America – This one is worth it, as they take a three minute scene, peel back the various special effects layers and explain it all.

Should you watch it?

Yes, watch it. While not the most interesting Marvel movie, it is the origin of one of the big Avengers characters so that alone is worth it.