Ive got a lot of time for The First Avenger. It sets itself up as an old-fashioned romp, the type you might read in a pulpy Commando comic or similar, and really runs with it. It also has a commendably wicked line in the use of propaganda that pops the bubble of what could have been a particularly insufferably self-righteous character. The films end sees Cap infiltrate Hydras secret base and tackle the evil Red Skull and his Tesseract enhanced forces in a tale of derring-do and thats pretty much it. Steve Rogers boards the Red Skulls Valkyrie death-ship and everyone else is trapped in a series of corridor-based fights so generic they could have been taken from a Halo game. Its a finale of two halves. The climactic fight with the Red Skull aboard the Valkyrie is particularly unmemorable aside from the fact the Skulls fate is left ambiguous (even if Hugo Weaving could give less of a toss about returning according to interviews), but the emotional payoff with Steve and Peggy setting a date that they both know they will never keep hits square in the feels. Its powerful and sad, and a great way to leave the period setting before Cap is thrust into the modern day.