10 Best Superhero Movie Theme Songs

Summing up a character as patriotic and sanguine as Captain America could easily fall into cheesy territory, but the film seems very much aware of this. The propaganda song featured in the film "Star Spangled Man", written by the legendary Alan Menken, lampshades this potential conception and paves the way for the real theme.

Like Doctor Strange did later, Captain America: The First Avenger makes use of its setting and origins to create a suitable theme. It sounds like a fanfare that wouldn't be out of place at a Thanksgiving parade or a military ceremony, and that makes sense; those are the all-American things Cap stands for. Like the entire movie itself, it embraces its old-fashioned inspirations to create something bold and heroic.

As understandable as it is, it is sad that the sequels mostly abandoned this theme and the rest of Alan Silvestri's compositions in favour Henry Jackman's more modern, Bourne-inspired music. The new scores better support the atmosphere of those movies, but they are nowhere near as memorable. Still, whenever those films do sneak in a few notes from the first film's score, it reminds you of where the tale of skinny Steve Rogers all began.