10 Movie Sequels That Changed Their Franchise's Genre

At this point, the term "superhero film" is more of a category than a genre, because it's been proven to be a very versatile form of telling a story. Case in point: the Captain America movies.

the first Captain America film is a near perfect homage to 40's war epics, a bright, optimistic, patriotic (without being a jerk about it) war movie starring Steve Rogers. The main things that stand out about this movie are its bright colors, uplifting horn focused orchestra, and absolutely stunning portrait of the 1940's. No surprise, given that they gave this film to director Joe Johnston, who specializes in making the 40's look good.

But then came time for sequels, and Cap is now in the 2010's. So how do you translate such an old fashioned genre into the modern day? Simple, you take a war movie, and you turn it into a spy movie.

All the trappings of classic spy films are in Winter Soldier, from secret societies that run the world, to the constant twists and turns, to a constant sense of moral grey. But what makes this film unique is Cap, who remains the boy scout we all know and love. The transition from 40's style war epic to Jason Bourn style spy movie should not have worked, hell, Captain America shouldn't have worked at all. But that's why Marvel is Marvel, and everyone else is everyone else.