100 Greatest Comic Book Movies Of All Time
10. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is, in many ways, the most authentic entry in the character’s onscreen trilogy. Of course, The First Avenger faithfully channelled the spirit of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby with its brilliant portrayal of the character’s war years, but Winter Soldier goes one step further in channelling one of the Captain’s most turbulent periods, all whilst taking inspiration from the most quintessential movie genres of the 1970s: the conspiracy thriller.
Walking in the footsteps of Alan Pakula’s ‘Paranoid Trilogy’ and Sydney Pollack’s Three Days of the Condor, Joe and Anthony Russo (together with writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) told a story that pooled together the best bits from Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting’s Captain America run, and injected them into Steve Englehart’s politically charged Secret Empire - a story produced at the height of the Watergate scandal that positioned Steve Rogers against the political establishment.
Winter Soldier’s roots may be evident, but the film is by no means derivative. Rather, it injects a hefty dose of paranoia into a universe that was threatening to feel too safe, rupturing S.H.I.E.L.D. with a conspiracy that offered thoughtful commentary on post-9/11 US politics, all whilst telling a compelling superhero story in its own right.
Bringing together Cap’s relationship with Bucky, his country of birth and his status as a man out of time all in one, Winter Soldier cuts to the very core of Steve Rogers and, in doing so, conjures one of the most compelling pieces of comic book fiction ever to grace the big screen.
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