5 Marvel Movies That Surpassed Expectations
3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
The first few MCU films were average at best - yes, Iron Man was great, but the majority of them are quite mediocre. And this definitely includes Captain America: The First Avenger, a vehicle for Chris Evans’ titular hero.
As became common practise for the MCU, Captain America got a sequel, released in 2014, that centred all around Cap’s relationship with Bucky (also known as The Winter Soldier) and the discovery that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been corrupted by sinister forces.
And the film was so much better than its predecessor - it was more tightly directed, faster paced, and gave greater depth to our titular hero. It was also the first MCU film to be especially ambitious in terms of genre, essentially being a modern take on a seventies conspiracy thriller, complete with an appearance from Robert Redford. Combine that with some fun supporting appearances from Black Widow, Falcon and Nick Fury, and the end result is a surprisingly entertaining entry to the franchise.
The Winter Soldier truly blew away all of our preconceived ideas of what a MCU sequel could do, and will continue to rank as one of the best MCU films.