Captain America: Ranking Every Movie From Worst To Best

6. Captain America (1990)

Before Chris Evans took up the shield, we'd had a few previous live-action versions of Captain America - first a serial in 1944 firmly rooted in the original propaganda, then a pair of TV movies in 1979 coasting on the success of The Incredible Hulk. Thankfully, only one of these made it to cinemas, a 1990 movie released in worldwide territories that eventually went direct-to-video in the US.

And let me just say, this isn't even an honorary last place. It's not as bad as other cheap cash-ins coasting on vague audience recognition (like Supergirl) and does get the general ethos of the character right, but is so flimsy throughout it can't even muster up any low-budget charm. Although I'd be lying if it wasn't worth watching for some of the many flat-out ridiculous moments, from a brazen rewriting of every major death in America history to Red Skull being stopped by listening Chopin's Raindrops.

There are some odd parallels between this film and what we got in the MCU that make you question influence - the freezing is dealt with very similarly, there's a Peggy Carter analogue and at one point Cap visits an old, hidden military base - even if I'd chalked much of it up to coincidence. The Winter Soldier did take the time to wink explicitly at it though - Black Widow's "Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" is a direct nod to how Steve here brazenly committed grand theft auto. Twice.