Captain America: Ranking Every Movie From Worst To Best

4. Captain America: The First Avenger

It's testament to the quality of the Captain America films that The First Avengers sits as the weakest in the trilogy and yet is still a solid movie; a war flick, buddy picture and Raiders Of The Lost Ark homage all carefully rolled into one, it's the best of the pre-Avengers solo films.

Getting Chris Evans to star was certainly a coup, although Joe Johnston's smartest move was tying the real-world development of the character into the narrative. Before The First Avenger, Cap was viewed as a relic of a bygone age, a propaganda tool that was barely relevant in the 21st Century, and the film readily steered into that; Steve Rogers was at first kept from the fight and used as a tool for the military effort, but over the film emerged as a righteous character who wasn't just tied to a country's political whims.

It all just works. The ending beat, where Steve wakes up in the modern day after being defrosted (an out-there ending nicely seeded at the start), could have felt like a forced cliffhanger ahead of The Avengers, but with a strong emotional link is instead a heartbreaking moment that immediately secured Captain America as the most interesting Avenger.