Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 10 Most Awesome Moments

7. Opening Ship Assault

The first action scene in The Winter Soldier, which gets underway after about 10 minutes, pretty much exists as a showcase for Captain America to show us how badass he's become in the time between The Avengers and the present. Alongside Black Widow and a dedicated team of S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers, Nick Fury sends the Captain to a terrorist-addled cargo ship to rescue a group of hostages. What at first feels like the stealth-orientated tanker section of Metal Gear Solid 2 soon becomes a tour-de-force in pummelled goons, flying shields and awesome choreography. The entire scene, which sees Captain America and the Black Widow trying to locate the hostages and taking down bad guy after bad guy, automatically cements The Winter Soldier as the first MCU installment to get close-quarter fight scenes right - there's no cutting away as the Captain batters an enemy into oblivion, or uses his iconic shield with all the geometric precision of a kung-fu mathematician - it's smooth, fast and hard, and super fun to watch. There's even something of a "boss fight" at the end of the ship assault, where the Captain really gets to strut his stuff.