MCU: Every Captain America Appearance Ranked Worst To Best

It's almost easy to forget now that characters like Black Panther, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and the Guardians of the Galaxy are in the mix that only six years ago, the world was excited just to see a half dozen heroes come together to form the Avengers. 2012 was a monumental moment for the MCU, no doubt about it, and The Avengers was a huge leap forward for Captain America's role in the franchise.

Discounting the final moments of The First Avenger, the big team-up movie was our first time seeing Cap deal with the modern world, something that was both a source of humor for us ("I understood that reference") and frustration for him, as everything he knew was well and truly upended. From meeting the arrogant son of his former friend in Tony Stark to encountering literal gods (Thor and Loki) to monsters (the Hulk) to seeing aliens descending upon New York, Cap's presence in The Avengers was a huge wake-up call that the world he once knew was long gone.

Rather than refuse to fight or to wallow in grief over all that he'd lost, Cap never hesitated to do the right thing, from standing up to Loki in Germany to risking his life in the Battle of New York, and though his displaced idealism - and costume - could've easily made him nothing more than a punching bag for jokes, he proved to every one of his new allies in the modern day why he was someone worth rallying behind.