The Single Biggest Mistake Each MCU Film Has Made
9. Captain America: The First Avenger: Not Enough Intensity
The Movie:
The First Avenger doesn't hold up well on multiple viewings and lacks a knockout punch, but it does at least benefit from strong action, a moving finale, one of the best MCU love interests and Chris Evans' great performance as Steve Rogers.
There's an interesting thing you learn when re-watching the first phase of the MCU: it's actually slightly underwhelming aside from The Avengers and Iron Man, so the MCU didn't start out quite as well as you might remember. The First Avenger, phase one's penultimate movie, is an overly safe origin story without much genuine punch.
The First Avenger is the MCU film which holds up the worst on repeat viewings, with the cracks showing more and more every time. It's difficult to pin down the main cause of this, but the main issue with it seems to be it feels kind of wet.
It doesn't really have any tension or stakes and feels noticeably softer than the other MCU films. As a result, it seems like a kids movie and this is pretty jarring since this is supposed to be a large-scale action film. The only scene where there's any true emotional punch is when Steve wakes up in the present day, but unfortunately that comes right at the very end.
Also, that entire subplot with Steve Rogers becoming a stage performer slowed the whole film down and should've been left out.
Fix:
Make it darker and more suspenseful in the same way that its sequels both were.