We all saw the grenade trick in the trailer, but its the scene afterward, where Dr Erskine is having a drink with Rogers the night before that I felt was the important one. The history of Red Skull sets up how the serum ramps everything, body and mind and soul. I do not think the serum would ever have been usable mass-production, even if Erskine lived, just because of that effect on the mind.
Maybe it's because reading the comics have made me cynical, but all I heard there is a scientist giving in to superstition. The serum's never really shown pyschological effects (besides the one-off guy. Protocide?) I hated that they kept the line about only a weak man knowing the value of stength, because that makes it sound like Steve was chosen for his physical frailty, rather than his good nature.
I liked this tweak to the Cap story, it explained how the Skull is a threat to Cap without having the tedious process of him collecting Steve's blood and reverse-engineering the serum from it. It gave Steve and Erskine some bonding-time, gave Erskine some sympathy and screen-time before the axe fell. Finally, it gave Erskine a damn good reason for picking a candidate purely on the basis of character, he's already seen what happens when other people use it.
I just wish he could have left it at saying that Steve has courage and compassion.
The other is the 'save the little boy' subversion, where the kid looks up and say "don't worry! I can swim!" Most other hero-films would have the kid needing rescued, so again, nice touch.
I was thinking it. I saw him about to leap, and subverted. Nicely done, indeed.
The US Bonds tour. *sigh* Well, it was a great tribute to the big 1940s musical era, and the war movies were as gung-ho as anything else produced at the time. While painfully cheesy, you had to admire the choreography. And the girls in short skirts. (Did anyone notice in the end credits one of the fighter planes had nose-art of one of the dancers?) Still, Rogers was right to think of himself as a performing monkey.
The comic books we see the kids and soldiers reading I didn't get a good glimpse of, but I'd not be surprised if they copied actual 1940s Captain America covers.
I loved it, corny period goodness. You are correct about the covers, by the way.
Bucky and the Howling Commandos were fantastic. Yes, there was a Japanese-American added ("I'm from Fresno"), but he wasn't there as a token, he was just as good a soldier as the rest of them. Even the "token Black Dude" wasn't just for show, he spoke and read German and French. The massive montage of Cap & the Howling Commandos taking out Hydra ops was simply beautiful. The teamwork was spot-on, and it was clear the Commandos were just as determined as their Captain. The various ways to kill a tank made me grin (even if one tank was a Fuckin' Bolo!!!).
I think in the comics it was more: anyone having objections to the team's ethnicity is welcome to direct their concerns to Sgt. Fury. He is a warm and caring individual who finds you important and will absolutely have no problem with you wasting his time with pointless objections about his men that have nothing to do with their combat prowess.
However... Bucky. He wasn't just off being tortured; Zola was experimenting on him. Red Skull makes a off-hand comment to Zola that leads me to think Zola was also trying to remake the SuperSerum, just as the US was trying with Cap's blood. Bucky was improving very quickly as they ran out of the building. Almost like he was healing.
From the snatches of conversation about 'infusions' and how it seemed to relate to the greater plan of manufacturing more batteries and bombs, I thought they were installing/injecting the Cube-batteries into the prisoners. Either for ease of use of Cube-powered gear, in the hopes of making their own super-powered army, or just to see what would happen.
The prop-bombs are the scariest. It was clear they were suicide missions for the pilots, thus the toast given to them by Red Skull before Cap's arrival. It was a self-propelled, user-guided WMD.
That's what I said!
As the Skull said so himself to Hitler's men: You call it Magic, I call it Science. Paraphrasing Thor, who said much the same thing in his own movie. That "Odin's Gem" was hidden in Norway, in an ancient cathedral carved with Norse Mythology, inside the image of Jormandr.... makes one think, doesn't it?
More interesting if you read the comics lore on Cubes, which started out as "grey holes" and eventually became sentient beings who are also self-contained universes (in the style of the Beyonder.)
SideNote:
The DoubleDate at Stark's World Expo was great. The artificial man on display may be a lead-in to The Vision, or could be another old Hero the Red Tornado who was also a robot/android.
While it wasn't the IronMan entrance, Stark Sr. also knew how to play the crowds. The anti-grav car was sweet while it lasted ("I did say a few years..."). I would like to see Cap ask Tony "Where's the flying Car?" in the Avengers movie. After all, the Avengers do have several in the comics, to carry those who can't fly.
The original Human Torch who escaped during an expo and ran around downtown Manhattan on fire the whole time? One imagines there was a quite an off-screen story there. A number of the Vision's parts were recycled from the Old Torch. Where are else are you going to find parts for an android?
I'm a little disturbed that the movies are tying together the Marvel universe better than the comics are these days.
Still
really looking forward to Steve's reactions to meeting Tony Stark. It would be even funnier if Cap got to explain what fondue is to the younger Stark, but he's probably twenty years or so too late for that.