10 years on, Captain America: The Winter Soldier remains the MCU's greatest movie

Such is the negativity around the franchise right now, in fact, that it’s easy to forget just how formidable said empire was at the height of its powers.

Gripping storytelling, groundbreaking special effects, a line-up of genuinely world class actors fully committed to their roles – as tough as it is to remember right now, the MCU at its peak offered blockbuster filmmaking at its very finest.

And no release epitomised this more than Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Somehow, it’s been a decade to the day since HYDRA attempted to topple SHIELD in explosive fashion, meaning it’s been a decade to the day since the best superhero movie of all time hit the big screen.

What makes it worthy of this title? Well, the fact that it’s not really a superhero movie – it’s a spy-thriller interspersed with superhero shenanigans.

Seeing a suited-up Cap leap off a motorbike to take down a Quinjet using only his shield is undoubtedly cool, as is witnessing a Helicarrier being blown to smithereens above Washington, DC, but extravagant set-pieces like these are few and far between.

Instead, The Winter Soldier is a largely grounded, gritty film that puts storytelling first. The action is often breathtaking, but many of the fight scenes could ultimately be found in a Jason Bourne flick or Mission: Impossible movie.

Whether it’s the opening sequence, as Captain America and his SHIELD agents infiltrate a warship and stealthily take down a group of mercenaries, or that knife fight between Chris Evans’s Captain America and Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier on the busy streets of the US capital, directors Joe and Anthony Russo immerse the viewer in every punch, kick and slash.

And the whole time, these scenes move the narrative forward. It’s never action for action’s sake, spectacle without purpose. Instead, it becomes a key part of the storytelling.

Battles between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes almost bring an unspoken form of dialogue, each angry jab or lunge of a blade demonstrating just how far gone the former’s friend – his beloved big brother figure from The First Avenger – has been dragged into the darkness.

Attempts on the lives of Natasha and Steve hammer home how they can only trust each other, with twists and turns throwing them into disarray and leaving entire rooms of cinemagoers shocked; Evans’s delivery of: "Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?" has become a Hollywood all-timer for a reason.

And the fact that Nick Fury ends up being blindsided, at one point relying on a conveniently powerful pocket tool to burrow an escape route into the ground (don’t question the logic), raises the stakes higher than they had ever been before – if the spy is in genuine danger, you know things are getting serious.

All this is to say, the Russo brothers understood that the draw of comic book movies isn’t comic book powers in and of themselves. They can enhance the story, they can enhance the action, but they cannot carry a film alone – and this is something the franchise has seemingly forgotten over time.

Take a look at the MCU’s other highlights. The film that kicked it all off, Iron Man, barely had a superhero landing to be seen; the movie’s biggest moment is Tony Stark emerging in a suit that looks like a dodgy Tin Man cosplay. Instead, director Jon Favreau used the blockbuster as a vehicle to explore a billionaire’s fall from grace – a deep-dive into what can happen when a man who previously thought he was invulnerable loses that invulnerability.

And throughout most of 2018’s billion-dollar Black Panther, our hero is largely sapped of his strength – with Ryan Coogler more interested in developing a political drama based around two challengers for the same throne than seeing how high T'Challa can jump or how hard he can punch.

Would the franchise take this approach now? Are its filmmakers allowed to construct a story first, and inject it with Marvel-ness after? It’s becoming increasingly difficult to say yes to these questions.

The Winter Soldier’s action-packed story is also built around a central duo that the audience can really get behind, a pair of characters that fans were given the time to get to know and love – which can’t really be said of recent team-ups in the Marvel sphere (the America Chavez-Doctor Strange combination in Multiverse of Madness particularly springs to mind).

Across several films and over several years, viewers had already been introduced to Steve and Natasha, their stories and their personalities, and this allowed Evans and Scarlett Johansson to build an electrifying chemistry that sparks from the second Natasha cracks her first 'old man' joke.

This is a dynamic that was largely put aside after 2014 – the pair clearly remain close, sharing brief moments together in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, but by the time of Natasha’s death in Avengers: Endgame, the focus is more on the reaction of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner than it is on Steve’s.

In The Winter Soldier, though, there exists perhaps the most tangible, real connection between two Marvel characters. You instantly get the sense that the pair genuinely care for one another, and Natasha’s playful presence lightens Evans’s largely serious Steve.

On his own, Cap can be a bit, well, dull – a little too serious (The Avengers in 2012 is the prime example). But Evans’s straight-laced approach combined with the fizzy energy of Johansson’s wildcard is a match made in heaven, and despite providing great moments like, "That is America’s ass," and, "You get killed... walk it off," in the years that followed, Rogers could never quite emulate the loveable heights that he manages here, with Black Widow by his side.

While Infinity War became a cultural phenomenon and Endgame broke box office records, The Winter Soldier remains the MCU’s finest moment even 10 years later. Tony Stark fans, come at me – I’ll defend that take 'til the end of the line.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is available to stream on Disney Plus. Check out our list of the best shows on Disney Plus or see what else is on and visit our Sci-fi hub for all the latest news.

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