Captain America: The Winter Soldier

In April 2011, before Captain America: The First Avenger was released in theaters, screenwriters Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely announced that Marvel had already hired the duo to work on the film's sequel.[58] In September 2011, Chris Evans said that a sequel may not be released until 2014.[6] In January 2012, Neal McDonough, who played Dum Dum Dugan in Captain America: The First Avenger, mentioned that a sequel would likely be filmed after the completion of Thor: The Dark World, which would likely have been before the end of 2012.[59] By March 2012, Marvel whittled down the possible directors for the sequel to three candidates: George Nolfi, F. Gary Gray, and brothers Anthony and Joseph Russo.[60] Walt Disney Studios announced the planned release of the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger on April 4, 2014. Disney said, "The second installment will pick-up where ... The Avengers leaves off, as Steve Rogers continues his affiliation with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. and struggles to embrace his role in the modern world."[61] Markus later elaborated, "I think S.H.I.E.L.D. is the water [Rogers is] swimming in. It's definitely a Captain America movie. You know, if the first movie was a movie about the US Army, then this is a movie about S.H.I.E.L.D... You will learn about S.H.I.E.L.D. You will learn about where it came from and where it's going and some of the cool things they have."[11] In April, F. Gary Gray withdrew his name from consideration, choosing instead to direct the N.W.A biographical film Straight Outta Compton.[62]

McFeely said the writing began in the middle of 2011, around the release of The First Avenger, with him and Markus "noodling on in hopes that there would be a second one and we did a lot of just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what stuck".[63] The first few months of writing were a back and forth process with Marvel, but after an outline was finished, the story did not change much.[64] They opted to set the story in the present day, and, after "experimenting with flashback elements for more period World War II stuff",[65] decided to abandon the flashbacks as "it became unwieldy."[63] The film would be "Cap versus the world we all live in today",[66] while averting excessive comedy regarding the hero's time displacement, as Markus considered the Captain "the most adaptive man on the planet."[63] The tone would be more grounded in reality despite the advanced technology to contrast the fantasy elements from both the first Captain America and The Avengers.[66] Despite that, the comic book origins guaranteed that the film would not have verisimilitude.[38] This still proved a challenge in the reveal of Arnim Zola, that had to be extensively rewritten to convey how "this grounded espionage paranoid thriller suddenly screeches to a halt and you switch gears really quickly with this ghost in the machine" that introduces more science fiction elements.[67]

Markus and McFeely wanted to adapt Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier storyline from the comics, which they described as "the tone of Cap's modern franchise",[68] but it took the duo six months to convince themselves that they could do it.[16] In the meantime, while thinking how to progress from the war film tone of The First Avenger, the writers settled on the conspiracy genre for the screenplay, and cited Three Days of the Condor, The Parallax View, and Marathon Man as influences, feeling it better conveyed Captain America's trust issues and contrasting values in the new world he was living in,[16] with Markus saying, "If you put that 1940s man into present day geo-politics everything is going to seem like a conspiracy. It's just going to seem dirty and underhanded and shifty, and people won't be telling the truth."[68] Three Days of the Condor in particular was used as the main source of the script structure, following the idea that the protagonist is being chased by a threat they, along with the audience, only discover halfway through the film.[38]

The writers felt this approach was similar to how Stan Lee reinvented Captain America in the 1960s and 1970s, with "the Captain dealing with all sorts of the same things that the country [was] dealing with—Vietnam, Watergate and all that stuff—so he gets to have opinions on that", thus making the "guy who is ostensibly from the more black and white 1940s react to this ultimately grey world that we live in."[69] Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige described the film as a political thriller,[70] and as the duo struggled to figure out a third act, Feige suggested that S.H.I.E.L.D. be brought down and have Captain America fight the agency. The writers thought this was a great story point, for implementing "the physical manifestation of Cap changing the world."[71] Markus even noted how the 1970s comics had similar conspiracies.[68] The Hydra reveal made sure to include returning characters among the undercover villains, as well as references to the comics such as Arnim Zola being kept alive as a machine.[66] Feige later elaborated on the political thriller nature of the film saying,

In our attempt to make all of our films feel unique and feel different we found ourselves going back to things like [Three Days of the Condor]. Also the other political thrillers of the '70s: The Parallax View, All the President's Men. This was a time that Cap existed in the comics. He found himself in the swinging '60s followed by the Watergate Era followed by the Reagan Era followed by where we are today. In the comics it was a hell of a journey for Steve. And we couldn't take him through those years because in our cinematic universe he was asleep. But we wanted to force him to confront that kind of moral conundrum, something with that '70s flavor. And in our film that takes the form of S.H.I.E.L.D.[72]

Feige said that Steve Rogers would be paired with other characters from The Avengers like Black Widow and Nick Fury, because unlike Tony Stark and Thor, who could return to their own supporting casts, Rogers had nowhere else to go, "and it just made sense that he was the one that stayed with what remains of the Avengers at the end of the film."[73] The writers considered including Hawkeye, but "he didn't have enough to do and suddenly it seemed like we were giving him short shrift", leading all of his parts to be fulfilled by Black Widow,[68] and Joe Russo added that Jeremy Renner's schedule could not be worked out for him to appear.[74] As to why the Red Skull from The First Avenger did not appear in The Winter Soldier, Joe Russo explained, "I know we have a guy in a computer, but the tone we were chasing was sort of that conspiracy thriller. And we wanted to try and ground the movie as much as we could. And Red Skull, he's a fantastical character and didn't necessarily fit for Cap 2 and especially because it was about the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. Certainly Hydra exists and that's his legacy, but there's something interesting about the fact that his legacy outlived the skull. And they're still dealing with the demons of it, but not necessarily him."[75] Chris McKenna, who worked with the Russo brothers on the sitcom Community, contributed to the script by writing jokes for the film.[76] The inclusion of the passage "Ezekiel 25:17" on Fury's tombstone references the character Jules Winnfield, from the 1994 film Pulp Fiction, also played by Samuel L. Jackson.[77]

By June 2012, the Russo brothers entered negotiations to direct the sequel,[79] and Samuel L. Jackson was confirmed to return as S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury.[41] Feige sought out the Russos after watching the genre-parodying season 2 finale of Community which Joe directed,[80][81] and for the additional ideas they brought to the initial story pitch.[82] Joe Russo detailed that since the intent was for a political thriller, "all the great political thrillers have very current issues in them that reflect the anxiety of the audience." Thus the brothers opted to include references to drone warfare, targeted killing and global surveillance. Joe even noted how during principal photography, the issues became more topical due to the disclosure of several National Security Agency surveillance-related documents.[83] At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International, it was announced that the official title for the sequel was Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and that the Russo brothers would direct the film.[84] After signing on to direct, the Russo brothers met with Ed Brubaker to learn more about where the Winter Soldier character came from, his thinking and the themes behind the character.[85] In July 2012, Anthony Mackie entered negotiations to star as Falcon alongside Chris Evans in the sequel.[13] Sebastian Stan was also confirmed to be reprising his role as James Barnes.[13] By August 2012, Anna Kendrick, Felicity Jones, and Imogen Poots were being considered front-runners for a leading role in the film.[86]

In September 2012, Chris Evans said filming would begin in March 2013.[87] Evans also said that Rogers' adjustment to the modern world, which was originally set to be included in The Avengers, would be better suited for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.[88] At the end of the month, The Greater Cleveland Film Commission announced that Captain America: The Winter Soldier would film in Cleveland, Ohio after the production was approved for a $9.5 million tax credit.[89] Producer Nate Moore said that after also serving as a location in The Avengers, Cleveland's government was helpful in providing large locations for filming, which "provided production value which we probably could not have built in a backlot." McFeely joked that while writing ambitious action scenes "I did not realize a great American metropolis would say 'Sure, shut down three miles of freeway and go to town'."[18] Portions of the film were also scheduled to be shot in California and Washington, D.C.[89][90]

By October, Emilia Clarke, Jessica Brown Findlay, Teresa Palmer, Imogen Poots, and Alison Brie were being considered for Rogers' love interest in the film,[9] and Scarlett Johansson was brought back to reprise her role as Black Widow.[9] Later in the month, Frank Grillo was testing for the role of the villain Crossbones in the film,[91] and by the end of the month, Grillo closed a deal to portray the character and Cobie Smulders signed on to reprise her role as Maria Hill from The Avengers.[26]

In January 2013, Hayley Atwell, who played Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger, said that she would not appear in the sequel.[92] However, Stanley Tucci, who played Dr. Abraham Erskine in the previous film, later said that Atwell would reappear in a flashback scene.[93] Also in January, Marvel Studios announced that the film would be released in 3D, and Anthony Mackie said filming would begin on April 1, 2013.[94][95] Later that month, Toby Jones, who portrayed Arnim Zola in the first film, said that he would reprise the role in the sequel.[42] By the end of the month, stages were being built for a shoot at Raleigh Manhattan Beach Studios in Los Angeles.[96]

In February 2013, Emily VanCamp entered negotiations to play a female lead in the film.[97] By March 2013, Maximiliano Hernández was signed to reprise his role as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell from Thor and The Avengers and Robert Redford entered in talks to join the cast, as a high-ranking member of S.H.I.E.L.D.,[43][98] which he later confirmed.[39] Toward the end of March, UFC fighter Georges St-Pierre was cast as a character based on the comics' Batroc the Leaper in the film.[45] Powers Boothe was asked to reprise his role from The Avengers but was unable to due to working on Nashville.[99]

Captain America's uniform was altered from the ones seen in previous films, with a Kevlar-based ballistic component that would protect Captain America but at the same time function like a military uniform.[8] Joe Russo said, "We wanted to use his Super Soldier outfit from the [Steve Rogers: Super Soldier series] as a way to represent, thematically, his place in the world of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the difference between working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and being Captain America."[100] For the Falcon costume, the filmmakers were interested in adding more of a tactical design than was represented in the comic books, by including real-world webbing, straps and gear and stripping away the more comic book elements.[8]

Film set for Captain America: The Winter Soldier on the National Mall

Principal photography began on April 1, 2013, at the Raleigh Manhattan Beach Studios in Los Angeles, under the working title Freezer Burn.[101] Scenes taking place on the Lemurian Star were filmed on the Sea Launch Commander, docked in Long Beach, California.[18] In early May, Dominic Cooper confirmed he would return as Howard Stark.[102] On May 14, 2013, production moved to Washington, D.C. with filming taking place at the National Mall and the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge.[103] The following day, Garry Shandling was spotted on set reprising his Iron Man 2 role of Senator Stern.[44] Other filming locations in Washington, D.C. included the Willard Hotel and Dupont Circle.[104]

Filming in Cleveland began on May 17 and was scheduled to last until mid-June with locations scheduled on the West Shoreway, the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cuyahoga Heights and the Lakeview Cemetery Dam.[105] Cleveland was chosen as a stand-in for Washington, D.C, with the city's East 6th Street doubling as 7th and D Streets in Southwest D.C.[106] Other locations in Cleveland included the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland State University, the Cleveland Arcade, Tower City Center, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Western Reserve Historical Society.[106][107][108][109][110] Interior shots were also filmed inside private homes and the Pilgrim Congregational Church in Tremont.[111] Filming in Cleveland concluded on June 27, 2013.[112]

Trent Opaloch, best known for his work on District 9 and Elysium, was brought in as the director of photography. Opaloch said that while attempting to emulate the 1970s thrillers that served as inspiration for the writers and directors, the staging and lighting tried to bring realism through "classic framing and naturalistic lighting", and the filming was done with hand-held cameras. To achieve this, Opaloch used Arri Alexa Plus 4:3 cameras with Panavision anamorphic lenses and Codex Digital recorders.[113] Stunt work aimed for realistic action, prioritizing practical effects. The fight scenes were staged for months, with a choreography that aimed to highlight Captain America's superhuman qualities, and "move away from impressionistic action into specificity": the raid on the S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel had stealthiness as the Captain knocked out enemies to avert detection, and the freeway fight with Winter Soldier was more "last minute" to highlight the characters' struggle to survive.[18]

In contrast to the quick editing and moving cameras of modern action films, The Winter Soldier aimed to feature longer action scenes that felt more visceral and dangerous.[38] The Russos mentioned the bank robbing scene of Heat as a major influence, which they described as "the most intense eight minutes of filmmaking I've seen in a movie theater",[18] and action scenes directed by Brian De Palma, such as the vault heist in Mission: Impossible, where "very likable characters are put in impossible situations that the audience is put on the edge on how they'd escape". Examples of these types of scenes include the ambushes on Nick Fury in the street and Captain America in the elevator.[38]

Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter before (top) and after (bottom) she was digitally altered to appear older in the film

Additional photography was filmed in December 2013 and January 2014,[114] in order for the Russos to accurately show the state of each character after the defeat of S.H.I.E.L.D., having read the script of Avengers: Age of Ultron to guide their choices.[38] Joss Whedon, director of The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, wrote and directed the mid-credits scene,[115] which featured Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff,[55] and Baron Wolfgang von Strucker.[54] The title sequences were created by design firm Sarofsky, who had worked with the Russos since Community. Sarofsky collaborated with comic book artist David W. Mack on the sequences.[116]

Anthony Mackie said the Russo brothers relied on minimal use of computer-generated imagery, stating, "The Russos, what they did that was so great was, they wanted to stay with live action, which is a dying art form. If they can build it, they built it. If we could do it, we did it. They wanted to do as little CGI as possible. That's why the movie looks so great."[117] Nevertheless, six special effects companies are involved in creating the visual effects of the film, including Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Scanline VFX, Lola VFX, Luma Pictures, Whiskytree and The Embassy, with previsualization completed by Proof.[35] The film contained 2,500 visual effects shots, with 900 worked on by ILM.[118] The film featured extensive use of digital doubles. Russell Earl, ILM visual effects supervisor, said, "The character that we did the most work on was Falcon. We knew we were going to do CG wings. We also did some shots with wires and some with stunt doubles and head replacement. And we needed a very good digital double."[118]

Lola VFX, who worked on the pre-serum Steve Rogers scenes in this film and Captain America: The First Avenger, also worked on shots featuring an elderly Peggy Carter. This involved digitally transposing the facial features of an elderly actress onto the face of actress Hayley Atwell who had performed her lines with no make-up and only a few tracking markers.[35]

The Helicarriers in the film were completely digital. Earl said, "In [The Avengers] it was more like an aircraft carrier, now it's an aircraft carrier with the addition of battle ship-sized guns. We were all over the carriers [with the virtual camera]. We were on the decks; we were flying next to them. We had a lot of close ups and different angles. And we didn't just have one; we had three. On top of that, we had to destroy them all." This CGI environment was also used in close ups. Earl said, "The challenge was to get in all of the detail to make it feel like it is a real, working ship. We created details down to the railings and all the human-scale stuff. ... For the shots in which we were destroying them, we had to have the internals as well—the hallways, the storage areas."[118] Many of the shots of Washington, D.C. were digitally created due to numerous flight restrictions in the city which necessitated that locations be recreated by computer.[118] However, aerial footage of the city was filmed and used for live action plate photography for shots involving the Triskelion, which is located on Theodore Roosevelt Island on the Potomac River.[35]

350 different versions of the film were made, to accommodate for the different formats it would be released in domestically, while also accounting for international localization and formats. The versions had to be completed in 17 days, versus a normal turnaround time of three to four weeks for contemporary films, to make its theatrical release date.[119] One of the various changes for localization was the contents of Captain America's notebook list seen at the beginning of the film. The first five items were different depending on where the film was released, while the final five items were the same across all prints.[120] Marvel held online polls allowing fans to select the items featured in each country's release.[121]

Chris Evans at the Paris premiere of Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released in 32 markets on March 26, 2014[153][154] and in North America on April 4, 2014, in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D.[61][94] The film debuted on 668 IMAX screens worldwide, a record for films releasing in April.[155] The world premiere took place on March 13, 2014 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California.[156] The Paris premiere occurred on March 17 at Le Grand Rex,[157] the London premiere took place on March 20 at Westfield London,[158] the Beijing premiere took place on March 24[159] and the Cleveland premiere took place on April 1.[160] Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson auctioned off passes to one of the premieres for charity.[161] Captain America: The Winter Soldier is part of Phase Two of the MCU.[162]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment for digital download on August 19, 2014 and on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and DVD on September 9, 2014. The physical media releases include behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a blooper reel.[163]

The film was also collected in a 13-disc box set, titled "Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two Collection", which includes all of the Phase Two films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was released on December 8, 2015.[164] Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released on 4K UHD Blu-Ray on April 23, 2019.[165]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier earned $259.8 million in North America and $454.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $714.3 million.[2] It became the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2014 worldwide.[166] Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit for the film to be $166.2 million, when factoring together "production budgets, P&A, talent participations and other costs, with box office grosses, and ancillary revenues from VOD to DVD and TV," placing it ninth on their list of 2014's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".[167]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier made $10.2 million in Thursday night showings, more than double the midnight gross of its predecessor.[168] It set an April single-day[169] ($36.9 million)[170] and April opening-weekend record ($95.0 million), while its opening weekend was a 46% increase over its predecessor.[171] The film held the number one spot at the box office for three consecutive weekends,[172][173] before being overtaken by The Other Woman in its fourth weekend.[174] It achieved the largest total gross among films released in the month of April.[175] At the end of its theatrical run, the film became the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2014 behind American Sniper, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, and Guardians of the Galaxy.[176]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier topped the box office on its opening weekend with $75.2 million from 32 overseas markets.[154] The film debuted at number one in many territories, including Australia, China, and Russia[177] and set a 3-day opening-weekend record in China among Disney films,[171] with $38.81 million.[177] It topped the box office outside North America on two consecutive weekends,[171] followed by two weeks in second, behind Rio 2.[178][179]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 90% approval rating with an average score of 7.64/10, based on 301 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Suspenseful and politically astute, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a superior entry in the Avengers canon and is sure to thrill Marvel diehards."[180] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 70 out of 100 based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[181] CinemaScore audiences gave Captain America: The Winter Soldier an "A" grade rating on an A+ to F scale.[182]

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said the film "takes the bold (for Marvel) step of reducing CGI spectacle to a relative minimum in favor of reviving the pleasures of hard-driving old-school action, surprising character development and intriguing suspense."[183] Scott Foundas of Variety said it is "chockfull of the breathless cliffhangers dictated by the genre, but equally rich in the quiet, tender character moments that made the first film unique among recent Marvel fare."[184] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times considered it "another rock-solid chapter in the big-screen story of Marvel," though he compared it unfavorably to The Avengers, Iron Man and Iron Man 3.[185] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly noted the topicality of the film, and compared it to The Dark Knight (2008).[186] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe said the film "delivers all the 3D CGI mayhem audiences have come to expect from the Marvel entertainment juggernaut, but there's darkness and confusion just under its comic-book surface."[187] Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal praised the film's "emotional bandwidth" and nuances, and felt it fixed all the shortcomings of The First Avenger "and then some".[188]

Conversely, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times characterized the film with a lack of inspiration.[189] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times said, "Like many others of its type, [Captain America: The Winter Soldier] gets off to a kinetic start only to lose steam before blowing everything up."[190] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph expressed disappointment with the lack of risks taken by the film compared to its "relatively spicy premise".[191] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle felt the film was too long, with unexciting and illegible action scenes.[192] Joe Williams of the St. Louis Post Dispatch felt The Winter Soldier didn't explore the issues it raised and paled in comparison to The First Avenger.[193] Jake Coyle of the Associated Press said the film's biggest misstep was the handling of Stan's Winter Soldier, and that it was "getting difficult to tell the Marvel movies apart".[194]

Several critics have drawn comparisons between The Winter Soldier and the Metal Gear Solid video game series. Gameranx compared the film to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001), stating that the first half of The Winter Soldier "feels like probably the closest movie adaptation we've gotten to Metal Gear Solid 2", with similar elements including the "stealth, an evil group, CQC, and even the moral dilemma about sacrificing one's personal liberties for the feeling of security."[195] Entertainment Weekly noted that the film's opening tanker mission was "rendered as a Metal Gear Solid stealth mission".[196] Eye For Film also said the opening sequence "will no doubt be familiar to anyone who's ever played Metal Gear Solid 2".[197]