Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Today, I decided to go for a rare triple-header.  Since today is Memorial Day, it seemed fitting to watch the three Captain America movies from Marvel Studios.

Now before we get into the usual rundown, I will start with my introductions to comic book movies and all things Marvel.  I didn't grow up reading comics, so my familiarity with the comic book universes mostly comes from the various movies, though I have read about a lot of the material from the comics, so I have a passing familiarity with the larger history of these characters.

When it comes to the whole Marvel vs DC thing, I tend to be more of a Marvel fan.  While the quality of the MCU helps, I believe it goes back further than that.  You see, other than possibly the worst Batman movie of the bunch, my main introduction to superhero movies came with films like the X-Men franchise, Spider-man, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Blade, Daredevil, and Elektra, so I became more interested in the Marvel side of things, especially the X-Men.

Ironically enough, I didn't really jump into the MCU too much during Phase 1, and it even took me until a few movies into Phase 2 for me to make each movie a must-see in the theaters.  I saw the first Iron Man on DVD before catching the second in the theaters, and I didn't originally see any of the other Phase 1 films until after seeing The Avengers in theaters.  I'm pretty sure I hadn't even watched The Incredible Hulk until I marathoned the entire MCU last summer.

That being said, as a Disney fan and now as a Marvel fan, I'm glad that the two are together.

The Movie:

Ok, so this one is technically not a Disney movie, at least not at first, but we'll get to that.  The first Captain America movie is the fifth film in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and the final one before the Phase 1 finale and big team-up in The Avengers.  It also, for the most part, takes place chronologically before the other films.  The First Avenger is your typical superhero origin story.  Young Steve Rogers desperately wants to enlist in the army during World War II, though he keeps getting rejected because of his frail physical condition.  However, because of his upstanding character, he is chosen as the first test subject for a serum to create a super-soldier, transforming him into Captain America.

Overall the film is a solid movie.  For the most part, the movie plays like a standard war film with some comic book elements thrown in.  However, the movie's greatest strength is that it takes a character that could easily be portrayed as someone who is a little too perfect to the point of being cheesy and gives that character a much-needed depth.  This portrayal sets the foundation for the character in all subsequent MCU movies.

Other elements of this movie come back in later movies.  Without spoiling too much, Steve's loyalty to his childhood friend Bucky Barnes is one of the biggest foundational elements in this film.  The movie also sets up HYDRA as a big bad, which comes back up in later films and the Marvel TV shows.  Speaking of TV shows, the character of Peggy Carter, an SSR agent, became so popular, that she starred in her own short lived and underappreciated TV series for two seasons.

Now, as I said, the movie originally wasn't a Disney movie.  So, without getting too in depth, here's the story.  After years of selling off rights to other studios, Marvel Studios began producing films in-house, signing a deal with Paramount to distribute their films (except The Incredible Hulk, which, because of the character rights, was distributed by Universal).  Iron Man, released in 2008, was the first of these films, and the start of the MCU.  Disney bought Marvel Studios in 2009, but agreed to honor existing distribution deals, which would have covered every MCU film up through Iron Man 3 in 2013.  However, in 2010 Disney purchased the distribution rights to The Avengers and Iron Man 3 (though they did leave the Paramount logos on the film).  This meant that Captain America: The First Avenger was the last MCU film not distributed by Disney (at least until Spider-man: Homecoming).

In 2013, Disney purchased the distribution rights to all of Paramount's MCU films, bringing almost all of Phase 1 into the fold.

Presence in the Parks:

Well, honestly, there's not much to talk about here.  As most theme park fans are well aware, in addition to selling off movie rights throughout the 1990s, Marvel also sold off the theme park rights, in this case to Universal, which devoted an entire land to Marvel when Islands of Adventure opened in 1999.

Universal's Marvel Super Hero Island, May 2015

If you search the internet, you can find a lot of speculation as to what Disney might be capable of doing, but here's the basics:

Overseas, Disney is free to use Marvel.  Hong Kong already has an Iron Man attraction and plans are underway for a Marvel land in Paris.

On the west coast in the US, Disney has a few restrictions, but they are mostly OK.  The Guardians of the Galaxy already have a ride in California Adventure that will soon be joined by other Marvel themed rides.  The biggest restriction seems to be that Disney cannot use the name "Marvel" in their west coast promotions.

The Avengers as depicted in Universal's Islands of Adventure, May 2015

The east coast is another story.  Marvel's agreement with Universal is much more strict about anything east of the Mississippi River, and is especially tight for any park within 60 miles of its Orlando Park, which would include Walt Disney World.  Disney is not allowed to have character meets or any attractions based on any character family that Universal utilizes.  This includes the X-Men (not a big deal for Disney), Spider-man (still not too big a deal), and the Avengers (much bigger deal).  So outside some merchandise being sold, you won't see anything in the way of Captain America at Walt Disney World.

Now, Disney is working to get as much Marvel as they can into WDW.  The Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange have popped up as character meets, and there will be a Guardians ride at Epcot.  Black Panther has been speculated, but he might be off the table given his occasional ties to the Avengers.  And like the west coast, Disney cannot use the name "Marvel" in its promotions, or even anywhere in the parks.

Well, we have two more write-ups to do, so let's get going.  With most of the meat here, they should be much shorter.