This movie, of course, is the sequel to Captain America, and also in a sequel to The Avengers, as everything else is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is tied back somehow. It also ties in extremely closely with the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is an incredibly amazing feat of scriptwriting. In my opinion, it's one of the best MCU movies so far, right up there with Iron Man 3.
Steve Rogers is living in a Washington D.C. apartment now and working for S.H.I.E.L.D. as he struggles to adapt to the modern world of today two years after the Battle of New York. Not so much the technology; more like the societal attitudes and shifted alliances and ethics of people in general. The Internet is very helpful for things like that, and the food is much now than it was back in his day, where they boiled everything. (He mentions these in conversation.) Running is a good way to get away from thinking about problems for a bit, I've found. Steve knows this, too, and on one of his early-morning gallops he repeatedly sails by this guy and chats with him afterward. This other guy is former military, too, his name's Sam Wilson, and he's working at the VA as a PTSD counselor. They chat for a bit, until a text on Steve's phone signals it's time to get to work.
He, Natasha Romanoff and the S.H.I.E.L.D. special-forces unit(S.T.R.I.K.E., led by Agent Rumlow) head to a ship called the Lumerian Star, which has been captured by French mercenaries led by Georges Batroc. Agent Sitwell is one of the many hostages aboard this vessel needed to be freed. Cap and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team take out the mercenaries effectively, while the Black Widow has a mission of her own to complete: extracting S.H.I.E.L.D. data from the ship's computers. And, also in a self-tasked role, giving Cap a hard time about getting him to date somebody.
"You know, I bet if you asked Kristen out, from statistics, she'd probably say yes." "That's why I don't ask." "Too shy or too scared?" "Too busy!"
A pretty ticked-off Steve angrily questions Director Nick Fury at the Triskelion(S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bureaucratic headquarters) about Natasha's information retrieval, and Fury explains about Project Insight; a plan to use three upgraded and improved Helicarriers linked by satellite designed to take out threats before they ever happen. Steve's not too happy about this new method of warfare. (It seems very NSA-like. And when the movie came out in April, the NSA leak stuff had been only a few months before, so still very fresh on audience's minds.)
Once Steve leaves, Fury attempts to access the files on the memory stick, only to be told that they had been sealed - by himself. Suspicious, he asks longtime friend and member of the World Security Council Alexander Pierce to delay Insight's implementation.
On his way to a meeting with Commander Maria Hill, Fury is ambushed by a company of fake D.C. police and a mysterious man with a metal arm known as the Winter Soldier, a ghost-like assassin with over two dozen kills over the years. Fury escapes to Steve's apartment, only to be shot by the Winter Soldier. Cap's neighbor Kate the nurse turns out to actually be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Agent 13, assigned to protect Steve. She gets Fury to the hospital, but the wounds are too bad and he dies at 1:03 a.m. Fury gave the flash drive to Cap, who hid it in a hospital vending machine.
Pierce commands Steve to divulge Fury's intentions and reasons for coming to the apartment, an order Cap refuses. Pierce declares Steve Rogers to be a fugitive and sics the S.T.R.I.K.E. force after him and Natasha. They find a clue via the flash drive and a nearby mall's Apple store that directs them to Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, which they then travel to after avoiding the hunters.
At Camp Lehigh, where Dr. Abraham Erskine's super-soldier experimental training was conducted, Steve and Natasha find the secret base of operations for S.H.I.E.L.D., and inside the bunker basement they discover a supercomputer with Dr. Armin Zola's preserved consciousness. Dr. Zola recounts the rise of HYDRA throughout the years, as they've been hidden in plain sight ever since the beginning. A missile destroys the building, and Steve and Natasha barely escape.
They go to Sam Wilson's apartment, with nowhere else really to go. "Everyone we know is trying to kill us." "Not everyone." Over breakfast the three of them devise a plan, to steal/borrow Cap's old suit from the Smithsonian and get Sam's Falcon flight suit.
Those tasks completed, the trio sets out to interrogate Agent Sitwell, who explains that Zola created an algorithm that predicts future threats to HYDRA, which is the base of Insight. The new quartet, counting the now-detained Sitwell, is ambushed on the freeway by the Winter Soldier and Rumlow's S.T.R.I.K.E. team, an intense fight follows. They escape to a safehouse with Commander Hill's help, where they discover(much to their relief) that Fury is still alive, though heavily wounded. There they come to the difficult conclusion that in order to stop this HYDRA takeover, S.H.I.E.L.D. basically has to be blown up. The first step of that plan is to bring down Project Insight through replacement of the Helicarrier's targeting chips.
Steve reveals the HYDRA plot to everyone at the Triskelion during the Helicarrier launch, and from there, everything S.H.I.E.L.D.-related is in major disarray, to say the least. (Trying not to spoil Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. here....but if you haven't seen it, by all means, WATCH!!!!) Natasha leaks all S.H.I.E.L.D. documents and files out to the general public, which instantly starts trending. Fury shoots Pierce, and Steve and Sam manage to replace the chips of two Helicarriers before the Winter Soldier destroys the Falcon's suit and grounds him. Captain America and the Winter Soldier struggle inside the third Helicarrier before the final chip is replaced, and Hill resets the targeting so that the ships will destroy each other. As they're crashing down back to Earth, bringing the Triskelion down in the wreckage on the way, Fury and Natasha rescue Sam, and in an effort to save his old friend, Steve quits fighting the Winter Soldier and is thrown out into the Potomac River.
The unconscious Steve is pulled form the water by the Winter Soldier, who then slips away. The Black Widow is brought before a Senate subcommittee and explains her actions, both as KGB and S.H.I.E.L.D. Hill interviews for a job at the Human Resources division of Stark Industries, and Steve's neighbor starts over with the CIA. Fury creates a new disguise and burns most unneeded personal articles, intent on staying in the shadows to take out the other HYDRA cells that must surely be in Europe. Rumlow is hospitalized and well-burned following the explosion. Steve and Sam decide to go after the Winter Soldier, while the Black Widow sets off to piece together as best she can a new life and identity. "Will you do me a favor; call that nurse?" "She's not a nurse." "And you're not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent." "What was her name again?" "Sharon. You'll like her. She's nice."
There's a lot of good quotes to think about scattered throughout this movie. Like Sitwell's commentary on the digital book that is the 21st century. Or Steve and Natasha's conversations about truth, lies and ethics. After purposely knocking herself out with her stingers, Black Widow muttering "Ow....that does sting." This is a very hard story to summarize without giving too much away; as all terrific tales are a challenge to sum up. There is too much, as Inigo Montoya said.
My three favorite superheroes are Captain America, Spider-Man and Iron Man, I think. (Does Phil Coulson count as a superhero?) Steve's just kind of easy to relate to, somehow. (I've taken a couple of those "Which Avenger are you?" personality tests and gotten Captain America.) And Dad, Courtney, Caleb and Trevor all make weekly comments about finding a girlfriend or getting married. So has Amanda, too, for the last several months, she's been Black Widow-like trying to talk me into going on a date with somebody. Guess I kind of have Steve's attitude on those types of things.
In the mid-credits scene, Baron Von Strucker is talking to someone else at a secret HYDRA base somewhere in Europe, one of many. They have Loki's scepter, and have been running experiments with deadly results. There are, also, two prisoners that survived: the crazed twins Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch(played by the Olsen twins' little sister). "HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. are two sides to the same coin....one that is no longer currency. This isn't the age of spies anymore. Not even the age of heroes. It is the age of miracles....and there is nothing more horrifying that a miracle." This sets up nicely into Avengers: Age of Ultron next May, and Guardians of the Galaxy(in early August) will also set it up in some way. So that could lead to superhero discussions with other Marvel fans like Ash, Jon, Mr. DeSpain or the Perrys.
The end-credits scene features the Winter Soldier, in darker versions of almost the exact same thing Steve was wearing earlier(that seems significant in some way), visiting the Smithsonian Captain America exhibit, staring at the Bucky Barnes memorial.
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