Captain America: The First Avenger - War Movie First, Superhero Movie Second

I've been rewatching the MCU with my kid, and I keep coming back to the same thought:

The First Avenger just missed it.

It wasn't a bad movie, but it didn't feel like a movie. It felt like two montages slapped together with a beginning and an end.

So how would I fix it?

The simple answer is: make it a real war movie that just so happens to have Captain America in it. (Le gasp, groundbreaking cinematography over here.)

Now, I don't mean turning Captain America into some grimdark character. Steve should still be Steve. We still establish that Steve wants to serve, gets the serum, and becomes Captain America. I wouldn't really change that.

I'd change what happens around him.

Keep the USO tour. In fact, lean into it harder.

Steve gets turned into this ridiculous piece of American propaganda while actual soldiers are dying overseas. Layer soldiers dying and fighting in the war over the USO tour stuff. Hell, maybe even drag it out to nauseam so that when he finally gets to the front, there's a massive disconnect between Captain America the symbol and Steve Rogers the soldier.

We hit Act 2. He rescues the 107th, and this is where the movie changes.

From there, I want an actual war campaign.

Steve and the Howling Commandos aren't just blowing up a quick montage of HYDRA bases. We spend time with them. Get to know them personally. Missions go wrong. People get hurt.

Give me a 1SG trying to guide this young buck from civilian to special operations commander.

Steve has to make decisions where being stronger than everyone else doesn't automatically solve the problem.

And HYDRA.

HYDRA, IMO, should be terrifying. Not cartoon villains. A true evil cult.

Especially Red Skull.

I never felt like Red Skull's name carried the weight it should have in the movie. I want soldiers hearing that he's involved in an operation and immediately understanding that something horrible is about to happen.

It shouldn't just stop the heroes in their tracks, but the audience as well.

The tension ratchets up for the heroes because they know he's bad news, but for the audience, who already has the preconceived notion of who Red Skull is, the reaction should be:

"He's worse than I remember."

HYDRA's technology could still fit perfectly into the MCU's pulpy WWII aesthetic, but I'd make it feel more industrial and experimental.

Prototype weapons (some that go faulty and incinerate the wielder). Early powered armor. Unstable energy weapons. Horrible experiments. Machinery that looks like somebody took 1940s engineering and pushed it several decades too far.

That also gives Steve something he can't simply punch his way through.

Yeah, cool, we're the good guys...but how do we beat the bad guys who believe they are righteous in their cause?

The super-soldier serum made him physically exceptional, but now he's fighting an organization that is actively trying to industrialize that kind of power.

And underneath all of this is the thing I think would make the movie work better than before:

Steve slowly grappling with what Captain America means to everyone around him.

To the government, he's propaganda.

To the Army, he's a weapon.

To the public, he's a superhero.

To the soldiers fighting beside him, he's the lunatic who keeps running toward machine-gun fire to bring people home.

And Steve has to decide what Captain America means to him.

Mind you, this should still be a flat character arc. One of the best defining features of Steve is that he is who he is.

Once he finally faces Red Skull, it isn't just strong guy vs. evil strong guy.

It becomes Red Skull is truly Steve's antithesis. They both gained extraordinary power, but Steve sees that power as creating an obligation to others, while Red Skull sees it as freeing him from any obligation to them.

Which makes Steve's final sacrifice hit even harder.

He doesn't put the plane down because that's what Captain America is supposed to do.

He does it because he's still the 90-pound kid from Brooklyn who couldn't stand by while somebody else got hurt.

Basically:

Give me Band of Brothers/The Dirty Dozen filtered through MCU pulp sci-fi.

Keep Steve hopeful.

Keep the shield.

Keep the ridiculous HYDRA technology.

Keep the "Star-Spangled Man."

Just put all of it inside an actual war movie.

I think what has hurt a lot of the MCU over the years is that instead of making a movie that a hero just happens to be in, they make a superhero movie.

It also gives these side characters more reason for us, the audience, to care. Not just:

"Ooo, look! It's Captain America's team!"

I have way more thoughts on how the second act would play out, but this is enough for now.

What would you change?