Captain America, old dog, new tricks!

It seems that Captain America: The First Avenger wasn't everyone's cup of tea.  I thought it was great, and I was REALLY looking forward to Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  The return of one of my favourite characters within the MCU, coupled with elements from one of his best comic story arcs.

With everything that Marvel Studios has going on at the moment, they could almost be forgiven for leaning (not resting, just leaning) ever so slightly on their laurels.

Wrong.

(Before reading any further, please go and see the film.  Spoilers ahead!)

Through the various trailers in the build up to The Winter Soldier's release we were fed tidbits of information that hinted at the potential demise of Nick Fury.  Boy does that story element turn out to be small fry!  Marvel Studios go one step further and tear down S.H.I.E.L.D altogether.  To me this shows that they aren't afraid to tackle big, bold story themes that shake things up, and reminds me very much of comic book type story telling.

Alongside this all out action, you have an overall film feel that harks back to the spy classics of yesteryear.  With suspense, tension, and great characters alongside the action that you would come to expect from a Marvel blockbuster.  With Robert Redford in particular playing his part brilliantly.

All of this doesn't even include my two favourite elements to The Winter Soldier!

The first is the introduction of Falcon.  The MCU has introduced us to Gods, Alien Superpowers and Enhanced Super Soldiers.  The closest to a non super hero is Tony Stark.  Although a genius, playboy billionaire and creator of The Iron Man Suit isn't my idea of non super.  Even Black Widow and Hawkeye exhibit some extraordinary abilities, and if Marvel Studios decide to explore their backstories further in stand alone films, I wouldn't be surprised to find some kind of genetic modification or enhancement being introduced by way of differentiation to us mere mortals.  Falcon, however, changes all this.  Before donning his wings we first meet Falcon as Sam Wilson, jogging around The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.  Here he is repeatedly lapped by Captain America, each time Rogers calls 'on your left' to alert Wilson to his passing.  On each pass Sam gets more and more frustrated.  Catching his breath post run, we also see that Sam Wilson is not supporting the trim, muscular physique of Rogers.  From the very beginning we are shown that Sam Wilson is a man, a soldier like many others around the world.  Doing his duty in the hope of making the world a safer and more just place for us to live.  This makes his later heroics all the more special.  You don't need to be superhuman to be a hero in the MCU.

Second is the now familiar Marvel end credit sequence.  Although the word is already out that we will be seeing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, I really like how they've been introduced at the end of The Winter Soldier.  Their captivity (at one can only assume to be the hands of Hydra) is sympathetic to their 'children of Magneto' backstories.  Is the possibility of an introduction of X-Men into the MCU too much to dream of at this point?

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. picks up the pace

This TV show would have to have done something very wrong for me not to have liked it.  That said, prior to the mid season break, the field was still very much being set.  Since it's return to Channel 4 a few weeks ago, it doesn't seem to have stopped for breath!

I still have this week's episode to watch, but with Skye in a very bad way and Deathlok's introduction I can't wait to see what's going to happen next.

In the last episode we see Skye get shot and Deathlok make his first official appearance, did anyone notice The Incredible Hulk name drop?
When arguing with Ward, Agent Coulson threatens him with cryo-cell guard duty.  Who's cryo-cell, I hear you ask?  Well for those of you who didn't pick up on it, it was Blonsky.

Remember him?  The Abomination was born from a combination of Emil Blonsky and a serum adapted by the military to try and make a super soldier following Bruce Banner's accident and the birth of The Hulk.  In the end he was beaten into submission by Hulk and is now, it would seem, chilling out in a cryo-cell courtesy of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Knowing that Mark Ruffalo is contracting to more appearances as Bruce Banner and The Hulk, is this the first seeds being sown of a stand alone Hulk movie?  Too much of a stretch you think?  Only time will tell.