PJ's MCU: The First Avenger: Captain America

First off, thanks for hitting the jump and taking the time to view my article. This is the first released in a series of what my ideal MCU would look like. I have long been a fan of the character of Captain America, and think that his comic origions translate very well into the movies. This, however, means that this movie pitch is quite similar to the actual Captain America: The First Avenger.

To understand my universe you must understand that: I am assuming that Marvel has leased the rights to the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and most other non-Avenger characters to Fox, under the condition that Fox is on board with making a unified universe for these characters to share. This is so that the characters not on the Avengers will still have movies that advance the plot of the entire universe and so that the characters are given the degree of separation that they have in the comics. Also, you should understand that my universe is darker, more realistic than the fun-rompy tone of current MCU films.

This is technically the third film released:

• X-Men (Fox)
• Hulk (Disney)
• The First Avenger: Captain America (Disney)
• S.H.I.E.L.D. Season One (Netflix)
• Fantastic Four (Fox)
• Spider-Man (Disney)
• Iron Man (Disney)
• X2: Mutants United (Fox)
• X-Force Investigations (FX)
• Thor (Disney)
• Ant-Man (Disney)
• The Avengers (Disney)
• S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Two (Netflix)

Now, you may ask - what is the reason for doing the third one first? I would reply that I don't really have a good reason, only that I am doing more reading before I want to write the X-Men movie, and the decision to move Hulk to the second released film came late in the game. 

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Story:

The First Avenger: Captain America Opening Scene

Meanwhile, in America, Steve Rodgers, a man however patriotic he may be, finds himself 4-F and unable to sign up for the military, due to sickness and frailty. Upon hearing of his passion to serve, U.S. Army General Chester Phillips recruits him for a top secret military operation, codenamed Operation Rebirth.

Before Steve goes away for his weeks of testing, he meets with his best friend and fellow soldier, Bucky Barnes, after a night of partying and fun, it is clear that they have a brotherly relationship. In going to the camp, he is greeted by General Phillips, Howard Stark, and Dr. Abraham Erskine, the latter two being the masterminds behind the super soldier serum. He is introduced to the team assembled, a group of highly patriotic young men, most of whom being 4-F. After the camp is over, most have been forced to stop due to the strain of the testing. Dr Erskine and General Phillips determine that the best of the remaining candidates is Steve, based on his great ethics and high amount of patriotism. 

He goes through with the vita-ray operation, coming out a perfect specimen of a man. After running tests on him in the lab, they determine he is stable enough to transfer to another location where tests will be continued, to ensure that nothing has gone wrong with their expiriment.

As they exit the lab to go to a transport vehicle, they are attacked by 3 Nazi spies, disguised as American soldiers who shoot General Phillips, kill Dr. Erksine, and throw grenades into the lab. Two are shot down, but the final one escapes in a car, with Steve, on foot, hot on his tail. As Steve tracks him down, he begins to beat down on the spy. The spy yells out in pain as his face is battered. Steve eventually lets up, realizing that the right thing to do would to be bringing him in. Before he can even pick him up, the spy mutters “Hail HYDRA,” killing himself by biting down on a fake tooth.

After that incident, Steve is put through intense training for three months, becoming an expert in hand to hand combat, gymnastics, and military strategy by Colonel Rex Applegate and Special Agent Peggy Carter, the latter of whom he has clear romantic tension with. Howard Stark presents him with a prototype shield made of adamantium, before sending him off to a base in Europe.

It is there where he is presented with a briefing on HYDRA, and informed of his mission, by Agent Carter, to take down a known HYDRA base in the south of France. He suggests that his friend, Sargent Bucky Barnes and his team of Army Rangers, known as the Howling Commandos, be his team. When they arrive, the soldiers bond and party in the nearby French town.
The following day, the team is shown their experimental armor, which looks like the traditional Captain America suit, though tan. The team rides up to the base, suiting up as they go. After managing to take the base, despite some highly advanced weaponry, the military is delighted by the result, as are the soldiers involved. In seeing how effective that Steve was on the battlefield, Bucky nicknames him Captain America.

As they arrive back at base, Steve celebrates with Peggy, eventually kissing her, much to the delight of Bucky. After a few days of rest, the team goes to do a training exercise, grabbing their gear, Steve realizes that the Commandos have painted it like the classic Captain America gear. “For Captain America!” the team excalims upon his discovery.

Two more HYDRA bases are taken down by this elite team and General Phillips eventually presents Steve with an official version of the Captain America armor, making him the spokesman for the military. After more missions and commercials filmed for the Army, the Commandos prepare for an upcoming mission, and a hugely dangerous one at that. They plan on taking a train filled with a HYDRA shipment going through the French Alps, believing that it would be a devastating blow to the Nazi science division. The team is in the howling winds of the Alps, some set charges across a large bridge, whilst others prepare to wire onto the train. The train begins coming toward them, and the team all wires down toward the train. As Bucky, Cap, and several others land of the train, a turret atop the train comes up and blows one of the locations where the wire is being held. Four members of the team fall to their death below, and one is grabbed mid-air by Captain America. As the train continues going, Bucky starts cutting into the roof of the car they are on. Suddenly, HYDRA soldiers burst from the widows onto the top of the train, firing new, red laser weapons at the Commandos. “Holy sh*t!” exclaims one soldier as his brother-in-arms is vaporized. The commandos raise their weapons at the agents of HYDRA, taking down three. The remaining two activate shields which deflect the bullets. Another Howling Commando is shot and vaporized. Cap rolls to the feet of the first soldier, disarming him and throwing him off of the edge of the train by his gun, managing to keep the weapon in hand. He throws the gun to Bucky, then blocks a shot from the second soldier with his shield, who absorbs the shot with his shield, although his shield is deactivated. As the HYRDA troop takes aim at Cap, Bucky shoots the soldier through his head, vaporizing him. Cap manages, however, to grab the weapon, which he takes for himself. The duo, followed by the remainder of the commandos, drop into the train.

As they fight through the train, they reach a front car, where they know Johann Schmidt is hiding. They are met with heavy resistance from a large party of HYRDA operatives, killing another one of the Commandos. As Bucky and Cap finish off the rest of the agents of HYDRA, they see that Schmidt comes out with his hands up. As Bucky prepares to shoot him, Steve says they have to do the right thing and take him prisoner. Bucky understands, when suddenly Schmidt pulls out a pistol, shooting Bucky in the arm and flinging Bucky out of the car. One of the commandos shoots Schmidt in the leg, who falls down, repeatedly exclaiming, “Cut off one head two more grow in its place!”

Steve breaks down at the loss of his best friend, but is reminded by one of the commandos that they have to escape with the intel before the bridge. One of the commandos secures Schmidt as the others grab various HYDRA weapons for examination. Steve grabs the power core of the weapons, a metal cylinder with glowing red gas. The commandos then jump out of the train, parachuting to the safe zone below and blowing the bridge.

Steve searches for hours on end for Bucky, eventually returning to camp, where he breaks down, Peggy by his side. After discussing the weapons they found, the team is unenthusiastic about their next mission, especially with the arrival of replacement commandos. Eventually, General Phillips manages to convince Steve that the war is more important and HYDRA is simply too dangerous.
In an interrogation room, Johann Schmidt is stalling the interrogation, clearly leading it nowhere. The Americans are just about to give up when suddenly a hole is blasted in the side of the interrogation room, killing 3 soldiers, and giving Schmidt the opportunity to escape. As he steps out of the hole, he peels off his face, revealing the Red Skull.

A transport vehicle comes to pick him up. Steve Rodgers runs out of the hole as the vehicle begins speeding away. He runs and grabs a motorcycle, giving chase to Schmidt. The back of the vechile opens up, revealing a group of armed HYDRA soldiers who shoot at, and hit the motorcycle, causing Steve to flip over the handlebars. Suddenly, the vehicle spins around, the HYDRA soldiers all getting out and securing Captain America. He is hit with the butt of a gun and we cut to black.
FADE IN: Steve is tied up, shirtless. As he comes to, we see that Red Skull is standing in front of him. After an intense scene of interrogation, Red Skull orders Steve be sent to the basement for testing. As soldiers transport him down, Steve breaks free, beating all of the HYDRA soldiers down. He rips off a vent in one easy move, crawling through.

As he crawls through the vent, alarms blare, soldiers prepare for combat below. He jumps down from another vent onto a soldier and quickly disarms his partner, keeping a hold of his weapon. As two more soldiers rush him, he shoots them, and runs down the hall, only to be greeted by a party of soldiers, all of whom Steve bests in hand-to-hand combat. As he continues down the hall, he arrives in a hangar, where the Red Skull is preparing to go onto an airplane. Steve shoots the plane, then aims toward the Red Skull, only to be surrounded by HYDRA troops.

He drops his weapon, but quickly disarms and knocks out the troops surrounding him. He runs up to the plane, prepared to face the Red Skull, however Steve is merely shot at. He counts his losses, then runs for the exit of the hangar bay, finding a HYDRA vehicle, hotwiring it and driving off.
Upon returning to the base, Agent Carter is happy to see him, and he asks her to go dancing after the war. Of course, she accepts the proposition. We montage through another few battles, and General Phillips returns to inform the team of the fact that they know where several HYDRA leaders are hiding out, including Johann Schmidt. All of the commandos are eager for the chance to take down HYDRA, and they all prepare for their mission.

At this point, Peggy and Steve go out to dinner. The next day, General Phillips presents Captain Rodgers with a radio system and the commandos suit up and roll out. When they arrive at the base, they are immediately outgunned, yet based on the cunning military strategy by Captain Rodgers, they improbably make it into the base, with only few causalities.

As they continue on through the base, they eventually make it to another hangar, where the door is being opened and a plane is being prepared, with a Power Gem powered bomb being loaded. The commandos cannot make it to the plane, yet the super soldier, Captain America, is able to ride a motorcycle up to, jump on, and board the massive plane. Steve sneaks around the plane, disabling HYDRA operatives as he goes, until all that is left is the pilot and the Red Skull with his guard.
He moves into the large room where the individuals are and he jumps down, landing on the guard and knocking him out. Red Skull turns to Captain America and pulls out the glowing red stone from the beginning of the movie. After their confrontation, in which Schmidt explains that the Power Gem gives him great power, with the obvious side-effect being the fact that his head is a red skull, Steve throws Red Skull across the room, but the leader of HYDRA manages to shoot the pilot and the controls of the plane. As Cap tries (and fails) to get the plane to continue flying, he uses his radio to contact Peggy and tells her that he will be late for the dance, as the plane plunges into the icy depths of the water below. FADE OUT.

FADE IN: Agent Maria Hill discovers Captain America within the plane. “Over here!” she exclaims to the other Agents of Shield in the aircraft with her. The other agents run over from excavating the red stone to look at what she has found.

MID-CREDITS: Steve Rodgers wakes up, in plain white room, in a hospital bed. Nick Fury walks in: “Captain Rodgers, we have a lot to discuss.”

POST-CREDITS: The Power Gem and a decidedly human-shaped cannister are being transported to a S.H.I.E.L.D. base. The camera PANS in on a screen on the cannister - which shows vital signs. 

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Cast: