If there's one thing The Falcon and The Winter Soldier made clear, it's that the Captain America mantle doesn't only belong to Steve Rogers. Yes, he's the original (and the best...for now), but both John Walker and Sam Wilson have already brought something very different to the role as the latest heroes to wield the shield.
Regardless of who your favourite Captain America is, there have been a lot of different costumes worn by that hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
From a version worn by Steve Rogers as part of the USO show in World War II right up to his present-day adventures, Steve is a hero who has sported many different looks in this shared world. Now, we have John and Sam to throw into the mix, and there's been plenty of debate about which one of them looked best on screen.
Having given that exact point some thought, we're now ranking every live-action Captain America costume in the MCU from worst to best! To see where your favourite lands, simply hit the "Next" button below!
11. 2012 Suit (The Avengers)
Sorry, Agent Coulson, but this was an abomination. This wasn't really based on anything from the comic books, and while it was clearly Marvel Studios and Joss Whedon's attempt to ground the hero's look in the present day, it ended up looking goofy and weird. However, Chris Evans might hate this suit more than any of us based on past comments!
The costume is far too busy - it has so many zips and pouches, it would fit nicely into a 90s comic book - and it certainly didn't do the actor's impressive physique any favours.
The biggest problem was the helmet/mask. Fitting awkwardly around Steve's head, it just looked plain stupid. This made a comeback in Avengers: Endgame after its 2012 debut in The Avengers, and while some improvements had been made (it definitely made Evans' ass look good), it remains Cap's worst live-action costume.
10. Time-Travel Suit (Avengers: Endgame)
This wasn't really personalised to Steve, but it did look pretty great on him. Used to travel through the Quantum Realm and time itself, Cap donned this for a decent chunk of Avengers: Endgame.
It looked particularly cool during that final trip back through time as Cap stood there with Mjolnir in one hand and the Infinity Stones in the other. That's a journey we'd love to see explored on the big screen (or on Disney+), and if this suit were to make a return, we could definitely live with it.
As it stands, it's a little too generic to rank any higher, but still better than that 2012 effort.
9. USO Suit (Captain America: The First Avenger)
This was Marvel Studios' way of paying homage to the comic books, and we appreciated this as much then as we did seeing the Scarlet Witch and Vision's classic costumes in WandaVision.
Highlighted as part of that fantastic montage with "Star Spangled Man" playing in the background, watching Steve punch "Adolf Hitler" in a costume torn straight out of the Silver Age was just amazing. Throw in his original shield, and this is a suit that remains among the MCU's most memorable.
We'd have liked to see a little more of it in some ways, but as a fun nod to the source material for fans, this USO costume probably had just the right amount of screentime.
8. World War II Suit (Captain America: The First Avenger)
Without Bryan Hitch's work in The Ultimates, who knows what Captain America might have looked like on the big screen. Thankfully, this suit borrowed a lot from that design, including the awesome helmet/chin strap combo. Like Steve's suit in The Avengers, though, it's definitely a bit...busy.
While we appreciate that this was meant to look like something Cap put together himself on the battlefield, it gets way too complicated from the midsection up and suffers, as a result.
On the plus side, this does look pretty terrific in action, and it was a lot of fun seeing Steve wear it in the present day (during Captain America: The Winter Soldier's final act). This design worked nicely at the time but shows how far costume design has come in the years that have followed.
7. U.S. Agent (The Falcon And The Winter Soldier)
We're counting John Walker's Captain America and U.S. Agent costumes as one here because, as John himself pointed out in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier's finale, the latter is just a different colour!
It's hard to picture Chris Evans wearing this, but as a leaner, very different Cap, it suited Wyatt Russell nicely. It was wise to stick with that helmet design, and the different way of incorporating the "A" and star both on the helmet and costume worked better than anyone might have expected.
We're definitely excited to see more of U.S. Agent in action as the red, black, and white works well together. With any luck, he'll get a new shield because that was definitely missed from this look in the finale.
6. Prototype Suit (Captain America: The First Avenger)
It's easy to forget this, but Steve actually wore three different costumes in Captain America: The First Avenger. Realising that he had to head into action to save his friends, the hero threw on a leather jacket and some pants over his USO costume, combined that with a helmet and goggles, and looks like a total badass.
This was only in a very small part of the 2011 movie, but Steve's first fight with the Red Skull decked out in this suit made for a memorable piece of imagery, and one we've definitely not forgotten.
An argument could be made that this is among Cap's most underrated costumes, and we'd have honestly been fine with this being the hero's "final" World War II costume throughout the entire movie.
5. Stealth Suit (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)
The Russo Brothers brought an entirely different feel to Captain America's world in The Winter Soldier, and immediately set the tone for the movie with a killer opening that put Steve in a "stealth" suit.
We're still not sure how Cap managed to change the colour of his shield, but this live-action take on the hero's Secret Avengers costume worked nicely on the big screen. It was also a fun way of differentiating between Steve's adventures with the Avengers and the missions he embarked on for S.H.I.E.L.D.
It's easy enough to understand why this was ditched for the final act; however, it would have definitely been cool to see Steve utilise this in Avengers: Infinity War when he continued to protect the world as part of the MCU's "Secret Avengers." Then again, that was pretty damn great in its own right...
4. Secret Avengers Suit (Avengers: Infinity War)
Some of you will be shocked to see this rank so highly, especially when it really strips back much of what makes Captain America...Captain America. This is probably the closest thing we'll get to seeing "Nomad" in the MCU, and unlikely many of the other costumes here, it's played heavily into what was playing out on screen in Avengers: Infinity War.
After dropping his shield at Iron Man's feet in Captain America: Civil War, Steve was no longer Captain America, and that explains why he'd ditched the helmet, lost the star, and allowed the red and white around his midsection to fade and become dirty (that, however, may have also been a result of heading into battle wearing the same suit all the time).
With no Iron Man to create costumes for Cap and his Secret Avengers, this battle-damaged look just worked on screen, and really stood out when the action moved to Wakanda and he got two new shields!
3. Modern Suit (Avengers: Age Of Ultron/Captain America: Civil War)
This costume didn't really change between the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, but it honestly didn't need to. A major upgrade from The Avengers, this design - created by Tony Stark in storyline - was fantastic, and did a superb job of making a design that had no right working in live-action stand out as being among the MCU's best.
The "Avengers" logo on the arm was a nice touch, and it was easy to once again see that Marvel Studios had taken inspiration from Bryan Hitch's comic book work.
Something we probably haven't mentioned enough here is the way the wings on Cap's helmet were incorporated. We'd argue that this was the first of his live-action costumes to really nail those, while the colours found the right balance between realism and paying homage to the comic books.
2. Sam Wilson (The Falcon And The Winter Soldier)
It may seem a little reactionary to rank this so highly, but Marvel Studios absolutely nailed Sam Wilson's Captain America costume in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
By sticking to what worked on the page, this suit both fits into the MCU's aesthetic and pays homage to what Steve Rogers once wore. Designed by the Wakandans, it's a little futuristic (something tells us we've only begun seeing what it can do), but is never taken down a sci-fi route. Throw in a set of badass wings with the red, white, and blue colour scheme, and we're in love with this.
The addition of the white makes us wish that colour had played a more significant role in previous costumes, and while we've only scratched the surface with this Cap suit, it doesn't need to be changed for the Captain America 4 movie we now know is in the works starring Anthony Mackie.
1. Final Suit (Avengers: Endgame)
Similar in design to the suit Steve Rogers wore in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, there were a lot of minor improvements here that ultimately made a massive difference.
The most noteworthy of those was, of course, the chainmail. Fans had been desperate to see that in the MCU since pretty much the beginning, and this costume proved it could work in live-action. Arguably the closes we've had to the classic Captain America suit on screen, this armoured design was the perfect choice for Steve to head into his deadliest battle yet against Thanos.
Steve wearing this while bloodied up as he wielded both his shattered shield and Mjolnir only served to make it look cooler, and if this really was the original Cap's last hurrah, then he went out on a high note.