Film Talk: Comparing Steve Rogers in The First Avenger and Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) was the first movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe I’ve ever seen, and it was the beginning of my adoration for Chris Evans and his character Steve Rogers. The character concept of Steve Rogers have always been an interesting one, and I want to compare him between his first movie and his last one.
So now, I want to compare the character of Steve Rogers from CA: The First Avenger with CA: Civil War (2016). I won’t really talk about his other appearances between the two movies such as The Avengers (2012), CA: The Winter Soldier (2014) , and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) since I want to focus more on comparing how far he’s gotten rather than the development of how he got there.
When we first met Steve ini CA: TFA he was immediately shows as the little guy trying to join the army with many health problems. He was shown as the only ineligible candidate throughout the movie, but he was determined having tried the test five times in five different cities. He was only allowed to join with the help of Dr. Abraham Erskine, who also gave Steve his super-human ability.
In the beginning of the first movie, Steve had no chance of leading an army, he couldn’t even get in to one. Then through time, he became the leader of the Avengers, even being credited as “The First Avenger”. Finally in the end, he was the reason The Avenger fell apart.
In CA:CW, the fact that Steve didn’t want to sign the accords was something that made me question whether he was being selfish of selfless.
In the first Movie, he made it clear that didn’t want to kill anyone.
In CA: CW, it was made clear how many people were harmed during the attack in Nigeria. If singing the accord meant that more people would be safe, why didn’t he do it? I questioned his motifs many times throughout the movie. The obvious reason he didn’t do it was to gain freedom. If he signed that accord he wouldn’t have access to travel freely, but by not signing he was a wanted criminal. Steve would even fight his friends rather than sign the accords.
In CA: CW, Steve was told many times to surrender but never did.
and the question has even been addressed in CA: TFA.
Ever since we first saw him, quitting was never his answer. He would stand and fight until he got beaten up. He never gave up in a fight, just like how he never gave up in trying to join the army.
Even Bucky addressed the issue too.
But Steve was completely in a different situation. Back then, he wasn’t physically as strong as when he’s Captain America. Back then, running away meant that he admitted to being weak and letting others get to him, but as Captain America he doesn’t need to prove himself so much, so why was it so hard for him to sign the accords?
Steve has mentioned before that by signing the accords meant that they were “giving up” and looking at his habit, he never gives up. But the accords meant that the world saw him as something that’s too powerful instead of something that’s weak, so the reason he doesn’t want to sign has nothing to do with him trying to prove himself anymore. It lies within the fact that they will be under observation and protection under a government organisation.
In CA: TFA, there was this conversation between Steve and Peggy after Peggy saw Steve performing in front of the troops.
The idea of being contained has been mentioned before, and Steve made a note that he would rather be celebrity rather than a lab rat. So when he’s given the idea that some government organisation will monitor their actives he rejected it. Especially since Peggy made a point that he’s worth more than that.
Another reason why didn’t want to sign the accords was because of Bucky. If he signed those accords, he knew he would never get Bucky back, they would’ve captured him if not kill him. In the first movie, we’ve seen that Steve was wiling to go to enter a war zone to bring back his friend.
This is one my favourite interactions between Steve and Bucky in CA: TFA, when they were having a drink before going to war.
Something to note about in that interaction was how Bucky never saw Steve as anything more than “Steve”. He didn’t see Steve as Captain America the man with plan or anything like that, just like how he never saw Bucky as The Winter Soldier. They saw each other as who they really are, which is maybe why it was so easy for Steve to give up the mantle of Captain America for Bucky.
Steve went through a lot between the two movies, but his ideals and morals stayed the same. In the end, he’s still the same person. Below is a scene where we first met Bucky and Steve was getting pretty beat up.
He said “I can do this all day.” He later said it again during the final of the movie to Red Skull, but it’s not as poetic as when he said it to Tony during the ending of CA: CW.
It really shows how Steve is the same guy. Never running away and willing to risk it all for his friend. Even after he lead an army through war and became the leader of the Avengers, he doesn’t lose sight of what’s important to him and to stand for what he believes in. Just as Dr. Erskine has told him before he was given the serum.
Dr. Erskine, as he’s dying, even made a gesture to remind Steve not to lose his heart.
Steve Rogers has always been one my favourite character in the MCU, and the reason for that is because how his character is portrayed. Honestly speaking, his origin story isn’t as cool as Iron Man or Hulk or Thor, he isn’t a god or a genius like Tony and Banner, he was the underdog that started from nothing and made his way to the top, which is why I find him most relatable.
