00:00-05:00
We open on a snowy landscape. This is southern Iceland, where production took place, although likely treated by digital effects.
Then we are in 1991.
There’s been some discussion about these massive date and location titles.
Inside a bunker. We are now on a set in Pinewood Studios Atlanta, the studio home of the film.
A soldier types a code. We see 7826, and more likely 17826. There is no convincing theory on this potential easter egg. It does spell STAN, as in Lee or Sebastian Stan.
The book. Note the star, like Cap’s logo.
And from out of a massive tube – The Winter Soldier, played by Sebastian Stan.
This is his 4th appearance in the MCU, after his brief cameo on Ant-Man (2015). He told Collider:
Where we find the character is really where he’s at the post-credits scene at the end of Winter Soldier. So that’s where he picks up in this film. It very much is a big struggle, figuring out what his life has been about and what he’s really been up to. That’s what I think the similarity between them is. They’re men out of time, struggling to embrace this new life, and how do they do it.
A soldier reads from the book. He’s Vasily Karpov, played by Gene Farber.
Karpov appears in the comics. A ruthless Soviet officer, he was responsible for finding the injured Bucky and turning him into The Winter Soldier.
He was created by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark, and first appeared in Captain America v5 #5.
Then the magic words that unlocks The Winter Soldier. They are:
- Longing.
- Rusted.
- Seventeen.
- Daybreak.
- Furnace.
- Nine.
- Benign.
- Homecoming.
- One.
- Freight car.
‘Homecoming’ is the biggest Easter egg, the name of the upcoming Spider-Man film. The others seem to be random, so far.
Then an unknown road.
The Winter Soldier spots a car. It’s a 1990 Cadillac Brougham.
He causes it to crash. In the car he steals a few packages from the trunk. We will see more of it.
Then the Marvel Studios logo. It is a little strange that a studio logo comes after the film has started. But Marvel is no other studio.
Then in Lagos, present day. We are actually in downtown Atlanta, area known as The Gulch. It was an unused space set for planning and transformed into these markets.
We see Scarlet Witch. She’s played by Elizabeth Olsen.
This is Olsen’s 3rd appearance in the MCU. She last appeared in Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015). She told Collider:
We leave Scarlett Witch without a home, without a family, and she ends up creating a surrogate family within the Avengers and making a decision to be a part of the team.
Over the intercom, she is talking to Captain America. He’s played by Chris Evans.
This is his 7th appearance in the MCU. We last saw him in Ant-Man (2015). He told Slashfilm:
He’s still on the search for Bucky. That’s the thing about these movies. You go do The Avengers, you gotta put your own plot on hiatus for a second, and then we try to pick up where we left off. A big piece of that is searching for Bucky. But at the same time, we left off The Avengers [Age of Ultron] with a new team of Avengers. So they’re still trying to break in the new members. And I think it’s no secret that what happens is there’s a world around them that expects a little bit more responsibility for their actions. The Avengers have been operating independent of any government restriction, so I think there’s plenty of people that makes nervous. I don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying what happens is certain governments expect a bit of a change.
On Cap’s bed are some newspapers. On the paper is an ad for an event on the 22nd March, and another saying it is the Saturday edition. So it seems likely that this is the 16th March 2016, the closest Saturday before the 22nd.
With them is Black Widow. She’s played by Scarlett Johansson.
This is Johansson’s 5th appearance in the MCU. We last saw he in Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015). She told We Got This Covered:
I think when you find her in Civil War, she’s looking to strategize her position, putting herself in a place where she is able to let the powers that be fight it out or whatever amongst themselves. She’s always a little bit on the perimeter so she can have a better perspective of what’s really going on.
On the roof is Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie.
This is Mackie’s 4th appearance in the MCU. We last saw him in Ant-Man (2015). He talked about Falcon’s friendship with cap to Slashfilm:
I think their relationship carries over from when I was introduced in Cap 2 and you saw a little bit of in Avengers. There’s definitely a confidence and respect between the two of them. You get to see more of that. I think our relationship is more mano a mano as opposed to mano and friend. It’s not so much that it’s challenged, just made stronger.
Falcon is actually not in Atlanta. He’s in Puerto Rico, looking over the city. Specifically, the World Plaza Building, 268 PR-1, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
With Falcon is Red Wing.
In the comics Red Wing is actually a trained bird, who has a telepathic link with Falcon (because of cosmic shenanigans). It has now been changed into a drone with added powers.
He first appeared in Captain America #117 (September 1969), which was also the Falcon’s first appearance. He was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan.
Redwing follows a truck down a street. It’s Avenida Borinquen in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Between San Antonio and Argentina.
The truck attacks the Institute for Infectious Disease. It’s the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center. 395 Piedmont Ave, NE, Atlanta. The IFID is not a real organisation.
05:00-10:00
Out of the truck comes various goons. And their boss, Brock Rumlow, played by Frank Grillo.
Last time we saw him, he was a member of Hydra, but here he’s dressed like his comic book alter ego, Crossbones. Although he’s never called that in the film.
This is Grillo’s second time in the MCU. He last appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).
The Avengers arrive and there’s a fight!
Scarlett Witch uses her powers to remove the gas. In the comics, she doesn’t have telekinesis, although her complicated ‘Hex’ powers have been simplified for the MCU.
Black Widow fights Rumlow. He kills two of his own men in the process.
Back at the markets. Rumlow fights Cap.