Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a 2014 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Captain America, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2011's
Captain America: The First Avenger and the ninth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, with a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp, Hayley Atwell, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson. In the film, Captain America and the Black Widow join forces to stop a covert enemy that is hiding in Washington, D.C.
Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who wrote
Captain America: The First Avenger,
stated
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
premiered in Los Angeles on March 13, 2014. It was released
internationally on March 26, 2014 and in North America on April 4, 2014,
in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D.
The film became critically and financially successful, having already
grossed nearly $303 million worldwide. A sequel set to be directed by
the Russo brothers is scheduled for release on May 6, 2016.
before that film's release that they were working on a sequel,
and in June 2012, Anthony and Joe Russo entered negotiations to direct.
The following month, casting of the supporting roles began with the
additions of Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. Principal photography
commenced in April 2013 in Los Angeles, California before moving to
Washington, D.C. and Cleveland, Ohio.
Plot
Two years after the Battle of New York,
Steve Rogers lives in Washington, D.C., continues to work for the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and struggles to adapt to contemporary society. Rogers is called to help liberate a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel from Algerian pirates led by Georges Batroc. Aboard, he discovers fellow agent Natasha Romanoff extracting data from the ship's computers. At Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, Nick Fury introduces Rogers to Project Insight: three Helicarriers linked to spy satellites and designed to preemptively eliminate threats.
Fury is unable to access the encrypted data that Romanoff recovered
and becomes suspicious about Project Insight. On his way to rendezvous
with Maria Hill, Fury is ambushed by assailants disguised as police officers, led by a mysterious assassin called the Winter Soldier. Fury escapes, sneaks into Rogers' apartment, and warns Rogers that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been compromised. Fury hands Rogers the USB flash drive
that contains the data from the ship. He is then gunned down by the
Winter Soldier, who escapes. Fury dies in surgery, and Hill recovers the
body.
The next day, Rogers is summoned to Triskelion by senior S.H.I.E.L.D. official Alexander Pierce.
When
Rogers withholds Fury's information, Pierce brands him a fugitive.
Hunted by the agency, Rogers meets with Romanoff. Using data in the
flash drive they discover an old S.H.I.E.L.D. underground base in New
Jersey. There, they activate a supercomputer containing the preserved
consciousness of Arnim Zola, who reveals that since the founding of S.H.I.E.L.D. after World War II, HYDRA
has secretly operated within its ranks, sowing chaos across the world
in the hope that humanity would willingly surrender its freedom in
exchange for safety. Rogers and Romanoff narrowly escape death when a
S.H.I.E.L.D. missile destroys the bunker.
Rogers and Romanoff enlist the help of Sam Wilson,
a veteran Rogers befriended, and acquire his old "Falcon" winged-flight
exoskeleton. After deducing that senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell
is a HYDRA mole, they interrogate him until he divulges that Zola
developed a data-mining algorithm that can identify individuals who
might become future threats to HYDRA's plans. The Insight Helicarriers
will sweep the world, eliminating these individuals with their
satellite-guided guns.
En route to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Rogers and Romanoff are
ambushed by the Winter Soldier. During the fight, Winter Soldier loses
his mask and Rogers recognizes him as Bucky Barnes,
his old World War II comrade. They are captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. but are
rescued by a disguised Hill, who leads them to a hideout where they
discover Fury is alive, having faked his death. Fury plans to sabotage
the Helicarriers by replacing their controller chips.
After members of the World Security Council arrive for the
Helicarriers' launch, Rogers reveals HYDRA's plot to everyone at
Triskelion. Romanoff, disguised as one of the Council members, disarms
Pierce. Fury arrives and forces Pierce to unlock access to S.H.I.E.L.D's
database so Romanoff can expose HYDRA by leaking classified
information. After a struggle, Fury shoots Pierce dead.
Meanwhile, Rogers and Wilson storm two Helicarriers and replace the
controllers, but the Winter Soldier destroys Wilson's suit and fights
Rogers on the third. Rogers fends him off and replaces the final chip,
allowing Hill to take control and destroy all three vessels. The
Helicarrier carrying Rogers and the Winter Soldier crashes into the side
of the Triskelion, where Wilson is fighting double agent Rumlow. Falcon escapes with help from Hill and Fury while Rumlow is caught in an explosion.
Rogers falls off the vessel into the river. His memories slowly
returning, the Winter Soldier pulls Rogers from
the water and
disappears. With S.H.I.E.L.D. in disarray, Fury destroys the last traces
of his identity before heading to Eastern Europe in pursuit of HYDRA's
remaining cells, under the cover of his apparent death. Agent 13 becomes
a member of the CIA. Rumlow is brought into a hospital with severe
burns. Romanoff appears before a Senate subcommittee and later gives
Rogers a dossier on the Winter Soldier program. Both Rogers and Wilson
decide to track down the Winter Soldier.
During a mid-credits scene, Baron von Strucker, at a HYDRA lab, keeps Loki's scepter and two prisoners: one with superhuman speed, the other with telekinetic powers. In a post-credits scene, the Winter Soldier visits the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution to learn of his past.
Cast
Development
Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely said in April 2011 that they had begun writing a sequel for Marvel Studios.
In a June 2011 interview, McFeely said, "The story will likely be in
the present day. We're experimenting with flashback elements for more
period World War II stuff. I can't say much more than that but we made
it baggy enough to refer to more stories in the past".
McFeely later revealed that 98% of the shooting script takes place in the present day,
and that the first few months of writing were a back and forth process
with Marvel, but that after an outline was finished, the story didn't
change much.
Markus and McFeely wanted to adapt Ed Brubaker's
Winter Soldier storyline from the comics, but it took them six months
to convince themselves that they could do it. The two settled on the conspiracy genre for the screenplay and cited
Three Days of the Condor,
The Parallax View, and
Marathon Man as influences.
In September 2011, Chris Evans said that a sequel may not be released until 2014.
In January 2012, Neal McDonough, who played Dum Dum Dugan in
Captain America: The First Avenger, mentioned that a sequel would likely be filmed after the completion of
Thor: The Dark World, which would likely be before the end of 2012.
By March 2012, Marvel whittled down a field of ten potential directors to three candidates; George Nolfi (
The Adjustment Bureau), F. Gary Gray (
The Italian Job), and brothers Anthony and Joseph Russo (
Community) to helm the sequel.
Walt Disney Studios announced the planned release of the sequel to
Captain America: The First Avenger on April 4, 2014. Disney stated, "The second installment will pick-up where …
The Avengers leaves off, as Steve Rogers continues his affiliation with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. and struggles to embrace his role in the modern world."
Markus later elaborated, "I think S.H.I.E.L.D. is the water [Rogers is]
swimming in. It's definitely a Captain America movie. You know, if the
first movie was a movie about the US Army, then this is a movie about
S.H.I.E.L.D... You will learn about S.H.I.E.L.D. You will learn about
where it came from and where it's going and some of the cool things they
have."
In April, F. Gary Gray withdrew his name from consideration, choosing instead to direct the N.W.A. biographical film
Straight Outta Compton.
Filming
Principal photography began on April 1, 2013, at the Raleigh Manhattan Beach Studios in Los Angeles, under the working title
Freezer Burn.
Scenes taking place on the "Lumerian Star" were filmed on the
Sea Launch Commander, docked in Long Beach, California.
In early May, Dominic Cooper confirmed he would return as Howard Stark.
On May 14, 2013, production moved to Washington, D.C. with filming taking place at the National Mall and the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge.
The following day, Garry Shandling was spotted on set reprising his
Iron Man 2 role of Senator Stern.
Other filming locations in Washington, D.C. included the Willard Hotel and Dupont Circle.
Filming in Cleveland began on May 17 and was scheduled to last until mid-June with locations scheduled on the West Shoreway, the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cuyahoga Heights and the Lakeview Cemetery Dam.
Cleveland was chosen as a stand-in for Washington, D.C, with the city's East 6th Street doubling as 7th and D Streets in Southwest D.C.
Other locations in Cleveland included the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland State University, the Cleveland Arcade, Tower City Center, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Western Reserve Historical Society.
Interior shots were also filmed inside private homes and the Pilgrim Congregational Church in Tremont.
Filming in Cleveland concluded on June 27, 2013.
Several years after the events of the first film, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) and Veronica Corningstone 
Six months later, Ron is back in San Diego, but barely able to hold a
job due to his depression. After being fired from Sea World and
botching a suicide attempt,
Ron accepts a job with GNN (Global News Network), the world's first 24
hour news network, for GNN's official launch. He reassembles his news
team, finding Champ Kind (David Koechner), who owns a fried chicken store (that sells bats secretly to cut down on costs), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), now a famous cat photographer, and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell),
who is presumed dead but appears at his own funeral. They are assigned
the unpopular late night timeslot while rival reporter Jack Lime (James Marsden) is put in a primetime slot. Meanwhile, Ron finds that Veronica is dating another man, a psychiatrist named Gary (Greg Kinnear) due to his absence.
As GNN launches, Ron decides to broadcast what the people want to hear, rather than what they need
to hear, and devise a sensationalist and attention grabbing newscast.
Their new approach to news proves to be a massive hit, beating Lime in
ratings by a massive margin, and the other news networks begin to
scramble to emulate them. Ron and his team are then promoted to
primetime, where they enjoy much fame and fortune. Meanwhile, Ron
catches the attention of GNN's manager, Linda Jackson (Meagan Good) and they begin dating. Brick also meets a similarly eccentric GNN office worker named Chani (Kristen Wiig) and immediately falls in love.
Ron begins to let his newfound fame get to his head, and he begins to
neglect his parental obligations to Walter, angering Veronica. He also
alienates Brian, Champ, and Brick. During a party celebrating GNN
becoming the highest rated news network in the nation, Lime causes Ron
to slip and suffer a head injury, becoming blind.
piano recital, as Walter had composed
a piece in honor of Ron. At the same time, an exclusive news story
comes in, requiring Ron to cover it. Ron goes to the set, where he
proceeds to go on a rant criticizing news networks, including GNN, for
focusing on ratings rather than the news and leaves the set, intending
to go to Walter's recital. However, he is intercepted by Jack Lime and
the teams from a number of other national news networks, including
Tannen, who want to kill him due to his fame. Burgundy's friends then
arrive to defend him and a massive free for all battle ensues. Despite
the fighting, Ron manages to reach Walter's recital in time.
Will Ferrell
(Ron Burgundy) 
Paul Rudd
(Brian Fantana)
Steve Carell
(Brick Tamland) 
David Koechner
(Champ Kind)
Christina Applegate
(Veronica Corningston ) 
Kristen Wiig
(Chani)
