MCU: 15 greatest Captain America moments of all-time
“Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier”..L to R: Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) & Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) ..Ph: Zade Rosenthal..© 2014 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.
12. Captain America Vs. Winter Soldier
Film: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Steve’s lifelong friendship with Bucky Barnes was one most engaging partnerships in all of the MCU.
The pair never failed to have each other’s backs while Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan had worked very well together on-screen, constantly bringing the duo’s scenes to life with a real and endearing chemistry. And that chemistry developed over the course of The First Avenger as Bucky went from Steve’s protective big brother figure to an ally in the war that they fought shoulder-to-shoulder – all of which made it even more unbearable when he fell to his death during a risky mission.
However, that heartfelt relationship would headline the sequel, The Winter Soldier, as Bucky returned from the dead as the titular character – an enhanced super-soldier (like Steve) with a bionic arm who had been created by Hydra to be their expert assassin. As you can imagine, this led to one hell of a showdown (well, two actually).
After tracking him throughout the first half of the film, Steve finally came face-to-face with the mysterious Winter Soldier when the latter attempted to kill him and Black Widow in broad daylight. Naturally, they resisted and an all-out battle followed, with Steve and his new enemy facing-off on the streets – one-armed with his Vibranium shield, the other with his Vibranium arm.
As the battle raged on, the evenly matched warriors stood toe-to-toe with each other… that is, until the Winter Soldier’s mask got ripped off in the process, leaving Steve to look on in awe as he realized that his best friend didn’t die all of those years before.
Having built up the tension really well throughout the film, this was a worthy reveal that managed to up both the ante and the stakes for the final act. More than that, it was a well-choreographed fight that really served its purpose in proving that Bucky was a more-than-worthy adversary of Captain America’s.