Captain America: The First Avenger

Set during the height of World War II, Steve Rogers is a frail but brave young man who is repeatedly rejected from military service due to his physical limitations. His unwavering determination catches the eye of Dr. Abraham Erskine, who recruits him for a top-secret military experiment. Injected with a revolutionary Super-Soldier serum and exposed to Vita-Rays, Rogers is transformed into a peak-human specimen. However, after Erskine is assassinated by a Hydra spy, the formula is lost, and Rogers is initially relegated to serving as a colorful propaganda mascot named Captain America.

When Rogers learns that his best friend, Bucky Barnes, and his unit have been captured by Hydra—the Nazi deep-science division led by the ruthless Johann Schmidt (Red Skull)—he goes rogue to execute a daring rescue. Armed with a near-indestructible vibranium shield designed by Howard Stark, Captain America leads the Howling Commandos on a series of high-stakes missions to dismantle Hydra’s advanced weapons facilities, which are powered by the mysterious cosmic energy of the Tesseract.

The war culminates in a desperate battle aboard Schmidt’s massive bomber plane, which is armed with weapons aimed at major global cities. After defeating the Red Skull, Rogers is forced to crash-land the aircraft into the Arctic ice to save millions of lives. Decades later, he awakens in a modern-day hospital in New York City, where S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury informs him that he has been asleep for nearly seventy years, setting the stage for his future as an Avenger.