Captain America doesn’t use parachutes; he thinks they’re for sissies. So how does he get down from a plane? The American way, as you can see in a new four-minute sneak peek from the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier .
The clip, which comes by way of Fandango , follows the First Avenger, Chris Evans’ Captain America, and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow as they prepare to take down a squad of baddies holding some non-baddies hostage on a ship. Refreshingly, the baddies speak French, and there is some mention of Batroc, a French villain based on Batroc the Leaper. In the comics, Batroc jumps around quite a bit and kicks both people and things while wearing purple and gold, and he will presumably be doing so when Captain America: The Winter Soldier hits theaters next month.
In the Captain America comics , Batroc also has a Salvador Dali mustache. The mustache does not appear to have survived the transition to film. Quel dommage.
Of course, it’s not called Captain America: Batroc the Leaper , it’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier . Once the Captain finishes smacking around the smaller players, the movie reminds us, he’ll still have a full dance card. In addition to the Winter Soldier, Cap will apparently have to deal with a S.H.I.E.L.D. bureaucracy that looks to be turning sinister, with Robert Redford stepping into the lead role for the spy agency after a certain B.A.M.F. director possibly gets put out of commission .
The Captain America sequel looks to have no small degree of shield tossing, bullet deflecting, and metal arm punching. On top of that, it’s got Anthony Mackie playing Falcon, dual-wielding automatic weapons and jumping off of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to do airborne battle with two fighter jets. You could maybe see a picture of that if you were to look up “awesome” in the dictionary, but do you really need to look up “awesome?” Really?
Marvel is looking to make the next Captain America movie the latest in a string of hits revolving around its Avengers franchise. It comes just after the Thor sequel, Thor: The Dark World , hit DVD and online download outlets. That film earned more than $641 million in theaters worldwide following its late-October release , and Marvel is looking to have the good Captain pick up where the Asgardian left off.
Of course, the Marvel movies are all part of a larger universe, each leading into the next big event. The Thor sequel and the forthcoming Captain America flick are building up to next year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron , which will see the band getting back together in 2015 in order to face off against an evil artificial intelligence.
In the mean time, Captain America: The Winter Soldier hits theaters on April 2, meaning that the 2014 summer blockbuster season will be bracketed by Marvel features. The end of the summer will see the wilder side of the Marvel Universe hitting the silver screen, with Guardians of the Galaxy showing up in theaters in August. If you thought a man in red, white, and blue suit stretched the imagination, wait until you see a homicidal, anthropomorphized raccoon riding his sentient tree into battle.