CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER Theories [THE RIGHT OR WRONG REVIEW!]
Hello and Welcome to PHASE TWO AND BEYOND!
My name is Kennedy. I will be one of the frequent authors of this independent blog. Our other author, Adem, will be posting on a frequent basis as well. Our goal is to try and decipher the past, present, and future of superhero and sci-fi franchises, such as Marvel’s The Avengers, WB’s Justice League, Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Men, Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man, along with a variety of other films and television series. So let’s not waste any time. Our first subject of speculation is…
THEORY STATUS UPDATE (6/7/14): Halfway there!
After the release of the Superbowl trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there has been a lot of buzz about the film, as well as a lot of questions that we hardcore fans have. Here is the trailer to refresh your memory.
Real quick, just wanna say, holy balls I am excited for this movie. Anyway, perhaps the biggest question I have, personally, who is under the sheet?
Well, I may just have a probable theory. Let’s keep in mind that this is just speculation, and I could very well be wrong. I say that because I don’t want to look stupid if I am (but if I’m right, I’ll look like a genius. But I digress).
There has been the rumor of a death in the film, and a lot of people are thinking it might be the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury. This is mainly because in the first trailer, we saw Fury on an operating table.
As for why seems to be revealed in the newest trailer. It appears that the Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes), is responsible, considering Bucky flips an SUV over (also seen in the first trailer),
then we see Fury inside of an upside down vehicle.
From there, that is when we see him on the operating table in the newest trailer, but then another clip in the trailer seemed to change people’s minds about their assumptions of Fury’s death. Fury is seen alive, but beaten up (presumably from the aftermath of the car “accident”).
So some people completely disregarded Fury as the one who dies in the film (considering there are still multiple films Samuel L. Jackson is signed on to still appear in). So it looks like Fury doesn’t die…or does he?
It just so happens that I am almost positive that the covered up corpse we see on the table is Nick Fury. As comic book fans know, the films’ plots and storylines don’t usually completely stay on track with with the plots and storylines in the comics, and whenever they do, they usually flip a few things around.
Take a look at a section I found on Nick Fury’s wiki page, over at Comic Vine.
"When Nick Fury apprehended the Punisher, he had him locked up in the S.H.I.E.L.D. [helicarrier]. The Punisher had been brainwashed and was deranged during this time period[. He] managed not only to escape, but when Nick Fury tried to stop him, Punisher shot him dead. Many of Nick’s former friends believed his death to be a conspiracy and not true. It was only when they saw Nick’s grave, that they finally believed it to be true. The superhero community grieved for the loss of one of it’s greatest [allies].
However, months later, it was [revealed] that Punisher did not indeed murder Fury but that the victim was actually one of [Fury’s] LMD’s ( Life Model Decoy), an exact double/living clone of Fury and that the SHIELD director had used the event to go undercover. Fury was back with a vengeance and took control [of]… S.H.I.E.L.D. once again. He… established good contact between the law enforcement agency and the superhero community. During this time, Nick fought alongside Captain America and Sharon Carter, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent whom Captain America was romantically involved with for many missions.”
You might be reading and wondering, “What does the Punisher have to do with any of this?” The answer is, he doesn’t. Take the entire first paragraph of that excerpt, and replace “The Punisher” with “The Winter Soldier”. Makes sense, right? Kinda? Maybe?
If you aren’t familiar with the Winter Soldier, (spoiler alert) he’s actually Captain America’s best friend and sidekick, James “Bucky” Barnes.
"Wait why is Bucky fighting his best friend? AND WAIT HOW IS HE ALIVE STILL?" If you saw Captain America: The First Avenger, you probably remember the scene where Bucky falls to his apparent death from a high-speeding train, into an icy gorge. Anyone who is familiar with Bucky, knows that he never actually died, but was instead frozen, just as Cap would eventually be. So it’s safe to say, Bucky was frozen in the water down below in the canyon. Eventually, Bucky would return, this time as a brainwashed super soldier (remember how the Punisher was brainwashed when he killed Fury?).
So let’s say that Bucky takes the Punisher’s place in that story arc. Sure, he attacks Fury in the SUV, leading Fury to need operation, but then Fury still survives. I mean, he still looked okay after the car crash. He didn’t look like he was dying to me. So what if Bucky is apprehended by SHIELD, just as the Punisher was, and locked up? Could this be a scene where he is in custody?
And if you ask me, he looks a bit too comfortable (his brainwashed facial expression). Maybe he and Loki have something in common when it comes to being locked up by Nick Fury. Maybe this is what he needs if he fails to kill Fury the first time around. So now, let’s say Winter Soldier escapes and kills Fury, just like Punisher.
Still think there’s not enough evidence? Let’s take a look at the shrouded body again.
Take a look at Black Widow’s face…her beautiful…perfect…sorry. Sorry. Do you see how upset she is? This expression she has, as well as the shot of her crying right before it, is making some fans speculate that under the wraps in actually Bucky, or even Falcon.
In the comics, Bucky and Natasha had a romantic relationship, but wouldn’t that be kind of out of left field for the audience who isn’t as familiar with the comics? I think so. Don’t get me wrong, it would be interesting, but it’s too soon. Anyway, why would she be dating a brainwashed murderer who attacked her organization?
They’re colleagues. Maybe she’s known him for awhile…but this seems unlikely. Sure, she’d be crying over a dead Hawkeye, but I doubt Falcon. I doubt they are as close.
UPDATE 2/13/14: The Falcon is set to appear in the future Captain America films, and possibly more.
Which leads me to my point. Under the sheet HAS to be Nick Fury.
If you pay attention in the films, Black Widow and Nick Fury have a very close relationship. In The Avengers, Black Widow meets Bruce Banner in his shack that he’s living in, halfway across the planet. To lure Banner there, she uses a little girl from the village he lives in. When the little girl leaves, Banner asks Natasha, “And your actress buddy, is she a spy too? Do they start that young?” to which she responds, “I did.”
That line alone tells us Natasha has been involved with SHIELD for most of her life. And isn’t it likely that Fury’s been there longer than she has? Probably. So what if he took her under his wing? What if he was her mentor, and that’s why she’s such a bad-ass? I mean look how close Fury and Widow are in Iron Man 2 (no pun intended).
I mean the director has his arm around one of his agents! And not in a romantic way…almost like, in a fatherly way. So if Fury practically raised Natasha, wouldn’t it make SENSE for her to be upset?
So now let’s say that Nick Fury is in fact the person under the sheet. Let’s say he’s dead…but he isn’t. Referring back to the wiki, Fury doesn’t actually die. Whether he does in fact use a Life Model Decoy in the film, I don’t know, but I doubt it. Perhaps he comes back the way Coulson did. If you’ve been watching Agents of SHIELD, you know it still hasn’t been completely revealed how Coulson came back to life, but however it happened, it traumatized him. Not to mention, Fury is the one who set out the order to bring him back. So maybe if the same thing happens to Fury, he’ll experience the same trauma as Coulson, and realize what he had done to him. But that’s another story. Perhaps a subplot of one of the future films.
Maybe Fury wants to be killed to make another point to the Avengers, like a message saying, “Y’all muthaf**kas need to stay together in case more sh*t like this happens again.” But referring to the wiki, what if after the Avengers mourn over Fury, they find out Coulson is still alive. Wouldn’t that lead them to believe Fury is still alive? But upon seeing his grave, or body, or whatever it may be, they realize he might actually be dead, reuniting the Avengers once again. But then eventually we’ll find out Fury is alive and just wanted to make a point to the world that they need heroes like the Avengers, considering the political backlash at the end of The Avengers.
UPDATE 2/21/14: A newly released TV spot reveals Fury’s demise, but is it true, or is it just to throw the audience off?
It was Nick Fury under the sheet! Granted, my theory wasn’t completely correct, as far as it goes with the Winter Soldier breaking out of captivity and whatnot, but at least I had the identity correct! I will admit, I was not expecting Fury to be revealed alive in the same film, but I totally see why they did that. And how about that Agents of SHIELD finale? Coulson as the new director?! So cool.
Anyway, let’s get back to CA:TWS.
So let’s say Fury is the brainwashed Winter Soldier’s target. Our next question is, who is in charge of the Winter Soldier?
Recently, there was an announcement that Baron von Strucker, an infamous Marvel villain, would be making an appearance in the film, though this is not our main man. Baron von Strucker is a part of HYDRA, the organization responsible for most of the conflict in Captain America: The First Avenger. The leader of that organization, of course was the Red Skull (played by Hugo Weaving). Strucker only works for him.
But what if the Red Skull was never actually killed? What if he came back and with greater power?
This is Alexander Pierce (played by Robert Redford), the head honcho of SHIELD. Higher up than Fury. But what if that’s not his true identity. What if the Red Skull has taken a new face (Literally. The guy wears a mask), and eventually became the top man at SHIELD. And what if his goal is to not only get revenge on Captain America by having his best friend kill him, but also to control the world, with the help of the recently “infiltrated” SHIELD. Seems like a good possibility considering in the comics, the Red Skull was responsible for Bucky’s brainwash. Knowing Nick Fury is the only thing in his way of direct control over SHIELD, he must kill him. Maybe not. I’m not going to try to go into too much detail of what his exact motive is, because, obviously, I haven’t seen the film yet. Hell, he might not even have a motive, or be the Red Skull for that matter. I could be completely wrong!
Going on with this theory that Alexander Pierce is actually the Red Skull, how would he be able to position himself perfectly into SHIELD without being noticed. In fact, how is the Red Skull even around if he was killed? Here’s a question for you. What evidence shows that he ever was killed?
Seeing the film, you will remember that the Red Skull was supposedly defeated, destroyed(?) by the power of the Tesseract, the object Loki pursues in The Avengers. What we found out in The Avengers was that the Tesseract was actually a device that could rip holes in space, hence the invasion of the Chitauri from the other side of the universe. The Tesseract is one of the Infinity Gems (Stones), but I won’t get into that too much in this discussion. So, after seeing the Chitauri (and Iron Man) moving from one place to another through this portal generated by the Tesseract, could it be safe to say that the Red Skull was also transported elsewhere? Take a look at these screencaps when the Red Skull disappears.
The Red Skull opens a portal in space with the Tesseract…
The Tesseract begins to activate…
And it looks as if he is being pulled upward…
Then, the beam pulling him, shoots up into space…
And look at the energy surge…the man definitely went somewhere.
And if you’ve seen Thor, you may notice that the Bifrost and the Tesseract have very similar abilities. After all the Bifrost transports people through space too. The only difference between the two is that one is forged with magic (Bifrost), and the other is an unpredictable element of the universe (Tesseract).
However, the Bifrost can be channeled to any of the Nine Realms in Thor, but what if the Tesseract could only be channeled to one point in the universe?
Theoretically, let’s say we take the Tesseract to any point in the universe (Point A), and decide to open a portal in space, but on the other side of that portal is always the same spot, a fixed point (Point B). It’s a door that can only be opened from one side, which is Point A (unless you have complete control over where you want this portal to open up).
Remember this guy in the mid-credits scene of The Avengers?
This is Thanos, the Mad Titan. We discovered that he was responsible for giving Loki the staff that allowed him to control people’s minds, as well as providing the Chitauri army for him. After the Bifrost was destroyed in Thor, a portal opened in space, and Loki fell through it. What if this specific portal was unprecedented like the portal the Tesseract always makes, and leads to the exact same point in space? And what if there was something waiting on the other side?
If you are familiar with Thanos, he is obsessed with becoming the most powerful thing in the entire universe. He wants to control everything. Time, Space, Minds, Reality, Power, Souls…you name it. Perhaps (in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), throughout the unknown time the Tesseract has been in existence, he discovered exactly where the Tesseract opens its portal up in Point B. So knowing this, he decides to set his headquarters up just outside of Point B. One day, Loki falls through. They get to talking. They both want power, though Thanos’s plans are much greater than Loki’s. Thanos promises to let Loki control Earth as long as he gets the Tesseract for him. To do so, he lets him borrow the staff to control people’s minds to get him what he wants. So Thanos posts his army near Point B, and they wait for the portal to open. Once it does, you know the story.
So, going back to the Red Skull, let’s say the Tesseract transported him to Point B. Thanos encounters him, just as he eventually will with Loki, and somehow sets him up to get back to Earth at a cost.
THEORY UPDATE: Whistles and brushes this one under the rug, hoping no one will notice.
Alright, so I was wrong on this one. Pierce was not the Red Skull, and yeah, that would have been pretty obvious if he was. I think he made a great character on his own. However, I just KNOW the Skull is still lurking out there somewhere. Perhaps we will see his return in the third Cap installment.
Do you have any theories about Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Let us know!
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