Commentary: ‘Captain America’ Movies Are The Center Of The MCU Canon
by Frank Martin
Canon is extremely important in a narrative setting as far-reaching as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are so many different entries that have so many different developments in terms of plot and characterization that it may be hard to keep track. Sometimes, stories need to stand on their own without further complicating the canon of the universe. And yet, there also needs to be installments that take full advantage of the franchise canon in order to tell the kinds of stories that only a large cinematic universe can handle. In this regard, the Captain America film series is the most canon-heavy in all of the MCU.
It all starts with the very first Captain America movie, which had the subtitle The First Avenger for a reason. It propped up Steve Roger (Chris Evans) as the start of an entire universe that eventually gave birth to S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. There was even an infinity stone (the Tesseract), introducing the concept that will eventually culminate in Avengers: Infinity War. Once again, Captain America: The Winter Soldier changed the entire canon by eliminating S.H.I.E.L.D. as a force in the universe. Then, Captain America: Civil War completely altered the landscape by breaking up the Avengers.
Now that Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) has transitioned into the role of Captain America, canon has once again become extremely important in this franchise. The newest film, Captain America: Brave New World, continues this trend. It not only revisits a plot line developed in Eternals by addressing the Celestial sticking out of the Earth, but it also ties up a loose story arc that began in The Incredible Hulk. But even more than that, there were talks of reforming the Avengers during the film. Not to mention the fact that President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) was incarcerated, thus changing the status quo within the universe. All of this is proof that the Captain America franchise is the tentpole of MCU cannon.
Captain America: Brave New World is now in theaters.
