WOW.
Saw it last night WOW. It was absolutely brilliant. It felt tighter, more focused and ambitious than the other Marvel films. The fight scenes, the way Cap throws his shield, Black Widow, it was all phenomenally shot.
The story was fantastic. It's not just chugging along, being filler for Avengers 2, it is a huge film in its own right. Like with Thor 2, they're using the sequels to really expand the universe and create a massive, interconnecting story. They are now integral to Avengers, you will need to see them to understand what's happening. It's brilliant!
Now, for spoilers.
Spoiler
FUCKING HELL! Where to start. Batroc! A Stephen Strange name drop! Sharon Carter! Was that Crossbones? BUCKY! It was a non stop nerd boner! IT WAS AWESOME!
Honestly, I adore Avengers, its pure superhero fun, but this was the best Marvel film yet. The story, the reveal of Bucky, the massive world shattering consequences of it, the action, it was so wonderfully done, it blew me away. I sat watching the Avengers with the biggest grin on my face, I watched this with my fists clenched as if I was there, throwing every punch with Cap, every kick with Black Widow, it was fantastic.
So, SHIELD is fucked. That's massive. Maria Hill was at Stark Industries, so will Tony be setting up his own, Avengers based team, with Hill running it? But more immediately, what happens with the Agents of SHIELD show? They have shown they are more of a renegade crew, and have disobeyed SHIELD protocol on numerous occasions, so will they now run as a lone team, not part of SHIELD? Once again, they have a great chance to make the show more a part of the universe. Can't wait.
Dr Strange is getting a movie now, right? They can't drop a name like that without it meaning something. OH GOD IM EXCITED AGAIN.
Nick Fury is off the grid (mirroring the boss comic story Secret War), so that's cool. (Pulp Fiction tombstone nod was perfect). He's a big player, what will he be going off to do? OH MY GOD. SECRET WARRIORS?!
Sorry, got excited again.
After credit scenes. AWESOME. Firstly, the amount of people who left before them was disgusting. How anyone can not know Marvel do this is beyond me. Baron Von Strucker, Loki's sceptre, is this able to give people powers? Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch looked brilliant. Wanda is going to be a massive player, you can just sense it. For a superhero universe, there aren't that many powers. Well, now there is. "the age of miracles", I love that. We are properly moving into magical powers (Dr Strange film), this will blow the world right open, how will these mortal heroes deal with these people?
And Bucky starting to rediscover his humanity, checking out his own history, that's brilliant. It sets up a massive, massive arc in the Marvel world. Also, with all this, it makes a Civil War style film more likely, although it will need a bit of tweaking without Spidey and a few other issues, but it could actually work.
I could go on and on, it was absolutely phenomenal. It blew me away.