Recently I have been watching video essays from the YouTube channel Implicitly Pretentious about the thematic nature of the MCU and its characters which inspired a re-watch of the Avengers cycle of films. My original intention had been to, over an extended period, watch just the four Avengers films but that fell apart once I completed The Avengers and decided to include the Captain America films as part of this cycle making the list of movies: The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Solider, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and finishing the series with Avengers: Endgame. Since I have seen all of these movies, I am not committed to watching any single film in a single seating but rather breaking the individual films up over two or more nights. I am currently in the midst of Civil War.

What has been fascinating to watch is the different tones struck by the different guiding visions of the MCU. While the entire project is under the hand of Kevin Feige the MCU has been under the influence of two principle visions and they are contrasted in this series of films.

Joss Whedon wrote and directed the first two Avengers films while the Captain America movies and the final two Avengers films were directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely. (Side note: when you see the ‘&’ symbol in an American film’s writing credits it means those people worked as a team on the script and where the word ‘and’ connects writers it mean one wrote and then another came in and rewrote the screenplay.)

Implicitly Pretentious suggested in one of his essays that Joss Whedon’s view of humanity is one of cynicism and I think that he is not far off with the assessment. Ultron’s assertion that everyone creates what they fear and their own destruction even including children as something to be feared and something that is a threat is an inherently cynical philosophy. Whedon often coasts his cynicism with a heavy icing of snark and humor. His dialog is snappy, witty, and quotable but underneath it lies a dark view of the world and humanity’s place in it.

With the Russo brothers, Markus, and McFeely there is a much more positive interpretation of humanity. There is a nobility that fights in the face of evil and this is a theme returned to several times in their cycle of films. Consider Captain America’s effect on non-enhanced characters in two scenes by the two teams of filmmakers.

In The Avengers Captain America needs a local police officer to follow Cap’s direction to safeguard trapped civilians and set a parameter to limit the immediate damage. The cop incredulously asks why should he listen to Cap? At that moment alien warriors attack Cap and with an impressive display of strength and skill Cap dispatches the several opponents. The police office reverses his opinion and implements Cap’s orders. The most charitable interpretation is that officer is impressed with Cap’s skills as a warrior and follows the order of the stronger fighter. A less forgiving view would be that the officer is intimidated by Captain America but in neither case is the officer inspired.

Captain America: The Winter Solider presents us with a different view on Cap and his effect on others. Cap and his small team infiltrates S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ to prevent the launching of HYDRA’s plan to subjugate the world. Cap has no idea how many of the SHIELD agents are actually ones loyal to HYDRA, but he makes an impassioned plea over the loudspeakers for people to rally to his fight, to stand for freedom and against the coming tyranny. Throughout the base people unlimber arms and take up Cap’s fight but the most emotional moment is when an unnamed character who is not a fighter sits with a gun literally at the back of his head and under the threat of his immediate murder refuses to comply with a HYDRA agent’s command. He is terrified but holds fast to what is right because he has been inspired. The unnamed character returns in Avengers: Age of Ultron but Whedon’s script and direction treats the him most unfairly.

There is a clear and distinct difference between these two visions of the MCU and there is no doubt I prefer the one presented by the Russo brother and Markus & McFeely.