There's a reason that Captain America is such a classic and iconic hero. Garbed in a flag and embodying heroic leadership qualities all while kicking fascist tail in his superheroic manner, the Marvel Cinematic Universe captured all of the important aspects of the character across his numerous big-screen appearances. Of course, there always could have been more time spent building up Steve's back story and fleshing out his character. In fact, the MCU did just that in Avengers with pitch-perfect scenes of that told us more about who Cap really was. The problem is that they were cut from the final film.
It's hard to remember back to the days before the MCU revolutionized the superhero team-up film, but 2012's The Avengers featured the first grand experiment that proved that ambitious crossovers were possible. To that end, there was a delicate balancing act that accompanied the editing process, as the film's creators measured how much space to give each of the characters, the plot, the setting and everything else that goes into making a good movie. Although they pulled that balance off beautifully, one character that ended up with the short end of the stick was Steve Rogers.
In The Avengers, Steve has recently revived from his polar-bounded sacrifice in Captain America: The First Avenger. Much of his exposition is condensed to brief flashbacks as he takes his emotions out on a punching bag. But originally, that scene capped off a short, 3-minute sequence that gave his character more room to breath.
The sequence initially draws out Steve's background more, starting as he reviews several files in his apartment. He looks over his own file, marked "DECEASED," that of his forlorn love Peggy Carter who he contemplates calling, and those of his friend Howard Stark and his future teammate Tony Stark. The file review not only sets up Steve's backstory, but his relationship to characters both in and out of the film that allow him to inhabit a more three-dimensional space.
From there, Steve heads out to the city that has changed so much from the Brooklyn he knew. He rides the subway, walks past modern cars and packaged cell phones, and ultimately finds a seat at a restaurant where he sketches the New York skyline. He looks up at Stark Tower which serves as the film's climactic focal point, and even shares a brief flirtation with a waitress Stan Lee presses him to pursue. The waitress is later seen imperiled during the Battle of New York, but with the scene cut, the audience has less reason to care for her. What's worse, cutting the moment sacrifices an important character beat for Steve.
The sequence sets up many of the plot points that would become central to Steve's arc throughout the MCU, from his bittersweet romance with Peggy to his rivalry with Tony, to his own conflict inhabiting a displaced space in the world. Even just the small detail of his artistic hobby goes lost altogether, and the result is a Steve who misses out on unbelievable depth a mere 3 minutes could have provided.
The scene was likely cut for the sake of expediting the film overall, but upon review eight years later, when the character's arc can be appreciated as a whole, the cuts seem unwise. The MCU's Captain America is a fantastic character, but it's a shame to think he could have been even better.
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