History YMMV / CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger

* RainbowLens: Pre-serum Steve's desire to contribute to the war efforts and the subsequent transformation of his body into a ManlyMan in order to fulfill those desires is often seen by gay male and transmasculine fans as a metaphor for the desire to conform to conventionally masculine gender roles and presentation.

** [[Characters/MCUJohannSchmidt Johann Schmidt]], aka the [[{{Ubermensch}} Red Skull]], is a profound {{narcissist}} who [[AGodAmI believes himself a god]] no longer bound by humanity's rules. The head of [[Characters/{{MCUHYDRA}} HYDRA]], a Nazi military organization, Schmidt--as revealed in the tie-in comic ''First Vengeance''--orchestrated the Night of Long Knives to butcher his political opposition before [[PiggybackingOnHitler turning the group into his own personal cult]]. He's first introduced killing the guardian of the Tesseract and ordering the entire village where it was hidden wiped out for seemingly no reason. He goes on to betray Hitler and the Nazi party to pursue his own goals and murders the three men sent to check on the status of his research. Schmidt uses the Tesseract to make fantastic new weapons for [=HYDRA=], and has [=POWs=] torturously experimented on in order to replicate Dr. Abraham Erskine's SuperSerum. Despite their fanatical devotion to Schmidt, he continually shows no concern for the welfare of his men, having them chomp {{cyanide pill}}s when captured to avoid giving out information on him, executing one merely for surviving an attack on a HYDRA base, and activating the self-destruct sequence at another [=HYDRA=] base when the Allied forces overrun it, not caring that hundreds of his troops will be killed in the blast. Schmidt's ultimate plan is to use his new weapons to wipe out half the planet, bombing nearly every major city including his own capital, just so he can rule over what's left.
** [[MadScientist Dr. Arnim Zola]] debuts as a cowardly scientist who joins the Nazis so they'll fund his work. Gleefully making war machines as [[Characters/MCUHYDRALeadership part of HYDRA]], Zola deliberately lets a SuperSoldier experiment go wrong and mutate his boss Johann Schmidt into the [[Characters/MCUJohannSchmidt Red Skull]] so his rival, Dr. Abraham Erskine, will be blamed and his family killed. When Schmidt lets Zola in on his plot to TakeOverTheWorld, the scientist enslaves and experiments on prisoners of war to build the super weapons necessary for the scheme before betraying his boss to the Allies when it's made clear failure is inevitable. Having become a true believer in totalitarianism, Zola joins the newly-formed [[Characters/{{MCUSHIELD}} S.H.I.E.L.D.]] and goes about reforming HYDRA within its ranks, all the while masterminding global conflicts to make the people desperate for security. To do this, he abducts and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashes]] people into being "Winter Soldier" assassins, keeping them in stasis and torturously memory wiping them between missions. All of this culminates in a plot to launch Project Insight, which will trap the world in an eternal surveillance state and give HYDRA the ability to slaughter any dissidents, with it being explicitly stated that this will lead to tens of millions of deaths.

** [[Characters/MCUJohannSchmidt Johann Schmidt]], aka the [[{{Ubermensch}} Red Skull]], is a profound {{narcissist}} who [[AGodAmI believes himself a god]] no longer bound by humanity's rules. The head of [[Characters/{{MCUHYDRA}} HYDRA]], a Nazi military organization, Schmidt has [[PiggybackingOnHitler turned the group into his own personal cult]]. He's first introduced killing the guardian of the Tesseract and ordering the entire village where it was hidden wiped out for seemingly no reason. He goes on to betray Hitler and the Nazi party to pursue his own goals and murders the three men sent to check on the status of his research. Schmidt uses the Tesseract to make fantastic new weapons for [=HYDRA=], and has [=POWs=] torturously experimented on in order to replicate Dr. Abraham Erskine's SuperSerum. Despite their fanatical devotion to Schmidt, he continually shows no concern for the welfare of his men, having them chomp {{cyanide pill}}s when captured to avoid giving out information on him, executing one merely for surviving an attack on a HYDRA base, and activating the self-destruct sequence at another [=HYDRA=] base when the Allied forces overrun it, not caring that hundreds of his troops will be killed in the blast. Schmidt's ultimate plan is to use his new weapons to wipe out half the planet, bombing nearly every major city including his own capital, just so he can rule over what's left.

** The movie opens with Schmidt in Tonsberg, Norway, retrieving the Tesseract, then ordering his tanks to shell the town while he shoots the caretaker. The very day the movie was released, Anders Brevik went on a bombing and shooting rampage, in Norway.

** Schmidt's line '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqkY2nCf2xU "YOU ARE FAILING!"]]''' has been getting some recognition due to its [[LargeHam hamminess]] and its use as a TakeThat statement.

** Tying in with the above, ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' Season 5 shows us that the future of the MCU is indeed one without flags- because [[spoiler: the fucking world gets blown up.]] Schmidt was ''right''.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Captain America's co-creator, Creator/JoeSimon, died about five months after this movie's release, but its box office and critical successes likely helped re-assure him of Cap's lasting value before he passed away.
** A standard bit of evil baddie banter from the Red Skull becomes this when he yells at Steve "You could have had the power of the gods!" [[spoiler:In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', Steve gets the [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield power of the gods after all]] when he [[ShockingMoments uses Mjolnir.]]]]

** [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Meredith Quill]] greets Cap at the war bonds rally! [[https://www.cbr.com/captain-america-star-lord-grandmother-theory/ But it turns out to be her mother.]]

* WhatAnIdiot: Steve Rogers is recovering from about 70 years on ice. The powers that be elect to lessen the shock by placing him in a mock-up of a recovery room and not letting on how much time he had been out until they could perhaps break things to him gently.\\
'''You'd expect:''' At bare minimum, they would have the "radio" playing period music or if they insisted on a "live sports broadcast" they would take painstaking research to pick one that took place after Rogers vanished.\\
'''Instead:''' They have a Brooklyn Dodgers home game from ''1941'' playing. Even if they did not know Steve had attended it, it is a matter of public record that he was still ''living in Brooklyn'' at the time. There are some fans, though, who actually believe that the mistakes in the mock recovery room were intentional. Fury implies that it was, calling it a "party trick".

* AwardSnub: None of the cast or crew members received UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations. While most of these snubs seem to have resulted from the absence of a "For Your Consideration..." campaign, the absence of "Star-Spangled Man" from the Best Song category might sound baffling to those who know that the Academy only nominated two songs that year[[note]]"[[WesternAnimation/{{Rio}} Real in Rio]]" and "[[Film/TheMuppets Man or Muppet]]", the latter of which won[[/note]], making the roster appear to have at least one empty slot.

** [[{{Ubermensch}} Johann Schmidt]], aka the [[Characters/MCUJohannSchmidt Red Skull]], is a profound {{narcissist}} who [[AGodAmI believes himself a god]] no longer bound by humanity's rules. The head of [[Characters/{{MCUHYDRA}} HYDRA]], a Nazi military organization, Schmidt has [[PiggybackingOnHitler turned the group into his own personal cult]]. He's first introduced killing the guardian of the Tesseract and ordering the entire village where it was hidden wiped out for seemingly no reason. He goes on to betray Hitler and the Nazi party to pursue his own goals and murders the three men sent to check on the status of his research. Schmidt uses the Tesseract to make fantastic new weapons for [=HYDRA=], and has [=POWs=] torturously experimented on in order to replicate Dr. Abraham Erskine's SuperSerum. Despite their fanatical devotion to Schmidt, he continually shows no concern for the welfare of his men, having them chomp {{cyanide pill}}s when captured to avoid giving out information on him, executing one merely for surviving an attack on a HYDRA base, and activating the self-destruct sequence at another [=HYDRA=] base when the Allied forces overrun it, not caring that hundreds of his troops will be killed in the blast. Schmidt's ultimate plan is to use his new weapons to wipe out half the planet, bombing nearly every major city including his own capital, just so he can rule over what's left.

** [[{{Ubermensch}} Johann Schmidt]], aka the [[Characters/MCURedSkull Red Skull]], is a profound {{narcissist}} who [[AGodAmI believes himself a god]] no longer bound by humanity's rules. The head of [[Characters/{{MCUHYDRA}} HYDRA]], a Nazi military organization, Schmidt has [[PiggybackingOnHitler turned the group into his own personal cult]]. He's first introduced killing the guardian of the Tesseract and ordering the entire village where it was hidden wiped out for seemingly no reason. He goes on to betray Hitler and the Nazi party to pursue his own goals and murders the three men sent to check on the status of his research. Schmidt uses the Tesseract to make fantastic new weapons for [=HYDRA=], and has [=POWs=] torturously experimented on in order to replicate Dr. Abraham Erskine's SuperSerum. Despite their fanatical devotion to Schmidt, he continually shows no concern for the welfare of his men, having them chomp {{cyanide pill}}s when captured to avoid giving out information on him, executing one merely for surviving an attack on a HYDRA base, and activating the self-destruct sequence at another [=HYDRA=] base when the Allied forces overrun it, not caring that hundreds of his troops will be killed in the blast. Schmidt's ultimate plan is to use his new weapons to wipe out half the planet, bombing nearly every major city including his own capital, just so he can rule over what's left.
** [[MadScientist Dr. Arnim Zola]] debuts as a cowardly scientist who joins the Nazis so they'll fund his work. Gleefully making war machines as [[Characters/MCUHYDRALeadership part of HYDRA]], Zola deliberately lets a SuperSoldier experiment go wrong and mutate his boss Johann Schmidt into the [[Characters/MCURedSkull Red Skull]] so his rival, Dr. Abraham Erskine, will be blamed and his family killed. When Schmidt lets Zola in on his plot to TakeOverTheWorld, the scientist enslaves and experiments on prisoners of war to build the super weapons necessary for the scheme before betraying his boss to the Allies when it's made clear failure is inevitable. Having become a true believer in totalitarianism, Zola joins the newly-formed [[Characters/{{MCUSHIELD}} S.H.I.E.L.D.]] and goes about reforming HYDRA within its ranks, all the while masterminding global conflicts to make the people desperate for security. To do this, he abducts and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashes]] people into being "Winter Soldier" assassins, keeping them in stasis and torturously memory wiping them between missions. All of this culminates in a plot to launch Project Insight, which will trap the world in an eternal surveillance state and give HYDRA the ability to slaughter any dissidents, with it being explicitly stated that this will lead to tens of millions of deaths.

* SpiritualAdaptation:

* SpiritualSuccessor: A number of critics have pointed out the movie feels pretty close to a ''[[Film/TheRocketeer Rocketeer]]'' remake complete with the same director.

* EvilIsCool: The Red Skull, of all people. It probably helps that he's played by Creator/HugoWeaving. He's a LargeHam BadBoss and in some ways he's [[UpToEleven more evil than Hitler]], he wears a BadassLongcoat and can fight ComicBook/CaptainAmerica to a stalemate. Note, however, that in between all the ForTheEvulz plotting, he has ''one'' PetTheDog moment. The cool thing is, it's to the benefit of both his minion [[CoolCar and his car]].

* FanDislikedExplanation: An interview released during the film's 10th anniversary where the writers stated that [[https://www.cbr.com/captain-america-first-avenger-steve-rogers-not-virgin/ Steve probably lost his virginity in casual flings during the USO tours]] upset a lot of fans, due to the film itself implying he was [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan saving himself for the right person]] and Steve's continued virginity being a very popular {{Fanon}}. Fans who enjoyed the OfficialCouple of Steve/Peggy were also annoyed that it makes their various acts of jealousy over the idea of each other seeing different people come off as [[ClingyJealousGirl mean]]-[[CrazyJealousGuy spirited]] for no reason.

** [[MadScientist Dr. Arnim Zola]] debuts as a cowardly scientist who joins the Nazis so they'll fund his work. Gleefully making war machines as [[Characters/MCUHYDRALeadership part of HYDRA]], Zola deliberately lets a SuperSoldier experiment go wrong and mutate his boss Johann Schmidt into the [[Characters/MCURedSkull Red Skull]] so his rival, Dr. Abraham Erskine, will be blamed and his family killed. When Schmidt lets Zola in on his plot to TakeOverTheWorld, the scientist enslaves and experiments on prisoners of war to build the super weapons necessary for the scheme before betraying his boss to the Allies when it's made clear failure is inevitable. Having become a true believer in totalitarianism, [[HeelFaceMole Zola]] joins the newly-formed [[Characters/{{MCUSHIELD}} S.H.I.E.L.D.]] and goes about reforming HYDRA within its ranks, all the while masterminding global conflicts to make the people desperate for security. To do this, he abducts and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashes]] people into being "Winter Soldier" assassins, keeping them in stasis and torturously memory wiping them between missions. All of this culminates in a plot to launch Project Insight, which will trap the world in an eternal surveillance state and give HYDRA the ability to slaughter any dissidents, with it being explicitly stated that this will lead to tens of millions of deaths.

** When Johann Schmidt rips his mask off, revealing [[BodyHorror his rather gruesome-looking true face]]. There's a good reason he is nicknamed "Red Skull". Doesn't help that Rodgers lands a punch on him moments before, jostling the mask and giving him pure UncannyValley as you can see the hints of the red beneath in the gaps.

* UncannyValley: In the first half of the film, it's quite obvious that Schmidt is wearing a rubber skin mask over his mutated face. The effect can actually make him look far creepier than his Red Skull face does.

** At one point in the film, Steve is tricked into being used as a propaganda piece by being used in musical theater performances of [[ShowWithinAShow "The Star-Spangled Man"]] onstage, which both he and the actual U.S Army find utterly ridiculous. Apparently somebody in Broadway decided to try this idea ''again'' in ''[[Series/Hawkeye2021 Hawkeye]]'', which results in ''Rogers: The Musical''. Clint Barton and his family are just as unimpressed with it.

'''You Would Think:''' At bare minimum, they would have the "radio" playing period music or if they insisted on a "live sports broadcast" they would take painstaking research to pick one that took place after Rogers vanished.\\