*SPOILERS* AHEAD THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!!!
First I'll start by saying that Captain America The Winter Soldier was beyond amazing. If you haven't watched it yet shame on you, but you should stop reading now. Let's begin with the story. It was perfect, yup I said it. I hope Marvel knows they just made it that much harder for the next few movies. Taking the masterpiece that is Ed Brubaker's The Winter Soldier and tying it into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe was done so well. They made use of 2 different plots in such a way that you never lost site of either one. Sebastian Stan was great as Bucky and was PERFECT as The Winter Soldier. The roles of Nick Fury and Black Widow were fleshed out beautifully. Of course I can't forget to mention Sam "The Falcon: Wilson played, no embodied by Anthony Mackie. Thank the movie gods they fashioned his costume after that of the Ultimate Marvel Falcon instead of the normal Marvel Falcon. Google it! I would love to see them pay homage to the original red and white spandex costume when he gets his "wings" back in which ever movie he returns in (which I think is Avengers: Age of Ultron). Back on topic. The Cap we see in this movie has come along way from the timid leader we met in The Avengers. He's still witty, but now seems more adapted to his surroundings. Yes he still has his old-fashioned ideas, but that's what makes him the man he is. Never compromising. The biggest improvement is that he has evolved from the brute force approach he used in The Avengers and is now a well rounded hand-to-hand killing machine. You read that right killing machine. This dude took people out!!! Just in the opening scene on the S.H.I.E.L.D. ship he kicked a guy so hard that he flew back 6 to 8 feet before slamming into the railing of the ship and falling into the water below, where he most likely drowned. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying it's about damn time. These are killers he's going up against, It's kill or be killed. He knows when to let loose and when to be restrained. Anyway, He has vastly improved his fighting skills. From flying knees to superman punches, this dude has trained in all kinds of ass kickery. The fight scenes between Cap and The Winter Soldier are straight out of the comics. They are going at each other like they mean business. Even after Cap finds out its Bucky they still go toe to toe, and that right there is worth the price of admission.
Ok on to the spoilers! I'm going to point out all sorts of details that some non-comic readers might miss and even some that comic readers might miss. I'll start with the characters seen and/or mentioned. Besides the introduction of The Falcon and Winter Soldier there were some new villains and heroes that popped up. One of the most exciting, to me at least, was Stephen Strange. Ok this one was missed by a few of my friends but during my first viewing after being kicked 300 style by Black Widow off a roof top, I heard Agent Sitwell give up the names of a few high risk targets, one of which was Stephen Strange aka Dr. Strange. Fuck yes! Give me a Dr. Strange movie NOW!!! Another big character to be thrown in the mix was Agent 13. We first meet her posing as Cap's neighbor before kicking in his door after Fury gets ventilated by Bucky in Cap's apartment. She is a huge character in the world of Captain America. Not only is she Cap's on again off again girlfriend she is also the person who kills him on the steps of the courthouse where he was about to go on trial for his actions during Mark Millar's "Civil War". Don't worry she wasn't in her right mind. Plus she's the granddaughter of Cap's lost love Peggy Carter from The First Avenger. Little side note, the scene with Cap and old Peggy Carter was both amazing and heart-wrenching. The old lady make-up was astonishing. But the part when she starts coughing and goes into Alzheimer's mode, brought me to tears. The look in her eyes as if this was the first time seeing him since 1944 was terrifying, but the emotion on Cap's face with the tears welling up in his eyes, that has to be the best performance Chris Evens has ever given. Next is up a couple of villains. The 1st one I'll bring up is the most obscure from this film. Toby Jones reprises his role as Arnim Zola the crazy Hydra scientist from The First Avenger, he comes back as the "MasterMind" that helped Hydra grow within S.H.I.E.L.D.. In the Comics he has a giant robotic body with a TV screen in his chest that displays his face and a camera where his head would be. So if you've seen the Cap 2 it's kind of like the setup in the hidden room in the old S.H.I.E.L.D. office, which I found as a really cool homage to his look from the books. Baddy #2, Brock Rumlow aka Crossbones. He's the dude that at the beginning of the flick is all about helping Cap kick-ass and take names, but slowly throughout the movie you see him slide to the left(the far left) he is last seen fighting Sam Wilson on the 41st floor before the Helicarrier makes a drive through out of the top few floors of the Triskelion. The next time you see him he's on a gurney looking pretty rough, but that would explain his future outfit. Speaking of which is kind of hinted at in the movie. Right after the not so great sneak attack by Sam, he unzips his vest to reveal an across the chest holster that most likely could hold a few guns and a few knives. After being horrifically disfigured by getting caught in the wreckage cased by the Helicarrier, hopefully next time he shows up he'll be dawning his skull mask he's known for wearing. The next villain we get to see is in the first of two bonus scenes during the credits. He is going to be a big deal in Age of Ultron, but hopefully more so in the next Cap movie. His name is Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. He's rocking a monocle as any good Hydra bossman should. And in this same mid-credits scene, we get our first glimpse at the first 2 mutants in the proper Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now it has yet to be confirmed that they are indeed mutants. My thinking is they're going the Ultimates way and claim that instead of mutants being a natural genetic mutation, they are man-made mutants. They are referred to as "The Twins", 2 survivors of who knows how many "volunteers in some kind of Hydra experiments no doubt trying to make super soldiers of their own. If I haven't already made this clear the 1st bonus scene is a tie-in to Avengers: Age of Ultron. The second bonus scene is of Bucky in the Smithsonian's Captain America Exhibit where earlier in the film Cap goes to relax and see his old long lost friends, mainly Bucky, now this is before he finds out that Bucky didn't die after falling from the train in the first film. Bucky stands in front of his memorial and reads the description of the life long friendship that was tragically cut short by war. Now this scene is setting up the next Cap movie, but I wish it were setting up a stand alone Winter Soldier movie in which we see Bucky as The Winter Soldier hunting down the Hydra scum that made him into a ruthless killing machine. Then that could lead into the 3rd Cap movie in which Cap is somehow struck down, maybe by a mind controlled Sharon Carter, then Bucky has to step into the boots of Captain America to figure out who actually killed Steve Rogers so that the moral of the people doesn't weaken thinking that their beloved Cap has been killed. Just a small coverup for Nick and his spin doctors within S.H.I.E.LD.. So I think thats it for now. There are a few things I didn't mention here but I got to leave something for next time.