Captain America is the 5th movie in the MCU series and the final movie before Avengers. They finally completed the final introduction before The Avengers.
Captain America and Red Skull are available in the core set for $100. This is the first and only time we see Red Skull as himself (he does appear later in the MCU as a ghost-like character) so I’ll be painting him now and saving Captain America for a future movie.
The Model
I love the sculpt for Red Skull. He’s both holding one of the most powerful weapons in the MCU universe and he’s scheming which is what he does in the movie. While he has the prototype super soldier serum (I kinda forgot until I rewatched the movie) and is incredibly strong he’s far more of a strategic planner.
The model has a large trench coat, vibrant red skin, and a glowing tesseract.
Red Solo cup!
I experimented with a zenithal highlight which I’ve heard so much about but haven’t yet experienced. The idea is that the natural highlights from above will show through to the final model.
You’re supposed to use grey & white primer but I only had black and white. Since it turned out so well I’ll be getting grey primer. 💥
The blue tesseract was super fun to paint. It came out a little darker than I would have wanted. And the glow could have had a little less blue and a little more white.
Paint Scheme
Black Robe
- Contrast Black Templar
Dark leather
- Contrast Wyldwood
Red skin
- Mephiston Red
- Evil Sunz Scarlet
- Highlight Wild Rider Red
Tesseract
- Altdorf guard blue
- Shade Drakenhof NightShade
- Highlight Sotek Green
- Highlight 50/50 Sotek Green & Temple Guard Blue
- Highlight Temple Guard Blue
- Highlight 50/50 Temple Guard Blue & White Scar
- Highlight White Scar
The Movie
I don’t particularly love Captain America. He’s a compelling character but he’s also a boyscout which can be boring. The writers did a great job making him likeable, perfect where it mattered and imperfect in other areas – like when a girl kissed him and Peggy took a shot at him.
So I didn’t think I’d love the movie. But I have to say as the movie continued I realized it would be at the top of the list. At least for a while.
Good Things in Captain America
Captain America is a war movie full of awesome action scenes, a real love story, the evilest of evil villains, loveable characters, and a great hero’s journey.
Captain America has the archetypical background. Incredibly weak to incredibly strong. He’s pure of heart and his courageousness saves the day… every day it seems.
They did a good job capturing this. The movie is just over 2 hours long and for the first 1/3 were spent as Steve Rogers before the super soldier serum. During this time they show his dedication over and over again.
I love that we get to see Shield discover Captain America in the ice. It gives us suspense as we try to figure out how Captain America got there in the first place. And it also ties Captain America in to the current time so they can hit the ground running in Avengers.
The last thing I have to point out is that there’s a SUPER nazi. I love that for Captain America regular Nazi’s aren’t evil enough. He needs to square off against super nazis. While he’s a one dimensional character he’s far more interesting than any of the other villains save Loki.
Bad Things in Captain America
I really loved Captain America. It’s my favorite of the bunch. The only drawback story-wise is that he’s a Boy Scout. He doesn’t do anything wrong ever which can make for potentially boring story lines. 😇
Captain America is closer to an action movie than many Marvel movies. And if you prefer humor over action you’ll probably prefer Iron Man.
My Favorite MCU Movies (so far)
- Captain America
- Iron Man
- Thor
- Iron Man 2
- The Hulk
I immediately knew I had to give Captain America first place. He has the ultimate hero’s journey, a great love story, the evilest of villains, great secondary characters like Tommy Lee Jones, and it sets up the Avengers perfectly.
If you’re all about the humor I definitely see why you would rank Iron Man higher but for me all of the above are better in Captain America.
The Comics
Since I was painting Red Skull I heard that I should read the Uncanny Avengers where Red Skull is the villain in the arc.
I have to say I loved the comic. Part of it is a new Avengers team which I haven’t seen before – ½ X-Men and ½ traditional Avengers.
And Red Skulls plot was pretty interesting. It shows how big Red Skull thinks. He’s never the type to attack with no reason. Everything has a reason and has a larger goal.
It also shows how evil he is. He doesn’t care if his plans kill hundreds of thousands of innocents as long as his goals get met.
My Favorite Comics (so far)
- Iron Man – Demon in a Bottle
- Uncanny Avengers
- Planet Hulk
- The Mighty Thor vol. 1
- Black Widow SHIELDS Most Wanted
I really liked the first Uncanny Avengers graphic novel. The team is awesome and I loved reading about Red Skull. I might continue these stories when this challenge is done.
Wrap Up
The movie is awesome. Captain America has one of the best story arcs. He starts off incredibly weak & frail but always wants to try to do his part. By the end he’s gained powers sure – but he’s the same person. He’s a protector who puts himself in harm’s way to prevent harm to others. And he’s always willing to sacrifice himself to save another.
I love that his unique weapon isn’t a hammer, an armored suit, or a bow & arrow. It’s a shield. An almost entirely defensive weapon. It perfectly represents his protector nature.
The Uncanny Avengers comic was really good. I really enjoyed the team itself and Red Skull was a great villain. Definitely would read more.
The Red Skull mini has that great glowing Tesseract which was fun to paint. On the table Red Skull is a foil to Captain America. He can force models near him to take damage, he can use the cube to power them up and teleport models.
The model, comic, & movie were all so good this was my favorite trio so far.