Matthew Fox
Welcome back to the Marvel Movie Minute, a weekly podcast in which we assemble to explore the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe one minute at a time. In this, our ninth season, we’re looking at Captain America, the Winter Soldier. I’m Matthew Fox, and I’m happy to welcome Rob Cabasco, Kyle Olson, and Pete Wright. You’ll be hearing from all four of us in various combinations all through this season. And today we’re talking about minutes one through five, which begins with the MCU comics logo and ends with Steve saying he has not asked out Christian from statistics because she might, horror of horrors, say yes. So let me start with a question, because I’m wondering, does anyone else get like a fun nostalgia bump when they see that comics logo? Cause this is I don’t remember what movie they switched to the logo that’s made up entirely of images from the movie. But I didn’t like it. I I really prefer this one and I I’m wondering if anyone else was kind of happy seeing that again
Pete Wright
Oh, I was for sure. I I really, really loved this initial comic uh flyby. And uh you’re right, I don’t do you c does anybody remember when they switched? Two images from past movies
Kyle Olson
It was when I know it’s when the the full uh changeover happens where Marvel Studios became its own independent thing and that’s when they like sort of drew the line. But yeah, I’m not exactly su I I know it’s in a couple of movies.
Pete Wright
We’ll we’ll have it. We’ll talk about it. But for now it this feels like this feels like old home week for me.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, yeah, and going back to like the roots, like hey, this is where it all started from, as opposed to like going off of their own stuff.
Matthew Fox
And it always goes too fast for me to tell, but I I think it is always the same comics, right? Like they don’t for a the Hulk movie have it be more Hulk comics, or do they adjust it?
Kyle Olson
Yeah, they adjust it. And there’s people have it it goes so fast. People have I’ve seen blogs where they try and figure out where every single panel comes from, but it’s It goes so fast I I don’t think anybody has ever actually put all those together for the each each individual piece where it comes from.
Pete Wright
But it’s the ones like Hulk that that I you c I feel like I can actually tell because these are they’re generic gloved punching hands.
Kyle Olson
Mm-hmm.
Pete Wright
But when it’s the Hulk you can see a green fist, right?
Kyle Olson
Yeah.
Pete Wright
Like you can see the teeth sometimes they fly by.
Kyle Olson
Or if it’s a red boot, it’s probably cap and yeah.
Pete Wright
Yes. Yeah, right.
Matthew Fox
Yeah.
Rob Kubasko
I did also think that I miss the uh Big Marvel Little Studios.
Pete Wright
Right.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, right.
Rob Kubasko
Because when that changed, because obviously this is the emphasis on Marvel and the history of Marvel and not not the production company
Matthew Fox
Right.
Pete Wright
Yeah, that’s fun.
Matthew Fox
So let’s dive right into the minutes.
Pete Wright
On your left.
Matthew Fox
Um
Pete Wright
It’s iconic. It’s iconic like runner
Kyle Olson
Yeah
Pete Wright
Uh so the the movie uh the movie opens, our first scene is uh it’s sunrise uh over the Potomac River. I I love that we have the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial and the colors in the sky are just beautiful and it just puts me right there in the work-a-day humdrum of being a superhero in sweats. and just trying to fit a workout in. And I love it so much. It’s so practical.
Matthew Fox
Well, and this made me wonder something, because this is in Washington DC. I grew up in New York and they start with the river, but eventually what they’re running laps around, and the reason why he keeps saying on your left is the reflecting pool. uh, you know, it’s the big pool between the Washington Monument and and I believe the Abraham Lincoln Memorial. In New York City, people run laps around Central Park Reservoir. Um and Boston, I know there’s similar. Is that a thing in the rest of the country or is that kind of an East Coast thing? There being like a central man-made thing of water that people run around as kind of like a jogging thing.
Kyle Olson
Well here in Phoenix we don’t have what you would call big water.
Pete Wright
Water
Kyle Olson
There’s there’s there’s a there’s uh there’s the Hoover Dam, but that’s that’s pretty much it.
Rob Kubasko
Well, uh in the sprawling metropolis of Tempe, Arizona, we actually do have a man-made lake. And people do run around it and it’s very similar.
Pete Wright
It’s just not a very long run.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, it’s not a very long run.
Rob Kubasko
It’s three miles.
Matthew Fox
I I did get jostled and spill half a bottle of Gatorade while I was on the streets of Phoenix, so you know I mean
Rob Kubasko
Whatever, everybody.
Kyle Olson
Yeah.
Pete Wright
We uh we here in the Pacific Northwest have uh forest trails that you and and a lot of they they sometimes loop they most of the time run through woods and then you turn around and run back to your car uh I I say knowing
Matthew Fox
Cause why run on flat ground when you could have tree limbs to trip over and bears to say hello to and
Pete Wright
You always want to run on a path. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s all smart.
Matthew Fox
Well, so here’s my question. I know they weren’t thinking too far ahead, but do you think when they came up with this on your left line that that anyone was thinking that that would eventually that would someday be called back because I I I I don’t think I need to remind anyone that that is the great line in Endgame of Steve telling Cap he’s not alone anymore.
Pete Wright
I don’t. I don’t think they thought that far ahead because it I think they really focus on I haven’t heard anything otherwise, but I think that’s emergent like reality that comes from making that movie and having a great reveal. I don’t think they were thinking that far ahead.
Kyle Olson
Yeah. I think they thought of it as just like sort of within this movie.
Rob Kubasko
No, no
Kyle Olson
Like they kind of thought it was like a clever thing, but I don’t think they thought it was like This wasn’t that they didn’t think of this as, oh, this is our show me the money.
Matthew Fox
Yeah.
Kyle Olson
Like, oh okay, it lives on.
Pete Wright
Yes Yeah. I think it’s funny in that moment and we get to be with it.
Kyle Olson
Mm-hmm.
Pete Wright
But it’s also a meat cute.
Matthew Fox
Yeah.
Kyle Olson
Mm-hmm, yeah, mm-hmm
Pete Wright
Right? Oh, it’s adorable the boys meet. Yeah.
Matthew Fox
So we then pretty quickly get as they start talking to each other, we hear about Trouble Man, which we’re gonna talk about in a second, but then we see Cap pull out the list.
Kyle Olson
Yes.
Matthew Fox
And I decided to write down the list and I want to talk about it. So here’s what’s on the list I Love Lucy, Moon Landing, Berlin Wall, Up and Down, which is kind of it to me that’s a great way of dot of like bookending what Cap missed, like the entire Cold War. Steve Jobs, Apple, Disco, Thai Food, Star War, which is cross, and then the War is crossed off slash Trek. So to me that means he’s watched Star Wars, he just hasn’t watched Star Trek yet, Nirvana, Band, Rocky, and then Rocky 2 with a question mark next to it. Who do we think looking at this collection of things, who do we think gave him this list?
Pete Wright
How dare they? How dare they
Matthew Fox
Like is this from Man of People? Is this all Nick Fury? What are we thinking?
Kyle Olson
I think this is as he’s moving through the world.
Matthew Fox
Yeah.
Kyle Olson
Like he’ll do something and he’s like, We landed on the moon? Like they’re like, oh I gotta write that down. I really think each of these pieces came from, you know, whoever he was talking to at the time. Apple like the fruit? No, there’s a guy. Oh, alright. Let me make a quick note.
Matthew Fox
Steve Jobs. I’d be worried though because Cap doesn’t know much about the internet and this is like when is this like early 2010s?
Rob Kubasko
Twenty fourteen
Matthew Fox
Yeah, i if Cap goes and Googles moon landing, isn’t he gonna find his way to the like the moon landing with fake stuff really fast?
Pete Wright
Oh, by two thousand fourteen, yeah, you’re right.
Rob Kubasko
Uh, not as much as today, but a little bit he will.
Pete Wright
He already Yeah.
Rob Kubasko
Um, I have much more concerns of why he doesn’t have rock why does he have a question mark on Rocky II and why does he just not say um Rocky IV?
Pete Wright
Yeah.
Rob Kubasko
Because that would explain a lot, right?
Pete Wright
Yeah, right.
Rob Kubasko
Um
Matthew Fox
I I mean Rocky three gives him race relations, Rocky Four gives him the Cold War, like, you know.
Kyle Olson
Mm-hmm.
Pete Wright
But he doesn’t I mean he could have gone all the way to the street fight Rocky, right? Where Like come on. Like you c he can you can learn a lot of the history of of uh the cultural history of the United States by the Rocky movies, writ large.
Rob Kubasko
Just watch him Rocky
Kyle Olson
So in Rogers the Musical, uh if anyone has has watched that.
Pete Wright
Yeah. Yeah.
Kyle Olson
Uh they make a big thing of I Love Lucy and I didn’t realize why and I’m like, oh, it’s the top of this list. That’s why they they make a big joke of it in the musical
Pete Wright
Yeah.
Matthew Fox
Oh, that’s a great callback. Good, good call. I hadn’t remembered that.
Kyle Olson
There are different versions of the list.
Pete Wright
Well, whoa, whoa, what now?
Kyle Olson
Uh in Yes, in uh in other countries, there are different lists
Matthew Fox
Oh, this makes me so happy.
Kyle Olson
So this is the one that we got, but there are there was one for the UK, there was one for Russia, there was one for South Korea, and there was one for Australia.
Pete Wright
Oh yeah. No China.
Kyle Olson
No, no, China didn’t get their own not that I found at least.
Pete Wright
No China list
Kyle Olson
This these are the lists that I was able to bring. So I have them all.
Pete Wright
Okay.
Kyle Olson
So Let’s go through.
Pete Wright
What do we learn?
Kyle Olson
So in the United Kingdom, it starts off with uh it’s it’s really hard to see along the top, but there is a uh It says uh Moonlanding, of course. We have the Beatles. We have the World Cup final of 1966. We have Sean Connery. Thai food, and then list continues on the same way. So a Star Wars strike, Nirvana, Rocky, and then now he’s just written Trouble Man.
Pete Wright
Sean Conry gets the mention.
Kyle Olson
Sean Connery.
Pete Wright
That is extraordinary.
Kyle Olson
Yeah.
Matthew Fox
Yeah.
Kyle Olson
Yeah.
Matthew Fox
The World Cup final of nineteen sixty six, by the way, I believe is the last time England won the World Cup.
Kyle Olson
That that would track, yeah.
Pete Wright
Tracks, yeah. Okay, so does the Australian list get Mel Gibson?
Kyle Olson
All right, so then Uh let’s see, the shutting list hat starts with Akka Daka, A C D C.
Matthew Fox
Nice, nice.
Pete Wright
Yes.
Kyle Olson
Under that is Space Travel, Steve Irwin, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.
Matthew Fox
Can’t forget about Skippy. Come on, guys.
Kyle Olson
No, I didn’t uh Tim Tams and then the rest same same.
Pete Wright
Okay
Kyle Olson
So Typhoon, Star Wars, Durbanna, Rocky, that seems to be the recurring thing from all that. So
Matthew Fox
Okay, no Mel Gibson.
Pete Wright
Okay.
Kyle Olson
No Mel Gibson?
Matthew Fox
We’re the clear there.
Kyle Olson
No. Nope.
Pete Wright
Okay.
Kyle Olson
Okay, so let’s where you want to go. Are we gonna go Russia or South Korea?
Pete Wright
Russia, let’s go to Russia.
Kyle Olson
Okay, Russia uh starts with Yuri Grigorin. Uh then uh uh Vladimir Utofsky. I’m trying to read his Steve’s handwriting.
Pete Wright
Okay
Kyle Olson
Uh Soviet Union dissolution 1991. Moscow doesn’t believe in tears. I don’t know if that’s a reference to. disco and then typhood star wars nirvana rocky troubleman yeah
Pete Wright
I love that Thai food makes it to the Russian list.
Matthew Fox
Because we have to get more minutia about the minutia, Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears is an album from nineteen eighty by Vladimir someone that Google was showing me but then switched to Cyrillic light lettering.
Kyle Olson
Uh-huh.
Pete Wright
Oh okay.
Matthew Fox
So I don’t know what that is.
Rob Kubasko
Well I well I I think it’s a film.
Matthew Fox
But Oh, okay.
Rob Kubasko
I think it’s a film and that might be the soundtrack.
Kyle Olson
Oh oh okay, okay.
Pete Wright
Okay. Oh
Rob Kubasko
Yeah.
Matthew Fox
Now here’s my question though. So I’m sitting in a theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, and I’m watching this movie.
Kyle Olson
Mm-hmm, yeah.
Matthew Fox
Obviously they’re changing the the shot of the list each time.
Kyle Olson
Yes.
Matthew Fox
Is the list appearing in English because we understand that Steve Jobs is American, or is it appearing in Russian language and you’re just reading a translation?
Kyle Olson
No, it’s it’s written in English. So like it’s written like it’s all and it’s the same handwriting
Pete Wright
Although that would be awesome if Steve Rogers can write Cyrillic.
Matthew Fox
Right, I mean yeah, I mean but also consider what that means is that
Pete Wright
That would be dope.
Kyle Olson
That was I wouldn’t be surprised. I mean if Ethan Hunt can draw someone from memory, the chances are Steve Rogers can write Cyrillic.
Matthew Fox
They redid that in the for the Russian theaters. Probably half the people in the theater aren’t gonna be able to read that, but they still did it anyway.
Kyle Olson
Yeah. Yeah. I mean they’re probably I mean I wonder if they put subtitles for the the written. I don’t know.
Rob Kubasko
But but hold on. The k in the in in the movie, these are two Americans talking to each other.
Kyle Olson
Yes. Mm-hmm. Yes.
Rob Kubasko
Why would Sean Connery be on that list? Or any of these things.
Pete Wright
I know. Who was he talking to?
Rob Kubasko
Any of these things.
Kyle Olson
These are culturally significant things that Steve missed out on.
Pete Wright
Because Steve was probably c talking to somebody from MI whatever, MI56, whatever, and they recommended you gotta check out Connery.
Matthew Fox
There’s a very essential phrase that I learned growing up. It’s world famous in Brooklyn. Um, the idea being, you know, that like in your little neck of the woods, you think everyone knows about this.
Pete Wright
Yes.
Matthew Fox
I think that’s what’s happening here, you know? An Australian might be amazed to think that we haven’t heard of Tim Tam the Bush Kangaroo.
Pete Wright
Yeah.
Kyle Olson
No no skippy the bush kangaroo Tim Tims are uh food that they eat.
Matthew Fox
To keep Oh, okay. Well, see?
Rob Kubasko
Tim Tam.
Pete Wright
The case that proves the point.
Matthew Fox
Look exactly, exactly.
Kyle Olson
Uh-huh
Rob Kubasko
That’s that’s it. There it is.
Matthew Fox
Okay. Uh can I take South Korea for five hundred
Kyle Olson
Absolutely. We begin. We can play a game and see if you can guess what’s going on here. The top is Dance Dance Revolution.
Pete Wright
Samsung. Oh, dance dance revolution.
Kyle Olson
Then Jisung Park. Old boy.
Pete Wright
Oh nice.
Kyle Olson
I’m gonna pause for laughter on that one. Yeah, like Steve I’ve added Steve Rogers
Pete Wright
He’s gonna go watch Old Boy.
Kyle Olson
Sit down right after the events of Avengers like, oh, I need to sit down and relax and go, old boy, oh, alright.
Pete Wright
He likes the hallway wonder. Can I get a can I get I’m just looking for a movie that will that will fit my my 1930s, 40s sensibilities and have a guy kill a bunch of people with a hammer.
Kyle Olson
Uh-huh.
Pete Wright
Can we do that?
Kyle Olson
Uh after that is the 2002 World Cup, which I would imagine is when South Korea won the World Cup.
Pete Wright
Yep
Kyle Olson
Then disco and then everything else the same Typhoon, Star Wars, Nirvana, Rocky, Trouble Man.
Rob Kubasko
Thai food is consistent on all these lists?
Kyle Olson
Yes, yes, can you believe that?
Pete Wright
Yeah, that’s amazing
Rob Kubasko
Okay.
Matthew Fox
And yet they didn’t make a separate list for Thai, for Thailand.
Pete Wright
For Thailand because hot dogs
Kyle Olson
No
Rob Kubasko
And that one would have just said hot dogs.
Pete Wright
So is that the is that the end of our list interrogation?
Kyle Olson
That’s it, that’s it. Those are the lists. Yeah, those are the ones I could find.
Pete Wright
Okay.
Kyle Olson
There there may be other ones out there that are still there, but those are the ones that I could find.
Pete Wright
Oh. That is really good. Okay.
Matthew Fox
Back to the movie.
Pete Wright
So the boys are talking
Rob Kubasko
Oh, she’s
Matthew Fox
I love this conversation because to me it does this is the first we saw Cap in Avengers, obviously, but this is like We don’t know what is just day in the life for him. And I feel like this does such a good job of grounding him in that, grounding him in he’s military. You know, that that first conversation they have about your bed, it feels like a marshmallow. I I think we often talk about how can we as normal people relate to superheroes? And the idea that he as, you know, that that Sam is able to look at this guy and go, sure, he’s got superpowers, but he’s a soldier. He’s got the same you know, trauma that I have, the same kind of things like that. And he probably has the same re-entry problems that a lot of people have coming back from combat.
Kyle Olson
Yeah. And and I sorry and we talked about a little bit on the comic primer episode, but I I did sort of do more research into it. And Sam in the comics is not a soldier. And has never been a soldier. He was a social worker. And that’s where he met, which is a their own kind of superhero. Uh that’s where he met Steve is on uh like uh in the 70s in Brooklyn. So sort of moving him and having him be a fellow soldier is a movie invention, but I think it’s a really smart one because that it already establishes the something between the two of them that they can talk about being deployed and coming home and the adjustment. But still that connects to that social worker thing.
Pete Wright
Absolutely, and be able to explain not only how he has access to military equipment but also tie him in as now uh m a social worker for the VA, right? Being able to to continue that that legacy from the comic. That’s really smart.
Matthew Fox
Yeah. Well especially as one of the first movies that’s kind of being a little self-reflective, you know, in that it’s not quite as much rah-rah combat, but like let’s look at what what are the dangers of being so into all this like weapon system and stuff. it feels very fitting for it also to say, yeah, even World War II, whatever the war was, there’s still it’s still rough coming home. And we’ve talked about the time and place of this movie. You know, 2014 is when we’re really starting to see a lot of the soldiers coming home from around from Iraq and Afghanistan dealing with PTSD, dealing with a VA that’s not really there to help them in the way that should and needs thousands of more Sam Wilsons. Um so yeah, I just thought there was a really nice way of kind of and also just grounding the movie in like lived reality that we’re going through.
Pete Wright
God, you know what they call thousands of more Sam Wilsons, though, right?
Kyle Olson
A flock?
Matthew Fox
Ah yeah, that’s fair.
Kyle Olson
Okay.
Matthew Fox
That’s fair.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, okay.
Matthew Fox
All right
Pete Wright
Worth it. Worth it
Kyle Olson
Um I yeah
Matthew Fox
Too much serious. Back to the minutiae. Who listened to the Trouble Man soundtrack
Rob Kubasko
Half of it, yes.
Kyle Olson
I was too busy looking up lists, so I didn’t have time.
Pete Wright
And
Matthew Fox
Yeah, that’s fair. What’d y’all think? Did it explain the last forty years to you?
Rob Kubasko
Uh I think the best word that describes it is moody.
Pete Wright
Yeah, I think that’s a good thing.
Rob Kubasko
It is a very interesting experimental musical experience. And which by the way, I don’t think most people realize when they heard this reference, if you’ve never listened to it, it’s mostly instrumental.
Matthew Fox
Yeah.
Rob Kubasko
Which I kinda think surprised me.
Matthew Fox
Yeah, I was definitely thinking it was like a the songs were gonna be about like important moments that you thought and and I get what they mean by it in terms of it being a very like this cat the music captures the feeling of the experience. And uh it’s a movie that came out in 1972. nineteen seventy one had been Shaft, one of the first of the Black Exploitation films, and there was kind of a big push to do more like that. And after Isaac Hayes had really come to prominence because of his song, Marvin Gay wanted to kind of get on board with the same idea, and so he’s the singer on the few songs that have it. And and yeah, like I I think it’s a great album and I get what Sam was saying, but it definitely is not what I was expecting here.
Pete Wright
It’s very much a vibes experience and I it actually makes me more curious about the rest of the lists internationally. Like how does Troubleman explain the last forty years of Russia and Australia and the United Kingdom and South Korea. I don’t I after listening to it, I don’t think I see that connection If they’ve they’ve gone to some interesting work, but Yeah.
Matthew Fox
I think I think Sam is kind of saying it explains it from the black experience, so maybe it wouldn’t need to be translated, but yeah, that doesn’t come across directly
Rob Kubasko
Actually, I mean the Russian one would have just been like happiness by Boris Abramofovich. Like, and people would have just been like, Why?
Kyle Olson
Mmm, duh, duh, duh, duh.
Pete Wright
Oh oh, I get it now.
Rob Kubasko
Endless happiness
Matthew Fox
No, I think I think the Russian one would have been the Tetris music, just played over and over.
Kyle Olson
Oh yeah, we can all agree on that.
Matthew Fox
The original like 1990s, you know, electronic one.
Kyle Olson
Yeah.
Pete Wright
Yeah.
Matthew Fox
I I th I did think about watching the movie, but um the New York Times reviewer Vincent Cut Canby described it as a horrible movie, but worth thinking about So, which is better than Thor two of the dark world.
Pete Wright
Oh.
Kyle Olson
True.
Matthew Fox
So uh check off that box in your bingo card.
Rob Kubasko
Oh boy.
Matthew Fox
It’s like the central box, but
Rob Kubasko
Hey, can I just make sure we don’t miss though the one reference I loved is uh Cap saying we used to boil everything
Kyle Olson
Mm-hmm.
Rob Kubasko
And I laughed at that because I kept thinking to myself, oh, well, I we boil eggs.
Pete Wright
Yes.
Rob Kubasko
But then you think about it like, yeah, with his time, you boiled everything because it was simple.
Kyle Olson
Yeah.
Pete Wright
They boil meat, yeah
Kyle Olson
Potatoes, yeah.
Matthew Fox
Right.
Rob Kubasko
And you you stretched it, it it allowed the nutrients to be in a soup and nobody not everybody had an oven. So it all made sense.
Kyle Olson
Mm-hmm.
Matthew Fox
Right.
Rob Kubasko
It was a nice little, I thought that was a nice little historical reference
Pete Wright
Yeah
Matthew Fox
Mm-hmm.
Kyle Olson
Yeah. I I like also the fact that they make it so that Sam recognizes Cap, because obviously at this point Cap should be one of the most famous people on the planet, uh, but doesn’t fanboy. So he’s sort of like, yeah, I know who you are. Like and it just but he just has that sort of like, you know, respect. But yeah, even me you give some crap about like, oh did you take a lap again, you know? Just knowing like look, I know you’re outside my weight class, but like, come on.
Pete Wright
Don’t you think though, when Cap starts walking away? Uh uh ’cause Scarlet Johan shows up in in the Corvette. We’ll talk about that. Uh and he says, It’s the bed, right? Doesn’t that scream a little bit of I’m exercising my parasocial relationship with you?
Kyle Olson
No, I think it’s the other way. I think uh yeah it’s the other thing. I think it’s a code switch. Like basically he shifts into counselor mode at that point because he recognizes a hurting soldier.
Pete Wright
Okay, okay
Kyle Olson
Like he goes from fanboy to like all of a sudden it’s like, oh now he’s like now he’s in work mode and he’s like I can already diagnose what that your problem is
Matthew Fox
Yeah. Could because part of what I got in that moment was that Sam is trying to connect with him as a fellow soldier, and Cap kinda has a wall off. Cap is not quite and like It’s you know when Cap is saying on your left, he is just being polite. He is just being nice, sweet Cap, but Sam takes it as oh you’re showing me up And and and that’s just kind of the mismatch of the two of them that helps them connect. And I think yeah, I think exactly that. I think it’s that Sam recognizes everyone else looks at you as a hero. I see a hurting soldier like me. And so I want I want to be someone who connects with you on a different level from everyone else and help you connect with others. So the cute girl at the VA, you know, likes me.
Pete Wright
That’s that’s interesting. I I think that’s really good. I all I saw there was Sam trying to stop him because he wanted to keep the conversation going with the hero. Uh, but it this that makes sense. No polio is good. I like that line too.
Matthew Fox
So then we get Natasha uh showing up to in her words here to pick up a fossil. I love the like you know going to the Smithsonian line.
Pete Wright
Anybody uh anybody uh particular Corvette gearheads?
Rob Kubasko
Oh, you mean the you mean the two thousand fourteen Chevrolet Corvette, Corvette Stingray C seven? with a 6. 2 liter V8 engine.
Pete Wright
I knew that was gonna I knew we were gonna do this.
Rob Kubasko
I mean that’s fine.
Pete Wright
I knew it was gonna be dueling engines with Rob.
Rob Kubasko
But also, I mean, it’s the first it’s the first of many Chevrolets brought to you by the fine people of Chevrolet in this movie.
Pete Wright
Yes. Yes. Yes, it is. But it’s also a really it’s a really nice one.
Rob Kubasko
That’s a great car. Yeah.
Pete Wright
And uh it’s beautiful. I love the triple black and I think she looks great in it.
Rob Kubasko
It’s
Pete Wright
It’s good for her hair.
Rob Kubasko
Yes, it is. Can I tell you the one thing that I the I mean this whole exchange, and I agree, like I mean, not only is it exchange uh it’s great between Cap and Sam, but even when she shows up, it is awesome to see a variety of people show real sincere confidence in their own presence in conversation. Like there’s no th I mean, yeah, there’s like little teasing, there’s a little flirting here that happens, like all of that happens, but you really get a sense of like trust that exists between people and I and I’m sure a lot of it is because it’s insinuated the the relationship that they have as service members, but also people who’ve been through things. It’s just a really nice dynamic. And you see it, and you see it really especially when when um Uh, Black Widow shows up.
Pete Wright
I think that’s one of the things I love about the movie, and I think it sets the table. This conversation is a very good thing. sets the table for the the very humane approach to uh elevated characters for the rest of the film, right? Like they everybody is speaking to one another in a very pragmatic and grounded way. And I I think that’s that makes them more approachable. Nothing in here feels like superhero talk. But this is also what I loved about the first Avenger, too. I mean, it was the same thing. So much of that is on the shoulders of the very broad shoulders of Chris Evans.
Kyle Olson
But I think this may be my favorite portrayal of Black Widow in all of the MCU.
Matthew Fox
Yeah, I think so.
Kyle Olson
Like, she is so
Pete Wright
Oh
Kyle Olson
In this thing, she is playing so many different versions of Black Widow and just shifting between them. And like you’re saying, such confidence, like This is her world. And it’s so interesting that she feels so comfortable in every scene of this. Uh, and and even in her own movie, she doesn’t. See like she’s off balance in her own movie, but here this is like no, this is this is where I live. It’s like all the way through.
Rob Kubasko
Well, and that and that’s because she’s an equal.
Kyle Olson
Yeah.
Rob Kubasko
She’s equal to the characters, and that’s and that’s understood by everyone involved.
Kyle Olson
Yeah.
Rob Kubasko
Yeah.
Kyle Olson
The I mean just the way Scarlet plays this sort of like like even picking him up, just like giving Captain America crap, and also flirting just a little bit with Sam. But showing up also I mean that’s a flex. Showing up in the Corvette, like r right by the Lincoln Memorial to be like, hey yeah, let’s let’s write.
Matthew Fox
And making an age joke about the guy we were just saying everyone else looks to as the big hero
Kyle Olson
I mean Yeah.
Matthew Fox
You’re very right about uh Natasha and I we’ll probably talk about it more later, but but just jumping ahead for a second, the line about her saying, Why haven’t you asked out this other girl?
Kyle Olson
Yeah, yeah
Matthew Fox
I like because it very early on tells you we’re not gonna do a romance here. And and if you remember, the marketing campaign, that that fake kiss where she kisses him to fool people later in the movie, that was shown in the trailers. Like they were definitely hyping up maybe this is a romance between these two.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, intentional misdirect.
Matthew Fox
And yeah, I like
Pete Wright
Maybe we can get females to come to our movie.
Matthew Fox
Yeah. Yeah. Um back to that though. Uh so we we Natasha picks him up and now we are In the Indian Ocean, we are on a ship. We are on a heli uh what the what do they call those things? Not the helicariers, but the planes that fly off of them.
Pete Wright
The Hellcarrier.
Matthew Fox
The qu quingets?
Pete Wright
The Quin the Quinjets
Kyle Olson
Quinjets?
Matthew Fox
Quint Quingettes.
Kyle Olson
Quinjets, yeah.
Rob Kubasko
Oh wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on. I’m sorry. Um, do we have any license plate deciphering to do?
Matthew Fox
Oh, oh, this is a level of detail.
Pete Wright
Yes, Rob, yes
Rob Kubasko
Whoa. So um when she drives away, and it’s clearly on screen, obviously for these reasons, it’s a Washington DC license plate. Uh the format is usually two letters followed by four numbers or a variation. Uh and this one is 1YR31L. I believe that’s an L, right? Yeah, it’s a it’s an L. Or is it an I? And here’s the funny part. No one really seems to know what the meaning of this was. Did you guys find anything on this?
Pete Wright
No, Rob
Rob Kubasko
So there is stories that it could be uh a lot of people think it it may have been, well, first of all, the R on a on a DC license plate usually indicates a rental. So if that’s true, that’s a very funny that’s a that’s a very funny thing.
Kyle Olson
Yeah.
Rob Kubasko
It’s not her car. Uh the year 11, that could have been a uh sort of an interpretation on the either on the ones uh or the why uh could have been referring to various years the the Avengers film came out in 2011, so there might be something with that. There’s thoughts that the stylistic of the the R, the Romanov, the might mean something to her name. Um, my favorite one though is that the R31L is a ham radio code associated with Russia.
Pete Wright
Yes
Matthew Fox
Okay, okay
Rob Kubasko
And that’s the one I find the most interesting.
Matthew Fox
I like it.
Pete Wright
That’s really good.
Matthew Fox
I like it. Uh I was suddenly thinking, why didn’t we do more license plate analysis in the th the two Thor movies I’ve done and remembered they don’t have license plates on Asgard.
Rob Kubasko
So that’s right.
Pete Wright
There are no license plates in Asgard.
Matthew Fox
So I feel okay. l letting go of this, but but no, that’s that’s good. I’m I’m I’m now gonna be looking for these things.
Pete Wright
Yes.
Matthew Fox
So we open hearing about that we’re gonna be rescuing the Numerian Star, a mobile satellite launch platform. And I You all might be more with it than I am. I thought those sounded like a ridiculous string of words to put together. Because to my understanding, when you launch a satellite, you know, the rocket goes up, a lot of fire comes down, and that’s generally bad for whatever is directly under it. like a ship. Uh it turns out no, these are real things. There are actually like mobile platforms that rockets can launch off of. Uh not like missile attack rockets, but actually like full-on satellite rockets. I don’t get it, but there it is. We also get told that we have this pirate group, 25 pirates, and their leader is George Batrock, and that he is a member of the DGSE. The DGSE is the Directorate General for External Security, France’s Foreign Intelligence Service, its equivalent to the British MI6 and the American CIA, established on 27th of November 1943. Uh I Googled to see if there’s any particular reason to establish on that day. No, just that’s that’s the day it’s created. Uh George Batrock, is he someone who is from the comics?
Kyle Olson
He is. He is Batrock the Leaper. Uh and strong calves.
Pete Wright
He’s got strong calves.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, like he’s he’s he’s he is a long time cap. Faux. See, as I have my notes, he says he uh made his first appearance in Tales of Suspense number 75 in March of 1966. Uh, and he has been a terrible French stereotype through most of that thing. I mean, long curly mustache and like, oh, Captain, I will leap over you. I mean, like it is
Matthew Fox
I kept waiting for him to invite him to have a glass of wine or something, you know?
Kyle Olson
Yeah, right?
Matthew Fox
Like like that I need
Kyle Olson
Like Yeah, yeah.
Pete Wright
But I have some aged cheese.
Kyle Olson
Soccer blue just Captain America!
Pete Wright
It is very stinky, Captain
Kyle Olson
I mean yeah, it’s it’s it’s yeah
Matthew Fox
So this is one of the first people we’ve seen like just hold their hold their own in a fight with Cap, and most of the people we’ve seen do that till now have been superheroes. Is this guy powered or does he just always go to leg day? Like what’s his
Kyle Olson
Yeah, that’s pretty much leg day. Yeah, like that’s most of these guys like whiplash, wherever they’re mostly just a guy with a gimmick, and his thing was I have strong legs.
Pete Wright
And he he’s a master of the French kickboxing uh martial arts savate.
Kyle Olson
Like Yeah.
Pete Wright
Uh and that’s why he’s always kicking.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, yeah.
Pete Wright
He’s just a big kicker.
Kyle Olson
He’s a kicker
Pete Wright
Big kicker, Batroc.
Kyle Olson
But of course they soup him up and make him, you know, like actually an intimidating foe.
Pete Wright
It’s it is interesting. It almost felt like when it came when he came on, it was all it almost felt like an Easter egg, like a a because he’s been kind of a tasteless
Kyle Olson
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Pete Wright
Stereotype for so long.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, yeah
Pete Wright
It felt like, okay, why do we why do we need Bitrock in there? I actually think they worked him in pretty well and uh and that we don’t get him uh you know, we won’t be talking about him very much for the rest of the of the movie. Um it it also shows I think everybody knows that he’s a troubled comic ha uh history and we’re we just don’t need to make fun fun of him.
Kyle Olson
But they did uh they did cast a French actor to play him.
Pete Wright
Yes, yes.
Kyle Olson
So Georges Saint Pierre, like he is actually legitimately. French. And if you look closely, his costume is in the colors. Batcharch also has a really, really wild costume too. The colors are represented in sort of the armor that he’s wearing, but not quite as Big and bold because it’s that that was Lee Kirby era. Like it was it was bright colors.
Matthew Fox
Got it, got it, love it.
Kyle Olson
So but just enough that you can be like, ah, I see what you did there.
Matthew Fox
So and we also have in the scene some of the first tensions between uh Cap and and Nick Nick Fury, who is not represented by he’s he’s not here, but uh Natasha is and she’s the one kind of defending him, which I think also sets up kind of a lot of where her character is going to go in terms of her shifting towards capside as as the movie goes on. But like that, this is the first time we’re starting to get already, Cap is not happy with what what Fury is doing. And we saw that some of the Avengers movie, but now it also is really setting up. Cap as a soldier. And he’s not he’s following his orders, but he’s not happy about them.
Kyle Olson
But the person who’s happy to be given this much information is Brock Rumlow, aka Crossbones, played by Frank Grillo
Matthew Fox
Now is this his first movie or did we see him in um something else?
Kyle Olson
Now this is his first appearance in the in the universe. Um be less. His uh uh interesting fact, his first television gig was on an episode of Silk Stockings. Anybody remember that?
Pete Wright
Silk stockings, yeah.
Matthew Fox
I remember that show. I remember that show.
Pete Wright
That was after primetime television
Kyle Olson
That’s right, USA.
Matthew Fox
Up all night.
Pete Wright
Yeah.
Matthew Fox
Uh so yeah, he he and he I know is a comic book villain uh in the comics. By the way, that actor is now also playing Rick Flag Sr. over on in the DC universe, so one more of the crossovers we get. And we’re also introduced to Jasper Sitwell, who I think had been in Agents of Shield before this. Or was he hanging around at all?
Kyle Olson
Yeah, he had been in the one of the shorts.
Pete Wright
Yes.
Kyle Olson
He was in the um one of the one-shots. And then the consultant.
Pete Wright
For sure. So we did we did know him and he was on Shield, uh Agents of Shield for sure.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, patients of shit.
Matthew Fox
And he is also, and I think that was also a nice thing for people of, because this we were still very unsure of how much the shield continuity and this continuity were matching up. Um, was Sitwell also someone from the comics?
Kyle Olson
Yes, but not at all like he is in this. It was just another sort of pencil pusher.
Matthew Fox
Okay, cool, cool. Uh so yes, then we can get to what Pete was asking about the date. What’s going on with Natasha like as they’re getting ready for the mission talking to him about, you know, have you asked out the girl from statistics?
Pete Wright
I don’t get it, but I do kind of love it. Like it just feels like she wants it. She f uh my impression is she very much wants him to feel completely engaged in the now. And how is he gonna do that if he’s not in a relationship? I don’t quite understand how they have shoehorned that identity into black widow that she cares so much about other people’s relationships that she’s meddling in it, but I kinda love it and I think we need a scorecard.
Kyle Olson
She’s she’s been a wingman
Pete Wright
Yeah, she really is
Kyle Olson
Yeah. But I I also love the fact that the behind them are these like gung ho soldier black ops agents geared up ready to go. And for these two, for for Cap and Natasha, it’s a it’s a day at the office. Like this is literally water cooler talk. They’re about to jump into the ocean and they’re just like, Yeah, did you check out that girl? Oh yeah, I d I mean they’re just having this casual conversation because for them Yeah, just another day at the office.
Matthew Fox
I I I’m with you and I am writing down the the list of the potential dates and we’ll keep that list going. But I also think there’s something a little bit more um uh nebulous in in Natasha’s motivations here because I think I I think you’re right that I think she does just love meddling and like to play Cupid a little bit. But also I think if she gets him thinking about Kimberly, he’s not thinking about what is Natasha’s secret mission gonna be and why is McFury sending them without full information. Like to me it’s a very much a let me get your mind off of that
Kyle Olson
Yeah.
Rob Kubasko
It’s a diversion tactic.
Matthew Fox
Yeah.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, uh yeah.
Pete Wright
Yeah.
Rob Kubasko
Yeah, that’s how it comes off.
Matthew Fox
Yeah. Well and now I’m being very curious the next time she brings that up, what’s happening in the conversation?
Kyle Olson
Yeah. Master spy
Matthew Fox
Is she trying to not have him think about something? Because I that might be wrong.
Kyle Olson
Right, mm-hmm
Matthew Fox
I don’t know, but I’ll be curious to see.
Pete Wright
Oh, I like it though. Oh, the scorecard’s gonna need a new column.
Matthew Fox
Right? We we need a chart.
Pete Wright
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Matthew Fox
Google Sheets to the Rescue.
Pete Wright
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Matthew Fox
So why hasn’t he asked out cumbriction statistics?
Kyle Olson
I think it’s it comes along with the whole theme of this movie, really, is is the man out of time. Like I still think that he doesn’t feel connected and so he can’t really make that connection with anybody who’s not in this world the superhero world
Pete Wright
Yeah, I can’t I mean it’s it it gets easier to imagine. Like if I imagine just taking lifting my entire identity in life and moving me forward a hundred years. and I land, a lot will have changed, but in my head, I’m still married. Right? Like in my head I still have a relationship and I’m not ready to just consider that over. It’s it’s easy to see f how Cap is just like there are some things, the internet’s great, no polio’s great, but kinda I’m still my head uh headcanon is I was I was crushing on someone else who is not around.
Matthew Fox
Yeah.
Rob Kubasko
Well well, I mean one, he’s still got that. You’re still carrying that flame. Do you also not feel that there is and and uh uh There’s probably a little bit of everybody looks at Cap and goes, oh, you’re so innocent and pure. Because a lot has happened since you’ve been under ice.
Pete Wright
Yeah
Rob Kubasko
And like I even think Natasha’s a little bit, I think there’s a little bit underlying of I even if even if I wanted to date you, there’s no way I should be dating you. Like I think there’s that too. So
Pete Wright
Well yeah, ’cause Black Widow’s into some pretty dark stuff.
Rob Kubasko
And and Yeah, I mean, I don’t know.
Pete Wright
I mean, come on.
Rob Kubasko
But then but then here’s the beauty of it. The beauty of you find is is that Cap’s basically like, hey, listen, I’m here now, so let’s go.
Pete Wright
Yeah, if you turn the page on his little notebook, there’s some dark stuff.
Matthew Fox
I mean, put this I don’t this is the man who like six months ago in his timeline wasn’t sure what Fondue was and got very confused.
Kyle Olson
ajá, ajá,
Matthew Fox
So yeah.
Pete Wright
Yeah
Rob Kubasko
Well, see, there is something when he says the internet’s great, that means a lot.
Matthew Fox
I
Pete Wright
It does, it’s carrying a lot of weight.
Matthew Fox
See, here’s the sad thing though. I am absolutely positive that there are 8 million fanfictions with something about Innocent Cap learns about, you know.
Rob Kubasko
I’m sure
Kyle Olson
Oh, yes.
Matthew Fox
So
Pete Wright
Oh my God.
Matthew Fox
That has been explored for us already.
Kyle Olson
Thank you, AO3.
Pete Wright
Oh my gosh
Matthew Fox
There we go.
Kyle Olson
We appreciate you.
Matthew Fox
There we go. All right. So that’s what I had for these minutes. What else do you guys want to jump into?
Kyle Olson
Uh well, I know uh
Pete Wright
I I can’t talk right now because I’m Googling Innocent Cap learns about
Kyle Olson
Ha ha uh oh we’ve lost him down the rabbit hole. Uh I I was I was uh interesting I was going through uh doing as we talked about uh first appearances. So uh you know Frank goes first appearance. Um Scarlett Johansson’s first appearance was in 1994 in a film called North, directed by the late great Rob Reiner. Uh, Chris Evans film debut was in Not Another Teen Movie, which is one of the best of all of the parody movies.
Rob Kubasko
Where does he find that movie?
Pete Wright
Yes.
Rob Kubasko
Woof, Cap’s not gonna know what to do.
Kyle Olson
Right? Yeah. And the Thamackey’s day at film debut was in 8 Mile as Papa Doc. And Rob has uh offered to do Papa Doc’s final rap from 8 Mile. Rob, go.
Rob Kubasko
I only boil eggs. That’s all I have.
Kyle Olson
You know what? If you just said nothing, you won because he doesn’t say anything in his final And the second time today that uh eight mile has come up.
Rob Kubasko
That would have been it? I didn’t know. I didn’t know.
Kyle Olson
Isn’t that interesting, Pete?
Pete Wright
Keep it coming, keep it coming.
Matthew Fox
We’re gonna have the cap wrap by the end of this move by the end of this season.
Kyle Olson
That’s right.
Matthew Fox
Anything else? Are we wrapping up?
Kyle Olson
Well, I think, yeah, like we’re we’re about we’re about to take a dive. As we move into past minute five.
Rob Kubasko
Oh my God.
Kyle Olson
I still got it
Rob Kubasko
That’s nice.
Pete Wright
Classic Olsen. This is really great. I’m I’m very excited to get in here and I love knowing that every five minutes after this five minutes is five minutes I’m looking forward to.
Kyle Olson
Yes, yes
Pete Wright
This is delightful.
Kyle Olson
Yes, yeah, there’s another scorecard. Is there a bad five minutes in this movie? I don’t think there is.
Pete Wright
I don’t think there is
Kyle Olson
But we’ll see.
Matthew Fox
I I have a wooden desk here, so I’m knocking on it pretty hard because I don’t want to jinx us. Um
Pete Wright
Yeah.
Matthew Fox
But I’m certainly hoping, because there yeah, I’m I’m I’m hoping. I’m hoping. I’m hoping.
Pete Wright
Can I can I just ask strategically as we wrap up these minutes, did did all three of you watch the whole movie in preparation for this season?
Kyle Olson
No, because I have seen it so many times. I I I’m meaning to because I want to watch it with commentary so I can have that information, but
Rob Kubasko
And I rarely do, just so that I can I can my commentary is along with the viewer. So I I like to be reminded of things in the moment.
Pete Wright
This is the first time I I did it that way. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched the entire movie all the way through. I think I’m gonna save that. for after our entire conversation. It’s really fun to kind of not remember exactly the order things are coming in.
Kyle Olson
Yeah. Yeah.
Pete Wright
I like rediscovering it.
Kyle Olson
Yeah, that’s how that’s how we Diorman 3, and that was that was fun that way too, to go, oh right.
Pete Wright
Uh yeah. It’s nice.
Matthew Fox
See, this is why it’s just good to have a really terrible memory. Cause I I right now am, you know, on the side of I’ve just seen the movie. But when we’re like two months into this project, I’m gonna be really a lot closer to you all than like, oh, that happens. I forgot about that. It was two months ago. I don’t remember that far back.
Pete Wright
Yeah, it’s awesome.
Matthew Fox
Come on
Pete Wright
It’s perfect.
Matthew Fox
Yeah, thank you everybody. This has been uh to our listeners. Uh, you know, what it what do y’all think? We’re getting started with the movie, want to hear your thoughts, write in in all the ways that are gonna be in the show notes, of course. All of us have different uh ways you can find us. Again, all that’s going to be in the show notes. We’re all in different podcasts and different projects, things like that. Um, please check all of it out. Please check out all the other great things happening at the TruStory FM family of podcasts. I’ma have myself, Pete, Kyle, and Rob. May the force be with you
Kyle Olson
Enough said
Rob Kubasko
Bye.
Pete Wright
I don’t have one
