The last 10 years have helped us all understand who Captain America is. Before then, the character was largely confined to comics, with only occasional forays onto the big screen. He may be our most patriotic hero and one of the staples of the Marvel universe, but Captain America’s history on the big screen is long and winding.
In honor of Captain America: Brave New World, we’re ranking every Captain America movie, including TV movies, and the series that first adapted the character in the 1940s. While Chris Evans will show up a bunch on this list (including in Avengers movies), he’s not the only man to wear the shield. With that in mind, here’s every Captain America movie, ranked:
We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
11. Captain America TV Movies (1979)
How far we’ve come. Two TV movies were made about Steve Rogers in 1979, and neither is worth considering. Although these movies had some impact on the course Steve ultimately took in the comics, the movies themselves weren’t widely seen at the time, and both of them featured fairly generic plotlines and were made on shoestring budgets.
Cheap movies can be great, but these movies are neither cheap nor great.
10. Captain America (1990)
It would be fair to say that MGM did not pour a ton of resources into this Captain America movie, which was made cheaply in the aftermath of Batman‘s enormous success.
Starring Matt Salinger in the titular role, Captain America follows the titular hero as he’s thawed out of ice and must save the president of the United States from the Red Skull. Cheap, mindless, and uninteresting, the movie has been forgotten because it deserves to be.
You can buy Captain America on Amazon.
9. Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
Unless you were the one person looking for a sequel to both The Incredible Hulk and Eternals, Brave New World probably isn’t the Captain America movie you were looking for.
Sam Wilson’s first outing as the character on the big screen was less successful than many had hoped, and that’s true even though Harrison Ford is giving it his best as Thunderbolt Ross. The movie has no sense of propulsion, and it feels like just the latest piece of evidence that the MCU in general is almost completely rudderless.
You can watch Captain America: Brave New World in theaters.
8. Captain America Serial (1944)
Serials are fascinating because they were so transparently produced in a different era. These serials are only loosely based on the comics and follow a district attorney whose alter ego is Captain America as he takes on a museum curator who assumes the mantle of the Scarab.
While these serials might seem slow, they were actually hugely expensive at the time of their release. Today, they’re most interesting as an exploration of the patriotism that was a fixture of serials of all kinds in that era.
You can watch the full serial on YouTube.
7. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Joss Whedon’s second Avengers film fails to hit the highs of the first. It also doesn’t have much room for Steve to be a central character. Although he is still seen commanding the troops, this Avengers is much more Tony Stark-focused than the first.
The movie also feels mostly like a retread, and Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are not the dynamite new additions that many had hoped for. Not a disaster, by any means, but not one of Cap’s best MCU ventures.
You can watch Avengers: Age of Ultron on Disney+.
6. Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Basically an Avengers movie, Civil War was thrilling at the time but loses a few points because of how little time it seems to actually have for Cap as a character. While the argument between Tony and Steve is a real one, the revelation that Bucky killed Tony’s parents ultimately drives a wedge between them.
It’s a fairly silly reveal, especially because everyone understands that Bucky was brainwashed. Even so, Civil War gets some juice out of its climactic battle between our heroes and sets the stage for their fights to come.
You can watch Captain America: Civil War on Disney+.
5. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
The darkest movie in the entirety of the MCU, Infinity War, is only this low on the list because Cap joins the party fairly late. His return, complete with a beard, is as triumphant a moment as you might expect, but it’s not until Endgame that he really gets to flex his leadership muscles again.
Here, he’s one part of the broader Avengers as they take on Thanos and his army in an attempt to keep him from the Infinity Stones. The movie is a super-fun watch, but it spends more of its time on characters like Thor and Doctor Strange.
You can watch Avengers: Infinity War on Disney+.
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
The Winter Soldier isn’t quite as revelatory as you might have thought it was at the time, but it remains an impressive movie. With shades of the paranoid thrillers that were so common in the 1970s, the movie follows Cap as he discovers a conspiracy that lives deep inside the heart of the U.S. government.
Cap also must face the return of Bucky Barnes. The movie has one too many fakeout deaths, but its elevator fight is every bit as good as you remember, and it’s one of only a couple of Marvel movies that has bigger things in mind.
You can watch Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Disney+.
3. The Avengers (2012)
No one thought it would work. The Avengers was the MCU’s biggest gambit, proof that you could bring a bunch of disparate superheroes together to tell one story. Thankfully, The Avengers worked mainly due to the leadership that Captain America ultimately brings to the table.
Tony Stark might be the original Avenger, but Steve Rogers is the group’s heart and soul. The Avengers succeeds because it understands exactly that and puts him at the center as a man out of time.
You can watch The Avengers on Disney+.
2. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
This movie is, honestly, a miracle. Its ability to include a sprawling cast but also give both Tony Stark and Steve Rogers a proper sendoff is its defining accomplishment, and what a sendoff it turns out to be. Cap gets his girl and can undo the biggest failure of his life.
Endgame is structured in three defined acts, the first involving getting the team back together, the second involving an extended nostalgia trip, and the third an all-out brawl. And you know what? All three are excellent. An utter triumph of a movie, and probably the moment when Marvel should have called it quits.
You can watch Avengers: Endgame on Disney+.
1. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
This may sound crazy, but Chris Evans’s first outing as Steve Rogers remains his best. This movie, set almost entirely in the 1940s, remains one of Marvel’s very best films precisely because it doesn’t feel all that much like a Marvel movie.
It’s relatively light on action, focuses much of its plot on the dynamite chemistry between its two leads, and has a great roster of supporting players. Marvel was still experimenting in this early phase, and The First Avenger is probably the best result of that experimentation.
You can watch Captain America: The First Avenger on Disney+.
