Infinity War Directors Say They Didn’t Want To Make Cap Patriotic

As the brains behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier (and Civil War!), Joe and Anthony Russo know a thing or two about Steve Rogers’ star-spangled patriot. Which is why everyone was so intrigued by Cap’s truncated arc in Avengers: Infinity War, in which he adopted the roguish, lone wolf mantle of Nomad.

Like so many other MCU characters – namely Black Widow and Hawkeye – Steve Rogers is expected to enjoy a much more prominent role in Avengers 4, as the remnants of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes confront Thanos for the final (?) time.

But when it comes to their own handling of Captain America, otherwise known as the moral compass of the Avengers, Anthony Russo spoke to Wired about how he and his brother always looked to Steve Rogers as much more than just a cliched symbol of patriotism.

We entered the MCU by direction Captain America: Winter Soldier. What we love about the character is the humility of the character, the fact that he came from very basic roots and through sort of his will and his aspiration and the sort of fortune of being chosen for the Super Soldier program he was able to sort of make more of himself than he would have been able to otherwise. I think that’s what people really admire about the character.

Continuing on, Anthony Russo elaborated on the pair’s approach to the character of Cap, and why they wanted to dig deep and find Steve’s human level so that the audience may empathize with him for the flawed individual he really is.

Joe and I never really responded to the earlier comics where he is sort of a simplistic symbol of patriotism. We were always interested in exploring something a little more complex with the character and really understanding him on more of a human level. That’s the journey I think we’ve been on with that character through several films now.

And while his screentime was somewhat limited, Captain America certainly enjoyed a big entrance in Avengers: Infinity War – and that’s despite the Russo Brothers wanting to save his triumphant return until later in the movie. Wakanda, to be specific.