NEWSREEL FOOTAGE: BLACK AND WHITE
By February 1943, the Guadalcanal campaign is over. Cap poses with officers and enlisted men of Army and Marines forces for the press.
As an announcer narrates in an over the top fashion, a series of clips follows highlighting Captain America’s exploits in the years that followed;
Cap in North Africa fighting the Vichy French. In Sicily and Italy. On an Airfield in England talking with Gen. Omar Bradley and Gen. Anthony McAuliffe shortly prior to D-Day. Leading a charge on Omaha Beach while carrying a BMG M1919. And finally in the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge with the 82nd Airborne Division…
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
As the Ruthless war-mongers of the Axis Powers set
Their eyes on new territory to conquer, thousands of
Young American men heeded the call to arm for defense!
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
One man, his courage and determination knowing no
Bound, volunteered for a secret scientific experiment.
With the help of the finest American scientists, was
Transformed into the perfect human specimen, the
World’s first super-soldier!
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Since 1942, Captain America has led the charge against
Enemy forces in every theatre of the war. From
Guadalcanal through Tunisia, Sicily and Italy and to
Normandy!
PULL BACK to see we’re in a movie theatre in London packed with service men and civilians alike. The scene ends on the face of a young soldier with a wide grin, while next to him, wearing a straight faced expression we catch a very brief glimpse of… Heinz Krueger.
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Good luck, Captain America, wherever you are!
CUT TO:
EXT. RAIL BRIDGE – DAY
A bridge hangs a hundred and fifty feet out of a river. On either side is a cliff, a shack, a mortar and machine gun nests and a platoon of German soldiers to man them.
SUPERIMPOSE: FEBUARY 1945
EXT. RAIL BRIDGE WEST - DAY
On one side, with the somewhat heavier German presence, a group of four US Army soldiers squat in the woods nearby. Their appearance ragged and scruffy from months of roughing it, the Bulge still a recent memory, but they have a certain calm intensity to them. They’re some of the mud-caked squad that trained in Camp Lehigh years ago, the Howling Commandos, these four are;
Sgt. DUM-DUM DUGAN, built like a prizefighter and sports a bowler hat and an auburn moustache,
Tech Corp. DINO MANELLI, Italian, movie star good looks,
Pfc. GABRIEL JONES, tall, black, has a trumpet fastened to his waist, and
Pfc. IZZY COHEN, a young Charles Bronson type with a moustache.
Dugan checks his watch and shifts his eyes between over a dozen enemy soldiers. The advantage is clearly not theirs, but he doesn’t seem worried, and neither are the men under him.
DUGAN
Almost time.
EXT. RAIL BRIDGE EAST - DAY
In a similar position, three other men wait. Bucky Barnes, now a Corporal, checks his watch while near him are two other members of the Howling Commandos;
Pte. PERCIVAL PINKERTON, better groomed than his fellow squaddies, has a thin moustache, wears a Maroon Beret, and
Pfc. REBEL RALSTON, a smallish, blond young man in a field cap.
Bucky signals the two soldiers to move into position while he gets on his belly and looks through the sights of his rifle.
INT. MOUNTAIN TUNNEL
An unmarked freight train makes its way though the hole in the mountain.
EXT. MOUNTAIN TUNNEL - DAY
Captain America perches on top of the tunnel exit with a large pack on his back. He checks his watch as he hears the train approach. As soon as the train EXITS, he latches on to his shield and prepares to make the jump, doing so onto the caboose.
INT. FIRST CAR
Two SS soldiers stand idly near tarp covered crates. Cap slinks through a window and lands quietly with acrobatic grace. The two guards notice his presence as he’s literally feet away; one tries to raise his weapon, but gets a face full of shield for his trouble. Cap strikes the other in the nose, and then pulls him face-first into his knee, before knocking the first soldier out with a left hook.
Both soldiers dispensed with, Cap goes to retrieve his pack which he’d fastened to the back of the cart. He then takes a look under the tarp, finding crates marked with the rod of Asclepius, indicating medical supplies. Unsatisfied, he pries one open, finding munitions instead. He plants an explosive charge, and then gathers the Germans’ weapons.
EXT. FREIGHT TRAIN (MOVING) - DAY
Cap tosses the weapons away as he moves into the next cart.
EXT. RAIL BRIDGE EAST - DAY
Bucky has a German sergeant in his sights. He watches him for a little while as he talks to the privates he commands. Bucky takes his shot.
Stricken with terror, the Germans scramble. A few carry their Sergeant to safety, while the others take their positions.
Bucky fires at the men carrying the Sergeant, aiming to wound.
Determined to repel the unseen attack, the German machine guns open fire on the general direction where they believe the sniper to be. Hey miss him by a mile, though a few hit a bit too close for comfort. Bucky fires again, now shooting to kill.
Pinkerton and Rebel capitalize on Bucky’s distraction as they make a run out of heir hiding place. Pinkerton does a running rifle butt to a German soldier’s face on their way to the shack, he kicks the door in and opens fire on the soldiers still inside. Rebel meanwhile goes on to take out the group of men who have just fired a mortar shell, and then lobs a grenade at the nearby machine gun nest.
The mortar shell lands near Bucky. Not nearly near enough to harm him, but close enough to royally piss him off.
Bucky gets up and picks up a Thompson, then using the trees for cover, makes his way closer to the Germans’ position.
INT. SECOND CAR
Cap plants some explosive charges on a few more crates, while all around him, the battered bodies of several German soldiers are slumped motionless on the floor.
EXT. FREIGHT TRAIN (MOVING)
Cap climbs onto the third cart, which is…
INT. THIRD CAR
… teeming with Hydra soldiers. Vigilant and alert, gathered around a couple of tarp covered crates secured to the ground.
EXT. THIRD CAR - DAY
Cap uses a small mirror to grab a quick peek inside the cart, then rolls over onto his back.
INT. THIRD CART
For a few moments nothing happens, and then a portion of the cart near the corner EXPLODES. A couple of soldiers that were nearby go down from the blast. A second of confusion passes, but these soldiers are well disciplined enough that it is only a second before a handful of soldiers open fire on the walls and roof surrounding the hole in the cart, trying to attack the men about to come through the hole.
I think it helps if you listen to this piece while envisioning the rest of the action sequence
Cap, however, breaks through the rear door the second they open fire. What happens next could possibly be best described as a restrained massacre. Cap ploughs right through them, shield in one hand and a Colt .45 in the other. He goes from one man to the other, using every part of his body to clobber them. The few that manage to land a blow aren’t awake long enough to feel good about it, and the ones that get desperate enough to open fire only succeed in gunning down their friends. He flows from end of the train to the other, as quick as a shot and as heavy as a cannon. The product of irreplaceable scientific ingenuity, intense training, and a few years of almost continuous action.
After the better part of a minute, the last man goes down. Cap shifts his attention to the object of the Hydra platoon’s protection. He pulls the tarp off, shatters the crate beneath, pausing for a moment to notice the red stamp reading ‘ZOLA BRANCHEN’.
Inside he finds a weapon unlike most he’s ever seen. It looks a bit like an artillery gun, but is very much alien otherwise.
EXT. RAIL BRIDGE EAST
Rebel has taken over a machine gun nest, they use it to provide covering fire as Bucky and Pinkerton maneuver themselves closer to a machine gun nest.
EXT. RAIL BRIDGE WEST
Dugan, Gabe, Dino and Izzy are in the middle of their own assault on the other side of the bridge.
Gabe and Izzy clear the shack on that side. Dugan takes out a machine gun crew before ducking behind a jeep for cover. Dino cuts down a small group of Germans trying to flank them.
Both teams of Commandos continue to operate in their own vicinities, and how they do operate. They move quickly and without fear, one could call them reckless, but they always seem to be reckless right when they can afford to, and steadily surmount their enemies of imposing numbers. One could believe for a moment that they’ve already been in this very skirmish before.
EXT. FREIGHT TRAIN - DAY
Cap climbs onto another car, but as just he’s about to reach over, he notices a group of Hydra soldiers edging towards him atop the car.
They open fire. Cap drops down, hanging from the top of the car with his shield bearing arm. He takes a grenade that hangs from his harness, pulls the pin, prepares to throw it… only to find two potato masher grenades dropped on him.
They land beneath his feet on the couples connecting the train cars. Cap maneuvers himself away from the blast, losing his pistol in the process.
Cap heaves himself upward, kicking one assailant in the chest before he lands feet first. He slinks out of a second soldier’s gunfire, grabs the barrel and uses it to pull his face into elbow. The soldier manages to counter.
With the fight being devoid of the element of surprise that had aided him a few minutes ago, and with the unsure footing, Cap finds himself fighting just as hard against a smaller number of opponents.
What follows is an exercise in finesse as Cap dodges and parries and maneuvers to gain the advantage. They give him and run for his money, and he comes very close to being kicked off the train a few times, but he eventually disposes of them in quick order, and walks across the roof towards the front of the train, wielding a luger he’d seized from one of the men.
INT. LOCOMOTIVE
Cap swings from the top into the cart, and kicks the only soldier in there out the other side. The ENGINEER, an older, portly man, as well as his crew stares at Cap blankly for a little while, before saying…
ENGINEER
(In German)
Alright, alright. Should I stop now or later?
EXT. TRAIN (MOVING) – DAY - LATER
Cap leans out the locomotive. In the distance he hears music, faint at start, but eventually more distinguishable. He cracks a smile as he recognizes it as the Battle Hymn of the Republic being played on a trumpet.
EXT. RAIL BRIDGE - DAY
Gabe Jones stuffs his trumpet into his pack as the train slows down to a halt. Behind him, Dino, Pinkerton and Rebel hurl every weapon the Germans had into the river bellow, while Izzy backs up a German Army truck.
BIRD’S EYE: CLEARING – DAY
The Howlers stand waiting by the truck in a clearing in the woods. In the distance, a pillar of smoke rises from the bridge where the train and munitions were destroyed, except for the weapon from Zola Industries. Our perspective is that of a B-25 as it prepares to land to pick up the Howlers and the weapon, the roar of its engines filling our ears.
INT. B-25 (IN FLIGHT) – NIGHT
Gathered around the weapon in the back, the Howlers unwind while they can, however way they can. Gabe plays a soothing Jazz standard on his trumpet. Steve has partially changed into ordinary fatigues, and scribbles preliminary notes for when he writes the operation report due for his commanders…
STEVE
How many strong was the patrol you
Ran into this morning?
DUGAN
Seven privates. Two jeeps. Looked like
conscripts.
… while Bucky reads a Captain America comic book. He is amused by his own camp depiction.
BUCKY
Ah, Kurtzberg.
STEVE
Is that a new one?
BUCKY
Yep. In this you and me get dropped into
Russia and fight an entire regiment of
German vampire soldiers.
BUCKY
Think’ll keep printing these once the war’s over?
STEVE
I don’t know. Worrying about your celebrity
Coming to an end?
BUCKY
I ain’t exactly been introducing myself to dames
As Bucky Barnes, the kid in the tights from the funny
Books. I was just wondering.
DUGAN
The war’s not over, Barnes. Bit early to be thinking
About after-the-war.
BUCKY
I’ve seen you getting misty every time you read that
Letter you got from the missus. Don’t tell me you
Don’t think about getting home.
Dugan smirks.
STEVE
So what are
you planning on doing, Bucky?
BUCKY
I don’t know what it will be, but I can safely say
I’m through with the Army. Soldiering and winter
Weather, two things I plan to leave behind me.
BUCKY
I think I’ll pitch for the Reds. Or maybe become a
Movie star.
The Howlers laugh.
BUCKY
Whadaya say, Dino? We can light up the screen
Together.
DINO
Five years from now, I’m going to play George Milton
On Broadway.
DINO
What about you, Gabe?
GABE
Carnegie Hall awaits me, Corp.
BUCKY
Pink?
PINKERTON
Oh, it occurred to me to devote the rest of my natural
Days to being a gadabout.
BUCKY
Reb? Izzy?
REBEL
College. Gonna be a lawyer, son.
IZZY
I’ll take over for pop at the auto shop. I’m gonna buy a
Two story house in Brighton Beach me and Madeline
Have our eyes on. Maybe two or three kids to fill it.
PINKERTON
What about you, Captain?
REBEL
Yeah. Are you gonna be a writer, have some young
Looey quoting you to his troops fifty years from
Now?
STEVE
I’m the soul product of untold amounts of expense
And effort. I don’t think the War Department’s going
To let me go just because the war is over.
BUCKY
Maybe, but… What do they need Captain America for
In peacetime?
Steve has no answer.
DUGAN
Jesus, Bucky!
BUCKY
What? I didn’t mean it like that! Cap, I meant that…
STEVE
It’s fine, Bucky. I know what you meant.
To tell you the truth, I… I don’t know what I’d do.
Haven’t really though about it.
There is an awkward silence in the hold as the conversations stop and Steve returns to his report. Until Steve speaks.
STEVE
Wait a minute… Who in their right mind would dream
Of playing for the Cincinnati Reds? They’re the worst!
BUCKY
The hell you say?!
The Howlers –excepting Pinkerton- erupt in an argument on the merits of the Cincinnati Reds.
EXT. AIRFIELD – DAY
The B-25 touches down on the tarmac. The rear door is down, and a group of soldiers hurry over to haul the
liberated piece of German equipment. Cap and Bucky walk out followed by the Howlers. Cap is now in ordinary combat fatigues except for the white star on blue chainmail peeking over his partially buttoned jacket, and wears his shield like it was a backpack by two leather straps.
Maj. HOWARD STARK (32) approaches. Tall, slim, suave, Clark Gable moustache. His smirking, cocky, easy going demeanor hardly fitting his rank. Steve and Bucky nevertheless salute him.
STEVE/BUCKY
Sir.
STARK
Oh, please. It’s Howard. Put that
Hand down, will you?
Stark does an almost salute and the two soldiers lower their hands. They watch as the weapon is carted off and loaded to the back of a truck.
STARK
Well, there she goes. I trust you and
Your men didn’t go through too much
Trouble getting it?
STEVE
We’ve had tougher missions.
STARK
Shame I have to fly back to New Mexico
Tonight. I really wanted to take my time
Pulling her apart.
BUCKY
What’s in New Mexico?
STARK
Oh, the Rio Grande,
Billy the Kid’s final resting place…
Los Alamos.
STARK
I’ll be back soon enough. Maybe then
You’ll let me buy you a Bourbon, huh?
Stark lightly slaps Steve on the shoulder, grinning as he takes a seat in the passenger seat of the truck.
BUCKY
(Watching the truck drive away)
Strange, strange man. How did he get
To make Major in this man’s army?
STEVE
He was drafted.
EXT. HAZARD OPERATIONS DIVISION HQ, LONDON – DAY
A nondescript government building in London on loan to the American government housing the H.O.D., a joint American-British intelligence agency born of the British Special Operations Executive, and its American counterpart the Office of Strategic Services, conducting espionage operations related to advanced weaponry, particularly ones aiming to disrupt Hydra’s activities.
INT. PHILIPS’ OFFICE
Chester Philips, H.O.D’s director, promoted to Brigadier General since 1942, sits behind his desk leafing through Steve’s report while Steve sits across from him wearing his service dress uniform. Like Philips and Bucky, he’s also been promoted, to a Captain.
PHILIPS
The fight has all but left the
Average German footman.
STEVE
They had plenty of fight in them
Last month.
PHILIPS
The last gasp of a beast at bay.
Everyone expects a surrender by mid-year,
And then it’s back to Japan. If there’s still a
Japan left by the time we get there.
STEVE
All due respect, sir, I’ll toast no wine before
We get Hitler before a tribunal. Besides, Hydra
Troopers aren’t your average footmen…. Sir.
PHILIPS
You’re not wrong. That’s exactly what
I wanted to talk to you about.
PHILIPS
You know we’ve been done everything we can
To disrupt Hydra’s activities these past three year.
Despite their best efforts we’ve managed to amass
A great deal of intelligence regarding their operations,
Their facilities and so forth. The only thing stopping us
From lumping them along with the SS proper is that
Their upper echelon remains a source of uncertainty to us.
STEVE
You mean the Red Skull?
PHILIPS
Are you aware that several Nazi officials have
Been making their way to South America, Hydra
Personnel included?
STEVE
I’ve read the intelligence reports, yes.
PHILIPS
Baron Heinrich Zemo is one of the latest to do
So. As you know the prevailing theory is that if
The Red Skull if he exists, then he’s Zemo.
In that case we’ve got Von Strucker to deal with.
Whatever the case is, we’d very much be in a
Good place if we knew for sure before the war is
Over.
STEVE
What about Zemo?
PHILIPS
He’s the F.B.I.’s concern. We won’t go near him for now.
PHILIPS
As for you, you’re being you’re transferred to my command,
Bucky too, I suppose.
STEVE
I’ve been passed from one outfit to the other for some
Time now, sir. A little stability’ll be a nice change.
PHILIPS
Oh, don’t get used to it. The war department’ll be
Wanting you for Operation Plunder in March.
PHILIPS
Back to Hydra… Do you know Margaret Carter?
STEVE
Out of S.O.E.? I worked with her twice; in Holland and in
Austria a few months before Normandy.
She … left quite an impression.
PHILIPS
She’s been supplying valuable
Intelligence from German territory for years,
Including quite a bit on Hydra.
I would call impressive as well.
PHILIPS
A hair under a month ago she lost contact with
Her handlers. A few of her contacts were
Compromised and her cover was blown, apparently.
PHILIPS
She resurfaced two nights ago. She’s hunkered
Down in a little town called Heinmund.
Your mission will be to find her and escort her back here.
STEVE
What’s the British perspective?
PHILIPS
They suspect whatever she has isn’t anything they can risk
Finding about later from another source. They’ve promised to
Co-debrief her the moment she sets foot on allied soil.
PHILIPS
I don’t have to say we owe the Brits a token of appreciation for
Their help against Hydra. So you’re to make sure she gets back
Here safely. Avoid enemy contact if reasonably possible. You’re
Cleared to take two men with you.
Mr. Falsworth will brief you on the rest.
TO BE CONTINUED