In 1936 Fascist Italy, the government kidnaps a boy, Tadzio de Santis, and kills his family. The child is needed for an experimental project to create a Fascist supersoldier. Dr. Maria Vaselli (Carla Cassola) objects to using the boy, and under the cover of gunfire flees to the US to offer her services to America. Seven years later, the American government finds a volunteer in Steve Rogers (Matt Salanger), a soldier who is excluded from the draft because of his polio. The formula successfully transforms Rogers into a superhero, but before any more super soldiers can be created using the formula she keeps in her head, Dr. Vaselli is murdered by a Nazi spy. Meanwhile, the Italian boy has become the Red Skull (Scott Paulin) and is planning to launch a missile at the White House. Rogers, code named Captain America, is sent in to defeat the Skull and deactivate the missile.
Rogers manages to penetrate the launch compound, but after an initial battle, the Red Skull defeats Captain America and ties him to the missile as it is about to launch. Captain America is able to grab a hold of the Red Skull, forcing him to cut off his own hand to avoid being launched into destruction along with his "American brother". While the missile is over Washington, D.C., a young boy named Thomas Kimball takes a photograph as Captain America forces the missile to change course and land somewhere in Alaska, where he remains frozen for fifty years until 1993.
Kimball (Ronny Cox) goes on to become a Vietnam War hero and an honest politician until being elected the President of the United States. A year into his term, he is pushing for pro-environmentalist legislation, angering the military-industrial complex, who hold a secret conference in Italy that is led by the Red Skull. Following the war, the Red Skull had extensive plastic surgery in a partially successful attempt to alter his disfigured features, raised a daughter, Valentina(Francesca Neri) , and has become the leader of a powerful crime family. In the 1960s, this American military-industrial complex hired the Red Skull and his thugs to murder various Americans who were against their militarism and Red Skull's fascism, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. Now, Red Skull is targeting President Kimball for kidnapping and brainwashing. When Rogers' frozen body is found in Alaska by researchers, his body quickly thaws and he flees the researchers compound, soon after he encounters Investigative Journalist Sam Kolowitz (Ned Beatty), who tries to convince Rogers he's been asleep for fifty years, though initially he doesn't believe he's awaken in the future, with the help of Sharon (Kim Gillingham), the daughter of his 1940s girlfriend, Bernice "Bernie" Stewart, eventually he excepts the truth. Upon learning of the Red Skulls plans, Rogers dons the guise of Captain America once more in an attempt to thwart the Red Skull's evil plot.
Ronny Cox' portrayal of a genuine Boy Scout President is preformed with such exuberance and such wide eyed patriotism, it's bordering on naive, if he was twenty years younger he could have played Captain America himself. Ned Beatty gives a top notch performance as Sam as well as film vetran Darren McGavin as General Fleming, but both don't receive much screen time. Kim Gillingham's feisty performance as Sharon is put to best use when proving to Rogers, she's a 90's woman, leaving the damsel in distress routine in the dust. Matt Salanger performance as Steve Rogers/Captain America isn't what an avid comic book reader would expect but it works within the confines of the film. The character is portrayed as inexperienced and unsure of himself and eager to make up for a huge failure he feels he's made when he didn't bring down the Red Skull. The red, white and blue uniform and shield Salanger sports as Cap is poorly constructed, and sadly ineffective at elevating his performance in any way. On the other hand, the make-up to transform Scott Paulin into the Red Skull is impressive and somewhat succeeds at enhancing Paulin's depiction of a brainwashed monstrosity hell-bent on world domination. sadly due to budget concerns, the make-up effects are only utilized for about fifteen minutes at the beginning of the film and are downgraded soon-after.
Aside from Captain America and the Red Skull's first encounter, the action scenes are poorly constructed throughout the film, lacking any excitement. It also seems far fetched (even for a superhero movie) for the U.S. Military to send a soldier, super or otherwise, barley trained with no experience on a solo mission against Nazi forces and the Red Skull. However, Director Albert Pynn's Captain America starts off in the right direction in the traditional sense, remaining true to the 1960's source material created by writer Joe Simon & artist Jack Kirby, but at least the Captain America in the Marvel comics fought many battles and had many successful missions under his belt before his deep freeze at the bottom of the Arctic. Though the dialog is stale, failing to enhance the scripts mediocre plot, the film does have a golden age feel to it that's akin to the comics of the era. Unfortunately the films low budget prevents it from achieving the visual heights it needs to elevate the story and create a comic book atmosphere for these characters to breath in and truly come to life. At best it comes off as a pilot for a television series, which is probably why it went straight to video, failing to be a theatrical release. Captain America's lack-luster 1990 film debut receives a low rating of 1 out of 5 stars.