It’s hard to believe that just a few short years ago, there was a high degree of skepticism about Captain America: The First Avenger.  How was a somewhat corny character like Captain America going to be made relevant to a wide audience?  Some thought that the First Avenger would be the weakest link of the pre-Avengers chain, perhaps derailing the entire master plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the process.

Fast forward to 2014.  In the wake of the ultra-popular Avengers film, Marvel Studios has approached “Phase II” with a shocking degree of confidence.  Despite some disagreement among fans, Iron Man 3 showed that the character-centric films could address the larger themes of the MCU as well as the character arcs that started with the first two Iron Man films.  And Thor: The Dark World seemed to take on the challenge even better.

Meanwhile, on the television front, Agents of SHIELD has struggled a bit to maintain the momentum.  For many, there has been a lack of connection to the larger MCU and a lack of purpose to the series as a whole.  And yet, all along, the producers have been advising patience, making it very clear that everything is going to be connected, and adding a wink and a smile while referencing Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Fair warning: from here on out, THERE BE SPOILERS!

To say that The Winter Soldier fundamentally changes the MCU landscape is an understatement.  We now have answers to questions we didn’t even know we had, and the MCU feels more connected and expertly crafted going into Avengers: Age of Ultron more than it ever has before.  Stray plot points from The First Avenger mix together with elements of The Avengers and Agents of SHIELD to deliver a massive plot bomb.

Agents of SHIELD has been hinting that the series’ main adversary, “The Clairvoyant”, was connected in some way to nefarious elements within SHIELD itself.  That plot point is directly addressed in The Winter Soldier, and it is a doozy.  It turns out that SHIELD has been infiltrated by Hydra since the very beginning, thanks to the expatriation of Armin Zola during Operation: Paper Clip.  (A real thing, dear readers.  Look it up!)  And in the ensuring decades, SHIELD has been preparing to fulfill Hydra’s mission of world domination through fear, all under the auspices of Zola, who has been converted into a worldwide-monitoring AI.  That’s right: Zola would appear to be “The Clairvoyant”, as he has managed to develop a means of predicting who will be a future threat to SHIELD/Hydra, and has initiated Project: Insight to kill up to 2 million for the supposed sake of 7 billion.  (Short aside: How cool was it that Zola’s visual presence echoed the classic comic book design for the character?!?)

For those who wonder if a blockbuster superhero film can have societal relevance beyond entertainment, The Winter Soldier delivers a stunning example.  Some of the undertones present in Star Trek Into Darkness find themselves front and center in this film.  The allegorical connection to authorizing covert drone strikes against targets worldwide, all in the name of “freedom”, is hard to ignore.  Anyone who worried over the depiction of SHIELD as above the law and ripe for abuse will feel vindicated (and a little terrified).

Who better to combat such a conspiracy, of course, than the symbol of American ideals of freedom and justice himself?  And with SHIELD corrupted at the very heart, Nick Fury’s help is questionable at best, given that he was among the last to know.  In fact, Fury stands as a solid example of how someone with the best of intentions can slide down that slippery slope and make some very questionable decisions.

Joining Captain America are a couple of allies, one familiar, the other not so much.  Black Widow is an intriguing choice, because her role is so substantial that it might as well be Captain America and Black Widow.  And that’s not a bad thing.  All those hints about Natasha’s checkered past come to the forefront, especially those years with the KGB.  If The Avengers didn’t make the case for a Black Widow solo film, then The Winter Soldier practically screams for it.  The prominent use of her signature weapon is also much appreciated.

Sam Wilson is a new ally, a former soldier drawn to Steve Rogers by a common sense of duty.  His experience as a specialized para-trooper, using “Falcon” technology to fly, makes him a lowered-powered version of Iron Man, which fits the tone of the film a lot better.  The circumstances of the resolution of the him make a return possible but unlikely, but that’s OK; not every character introduced in the films has to have an ongoing purpose.

It would be amazing enough to have this film be nothing more than Captain America taking down a perverted version of SHIELD, but the writers mine one of the most popular recent story arcs from the source material by introducing the titular Winter Soldier.  The Winter Soldier is none other than Bucky Barnes, who survived his seemingly deadly plummet in The First Avenger, was recovered by Hydra, brainwashed, fitted with a bionic arm, and put into cryogenic freeze until thawed for the occasional brutal mission of death and mayhem.

The Winter Soldier is clearly a dark reflection of Captain America himself, not the least because the elements of Hydra in question were operating out of the Soviet Union.  The Cold War allusions aren’t as prominent within the plot, given that it all ties back into Hydra and its worldwide influence, but there is a reason why the film feels like a classic 1970s conspiracy thriller with modern effects.  In fact, if it wasn’t for some of the costumes and such, this could be seen as the best Tom Clancy film ever made.

If there is one criticism I might level at the film, it is the use of hyper-kinetic editing during some of the fight scenes.  Many of them are very well done; in particular, watching Black Widow and Captain America mop the floor with enemies is a joy to behold.  But once Captain America and Winter Soldier go at it, the editing speeds up and quick-cuts all over the place, ostensibly to communicate that these are evenly-matched super-soldiers unleashing everything they have on each other.  Watching it as an audience member, however, is a dizzying and confusing experience, not unlike the worst excesses of a Michael Bay production.

But those moments are far and few between, and especially once the mid-credits stinger unfolds, the audience is left wondering where it’s all going from here.  The immediate effects will be felt on Agents of SHIELD; after all, SHIELD is essentially shuttered, so the ramifications for Coulson’s team are profound.  But beyond that, Hydra is still out there, and without SHIELD, the Avengers Initiative is going to have a lot of adjustments to make.  It stands to reason that Age of Ultron will pick up on the fallout of The Winter Soldier in a major way.

It’s going to be a very long wait until Summer 2015!