Skip to main content
Close

5 Plot Point Breakdown: Captain America — The First Avenger (2011)

By Siavash Behmard · November 21, 2011

Screenplay Genre: Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi

Movie Time: 124 minutes

1. INCITING INCIDENT

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a sickly Brooklyn kid, just wants to serve his country, but due to his small frame and fragile health, he has been rejected from the army four times. While Rogers waits on an examination table for his fifth physical, Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), impressed with Rodgers’ unwavering conviction to fight for his country, decides to give Rogers a chance and accepts his latest application. (00:15:28)

2. LOCK IN (End of Act One)

After Rogers excels through army training and morality tests by relying on his will and wits, Dr. Erskine selects him as the subject of his new experimental procedure to turn him into a super-soldier. At a secret lab hidden underneath an antique shop, Rogers is injected with an Erskine’s super-soldier serum that transforms him into a new and improved fighting machine: a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier of solid muscle. (00:32:30)

3. FIRST CULMINATION (Midpoint)

Tired of playing the part of Captain America in shows set up to entertain the troops and encourage enlistment in the army, Rogers parachutes behind enemy lines to rescue the abandoned Allied soldiers at a Hydra weapons plant where his old friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) is being held. At the plant, Rogers saves Bucky and the rest of the Allied team, and Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) escapes the exploding facility. (01:08:45)

4. MAIN CULMINATION (End of Act Two)

While attacking a Hydra train, Rogers and his team capture Dr. Zola (Toby Jones) but not without sacrificing Rogers best friend Bucky who is shot and thrown off the train, only to fall to his demise while Rogers watches helplessly. (01:25:25)

5. THIRD ACT TWIST

Rogers has finally caught up to Red Skull in his aircraft and defeated him, but the plane is still loaded with bombs and headed for New York City. Rogers decides that the only way to prevent innocent lives from being taken is to sacrifice himself and plunge the plane into the ocean. (01:47:04)


For all the latest from The Script Lab, be sure to follow us on TwitterFacebook, and Instagram.

And become a member of TSL 360 to enjoy the LARGEST screenwriting education content library, featuring masterclasses, deep-dive interviews, and lectures from Academy Award-winning screenwriters, TV show-runners, producers, literary managers, agents, studio executives, and leading educators – all in one place.