Captain America’s First MCU Villains Repeated The Oldest Star Wars Criticism

The first villains Steve Rogers ever faced in Captain America: The First Avenger repeated an age-old criticism from the Star Wars franchise. Chris Evans debuted as Steve Rogers in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, with the MCU Phase 1 project detailing his recruitment to the armed forces, and his transformation from a skinny kid from Brooklyn into the superhuman Captain America. During his MCU debut, Steve Rogers fought one of Marvel Comics’ most iconic, terrifying and recognizable Captain America villains, Johann Schmidt, a.k.a. the Red Skull, and battled the full force of HYDRA during World War II, but HYDRA’s army wasn’t exactly well-suited for the fight against Captain America.

Following his transformation into Captain America, Steve Rogers was soon informed of the threat posed by HYDRA during World War II. Despite first being introduced as the science division of the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS), HYDRA has taken many forms over the years, including an ancient cult dedicated to the worship of the Inhuman Hive in Agents of SHIELD, and as a paramilitary terrorist organization hiding within SHIELD in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. HYDRA may have become a much more formidable force in the MCU’s later projects, but Captain America: The First Avenger saw the organization falter under the might of only one super soldier: Steve Rogers.

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Captain America’s Hydra Troopers Are Just As Bad As Storm Troopers

One major criticism of the iconic Stormtroopers in the Star Wars franchise has always been that they are lousy soldiers. With terrible aim and often poor tactical thinking, many Stormtroopers truly let the side down, and this was reflected in Captain America: The First Avenger’s HYDRA Troopers, though shockingly were perhaps even more hopeless than Star Wars’ Stormtroopers. HYDRA’s soldiers displayed their poor marksmanship throughout Captain America: The First Avenger, and their dim-wittedness meant that they were easily taken down by Steve Rogers and his non-enhanced comrades, making them one of the most disappointing armies in the MCU’s history.

What makes the HYDRA Troopers’ failures even more impactful is the fact that they wielded advanced weapons infused with the power of the Tesseract, a.k.a. the Space Stone. These weapons proved their destructive ability, especially when Johann Schmidt’s Red Skull wielded them himself, but the HYDRA Troopers seemed completely useless when using these powerful weapons. In fact, the only time HYDRA Troopers manage to corner Steve Rogers’ Captain America is at a point where he wants to be captured and brought before the Red Skull, which shouldn’t really be a point of pride for HYDRA’s useless army during World War II.

Why Hydra’s Troopers Had To Be Bad

Even though HYDRA’s soldiers were depicted as being practically worthless in Captain America: The First Avenger, this actually worked perfectly to reinforce the Red Skull’s true ideals. The Red Skull’s obsession with super soldiers was rooted in the idea that humanity – or “mortal men,” as he put it – were simply not good enough. The fact that the HYDRA Troopers were a terrible army, even when empowered with the force of an Infinity Stone, backed up these beliefs, and pushed him to reach further and further in his quest for superhuman experimentation, and attempting to wield the power of the gods by harnessing the power of the Tesseract.