Captain

I really like Captain America: The First Avenger. The bad guys are so over the top, the advanced technology is so ridiculously BIG just for the sake of it, and it’s unusually ambivalent ending is not like other superhero movies. Plus, of course, it’s such a solid Hero movie, and he is such a solid Hero. 

Even if he is a bit of a whiner.

What do I mean by a “solid Hero movie?” That the narrative thrust is Heroic in nature, as befits a movie about a Hero. And that means that the good guys succeed against the bad guys, through the use of teamwork and significant sacrifice. (Teamwork being a notable attribute of Civic generations, and the rest following on from the realities of Crisis-era conflict.) Steve Rogers wants to be part of the war effort against Hitler, and tries over and over to be accepted into the Army. When he becomes Captain America, his modus operandi is to use his powers in concert with a team of fellow soldiers. Together, they are able to defeat Red Skull and save the United States from what is unleashed from the tesseract. And along the way he loses the doctor who enhances his potential, his best friend, the girl who believes in him, and 70 years of his life. 

"Yeah. Yeah, I just... I had a date."

For comparison,  Tony Stark is not a "good" man to start, doesn't succeed through teamwork, and doesn't have sacrifices nearly as profound. Those attributes are shared with most of The Avengers, in fact, which is one reason why Steve Rogers stands out on that team.

Did I mention the technology? The personal submarine waiting at the docks in New York, the bigger-than-a-Duesenberg staff car, the oversize tanks, the Spruce Goose scale flying wing bomber carrying fighter aircraft that will each take on an American city...Still, they manage to be appropriate for the era, advanced enough to seem futuristic while still belonging in WWII. And fun to watch.