Age of MCU: Top 6 Side Characters From Captain America: The First Avenger

Let’s face it, there’s a ton of memorable characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But some don’t get as mentioned as they should do. Let’s rectify that, shall we? And if there’s one MCU movie that has plenty of side characters to spare, it’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Let’s pick out the cream of the crop and talk about some of Marvel’s unsung heroes.

DISCLAIMER! If you don’t like my choices then… you should… I dunno… stop. Damn. I’m running out of ways to tell people that these lists are my own opinion whilst simultaneously insulting them. But this is, like, my THING! 

 

6. Jacques Dernier

You can’t say much about Jacques. He’s French, doesn’t speak English… and he kicks ass! Nicknamed Frenchie (I wonder why?), Jacques is a great fighter… if a bit reckless. He rolled into the path of an oncoming HYDRA tank, just so he could stick a bomb to its underside. What have you been doing with YOUR life lately? Huh?

Plus, he has the distinction of being the first Allied soldier to fire a HYDRA weapon. Granted it was by accident, and he didn’t even hit any HYDRA soldiers with it but… okay, look, he’s a Frenchman who never surrenders. He’s a rare gem, all right? Don’t give me that look. I’m English. We’re allowed to mock the French.

 

5. Gabe Jones

I was kinda disappointed when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was announced, because I knew there was no way this guy could be a character in it. Still, he gave us a hell of a show in First Avenger. He’s always got a smile on his face, isn’t afraid to leap into action, and speaks fluent French, having studied it in Georgia, where he’s from. He also studied German, but switched to French because, and I quote, “The French girls were prettier”.

One other thing. Turns out, he does have a connection to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as he turns out to be the grandfather of Antoine Triplett. Hell of a legacy, eh?

 

4. Arnim Zola

Here’s what I like about this guy. People underestimate him. He spent most of the film pretty much being Red Skull’s bitch, but only because he had no choice. It was that or disintegration. But he’s still a HYDRA guy through and through. So what does he do when he’s captured by the Allies? He waits. And waits. And waits. And then he resurrects HYDRA.

In many ways, he succeeded where the Red Skull failed. HYDRA completely infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. And he started it from within a prison cell. Seventy years later, HYDRA all but destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. How? Because people underestimated him.

3. Dum Dum Dugan

If I ever went to war, this is the guy I’d want to fight with. Arguably the face of the Howling Commandos, Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader Dugan (I hope you people appreciate the research I do for these lists!) also has had one of the highest number of appearances of the group in the MCU.

Aside from the film, he’s also features in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode, “Shadows”, the Agent Carter episode The Iron Ceiling, and the Marvel One-Shot Agent Carter. Boy, he really liked those bikini’s, didn’t he?

 

2. Howard Stark

Who doesn’t love this guy. C’mon! He’s so charming! With the ‘stache and the inventions and the whole Howard Hughes thing, minus the whole OCD, bottling urine, growing creepy long fingernails stuff. He’s a complete playboy, but also a genius, coming up with Cap’s first suit, his shield, and a flying car (Which imagine to be Lola’s grandmother).

But that’s not all there is to him. He deeply regrets not being able to find Steve in the Artic, and would go on to help found S.H.I.E.L.D. Plus, I heard he had a kid somewhere down the line. It’s probably not important.

 

1. Col. Chester Phillips

Perfect casting. You wouldn’t think present day Tommy Lee Jones would be up for a superhero movie. Early 2000’s Tommy Lee Jones, maybe. Late 90’s Tommy Lee Jones, sure (We’re all horribly aware of what he did back then. *Shudder*). But Jones just falls into the character perfectly.

A lot of film have a Colonel Phillips. The stern, gruff, no nonsense guy who yells orders and what not. But this guy is unique. He’s smart. He can be funny if he wants to be. And he’s not above showing a little emotion now and then. Plus, he gets all the best lines!

“General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best men. And because they are going to get better. Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man. At the end of this week, we will choose that man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldier. And they will personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell.”

Hell yeah.