Summaries

Synopsis

The film opens in 1936, in Portovenere, Fascist Italy. Child prodigy Tadzio de Santis entertains his family with a piano recital. Armed men enter the house, kidnap the boy, and execute his entire family. The boy has been chosen as a test subject for a secret project to create a super-soldier. The process has been created by scientist, Dr. Maria Vaselli, and has so far only be tested on animals. A rat gained enhanced intelligence and physical properties, though it gained an unusual red color.

When the process on Tadzio is about to begin, Vaselli first witnesses the cruel treatment of the boy. She protests about it, and she is almost arrested. She manages to escape, though she hears Tadzio's screams from a distance. The boy has been mutated, and will grow to become the villainous Red Skull.

In 1943, Vaselli works for the United States and has created an improved version of the super-soldier process, code-named Operation: Rebirth. The first human test subject chosen for the process is Steve Rogers of Redondo Beach, California. He is a patriotic young man, who walks with a limp because of polio. In Redondo Beach, Steve is about to depart, saying goodbye to his widowed mother and his friends. He also has a private talk with his girlfriend Bernice "Bernie" Stewart, who promises to wait for his return.

The process to mutate Steve Rogers takes place in a secret laboratory, hidden in the basement of a nondescript diner. A small crowd of officials witnesses the process. One of them is actually a foreign spy. The process is a success, and the spy congratulates Dr. Vaselli. He then shoots at her, and continues firing around. An enhanced Steve Rogers manages to kill the spy, though he is shot three times in the process. Vaselli dies in Rogers' arms while expressing her hopes for him. The wounded Rogers falls unconscious.

Rogers quickly recovers in a hospital, and the military starts training him for his first mission as Captain America. He is given a bullet-proof suit designed by Dr. Vaselli, although he is not impressed by its lack of camouflage features. He is given a specially designed shield as his primary weapon. Following a brief period of training, Captain America is transported to Italy by a military aircraft. He feels that he should have more training.

The authorities in Italy have created a prototype intercontinental ballistic missile, and the Red Skull is about to fire it against the White House. Captain America infiltrates the facility, and meets the Skull for the first time. In a battle between them, the Skull uses his superior training to defeat Cap. He ties Cap to the missile, but Cap soon grabs one of the Skull's hands. The Skull cuts his own hand with a knife in order to escape. The missile is fired.

In Washington D.C., young Thomas Kimball does not want to sleep. He sneaks away from his sleeping parents, and prepares to photograph the White House. Just as the missile is about to hit its target, Cap manages kicks one of the missile's fins and changes its course. Kimball is the only witness to the event and gets a close-range photograph of Cap. The missile eventually falls in Alaska, and Captain America is frozen in ice.

Shortly after, Thomas Kimball has returned to his hometown of Springfield, Ohio. He discusses what he witnessed with his best friend Sam Kolawetz. The two boys try to determine the identity of the hero in the photograph. They decide that the man was neither Namor the Sub-Mariner, nor the Human Torch. But they don't have a clue who Cap was.

The following scenes follow Thomas Kimball's life though the following decades. He becomes the town's local hero, serves in war, starts a political career, and is eventually elected President of the United States. In 1993, Kimball wants to sign an environmental treaty and introduce new pro-environmentalist legislation, to face a global crisis. His ideas anger corrupt General Fleming, and other representatives of the the military-industrial complex. They have a secret meeting in Italy to discuss the situation. The Red Skull has become a businessman and crime lord, and leads this meeting. He refuses to assassinate President Kimball, pointing out that he had orchestrated previous political assassinations who turned their victims into martyrs. He instead wants to turn Kimball into a convenient puppet ruler.

Meanwhile in Alaska, a West German research team discovers the frozen Captain America. While examining the block of ice, they accidentally revive Cap. He mistakes them for Nazi agents, because they speak in German. He flees from them, but one of them manages to photograph him. Captain America's picture is printed in several newspapers. Thomas Kimball recognizes the mystery man from his past and informs his best friend, newspaper journalist Sam Kolawetz. Kolawetz intends to find the mystery man. Meanwhile the Skull learns of "his brother"'s (as he calls Cap) return. He assigns his daughter and chief assassin Valentina de Santis to find and eliminate Cap.

Kolawetz finds Captain America wandering on foot in northern Canada, and helps him escape from Valentina and her henchmen. He informs Cap about the events of the last 50 years, but Cap does not believe him. Cap steal's Kolawetz's car and starts a long journey back to California. He arrives in Redondo Beach in hopes of reconnecting with his family and friends. He finds the city and its people have changed a lot. He locates Bernie's house, and is surprised to find that she is an old woman. He meets Bernie's husband, and their adult daughter Sharon. He learns that Bernie waited for him until 1959, and then married. Cap realizes that he has been missing for 50 years.

Using past information on Project Rebirth , gathered over many years, Kolawetz manages to locate Bernie and approaches her for information on Steve Rogers. Unknown to him, he was being tracked by Valentina and her henchmen. Valentina shouts Kolawetz and Bernie's husband. She then violently interrogates Bernie, and eventually kills her in cold blood. Steve and Sharon soon learn about what happened, and realize that the Red Skull is responsible.

Cap manages to locate Dr. Vaselli's abandoned laboratory and retrieves her private diary. They find some clues on the Red Skull's identity, though Vaselli did not know Tadzio's real name. Meanwhile, President Kimball is abducted from a hotel in Rome. Red Skull starts planning to turn Kimball into a mind-controlled puppet.

Cap and Sharon travel to Portovenera, search the formed home of the de Santis family, and discover a sound recording of the executions. They are located and attacked by Valentina and her henchmen. Sharon allows herself to be captured, to allow Cap to escape. Cap infiltrates the castle of the Red Skull, while Kimball and Sharon escape their cells.

Red Skull is confronted by failure and plans to commit suicide. He plans to detonate a nuclear weapon, which will exterminate all life in Southern Europe. He is killed in a final battle with Cap, before he has time to detonate the weapon. Cap also uses his shield to take down Valentina. The released President Kimball signs the environmental treaty. The film ends.