Since the astonishing success of The Avengers in 2012, suddenly all the studios producing superhero movies are racing to mimic Marvel’s formula, with Batman Vs. Superman coming out next year, and the X-men and Spiderman films getting increasingly more complex with more and more heroes and villains.

Meanwhile, Marvel is still trucking along with the same plan that has been working so well for them this whole time.

So how is their newest filler till the next Avengers sequel? Surprisingly good actually. For film that takes place in a world with people that have superpowers yet none are in this movie (Captain America’s only superpower is that he is just really really good at  his job), it is a shockingly fun action movie.

Taking a break from the world destroying mayhem of Thor or the inner turmoil of Iron Man, this movie explores what Captain America is like in a world that left that kind of idealism far behind.

There are some massive changes to the cinematic universe as a whole, and unlike the previous entries which actually did feel like Avengers placeholders until they had enough time to do another one, this one does actually feel like a continuation of the overarching storyline.

It has a lot of great twists and turns along with some some spectacular action sequences. It does have small things here and there that point towards another Avengers sequel, but this is the formula that has been working so well for them for so long now, it makes to sense they wouldn’t try to fix what is already working.

My one complaint about this movie is that it has the same problem as some of the other standalone Marvel films, in that with such world-ending stakes at hand it doesn’t make sense that the other Avengers wouldn’t step in and help.

For example, not to get into spoiler territory, but at one point Bruce Banner is referenced as a person that would be in danger if the heroes don’t save the day. You don’t think they could’ve had him flown down to New York to help Captain America? After all, he seemed to somehow be able to control himself at the end of Avengers.

But that’s just nitpicking; overall it was a fun experience and definitely worth seeing if you are a fan of the Avengers films so far.

Mike Rauser is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].