Steve Rogers was the skinny kid who turned super soldier to bust up Nazi troops back in World War II. After a plane crash in 2011’s “Captain America: The First Avenger,” Steve ended up frozen in suspended animation, awaking 70 years later. Chris Evans pulled off the right amount of meekness and bravado to play the do-good, Nazi wrecker in the first installment, but “The Avengers” interrupted any further development. So how is Cap handling the 21st century?

He’s running around Washington D.C. making a growing to-do list of important cultural happenings like the moon landing, disco and “Star Wars/Trek.” Rogers battles nostalgia and remorse while trying to find his identity. In the process, he befriends Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), a soldier with two tours under his belt, who helps Cap fight the baddies, earning his nickname the Falcon. Rogers’ searching isn’t helped by his co-worker Natasha Romanoff A.K.A. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) who keeps pressuring him to find a date.

Robert Redford looks like he’s having fun as Alexander Pierce, the suit behind S.H.I.E.L.D. Pierce keeps his sly cards close while preparing to launch Project Insight, a preemptive security measure involving big planes and big guns. But Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) finds trouble stirring in S.H.I.E.L.D. and gets caught in the crossfire, resulting in a surprisingly funny, slick car chase down D.C.’s streets.

Brother directors Joe and Anthony Russo keep a smart pace. Working off of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s tight script, the movie is a fun spectacle underpinned by rich characters and political shrewdness. Take the movie’s opening hostage rescue scene where Cap and company stealthily strike their way on board a S.H.I.E.L.D. sea ship — it screams “Zero Dark Thirty” or Paul Greengass. It’s hard to imagine that these are the brothers responsible for several episodes of “Arrested Development” and “Community.”

By the time a mysterious assassin called the Winter Soldier shows up, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s been compromised and Cap and Widow go rogue, the movie jettisons into the realms of detective and spy thrillers. The movie pushes the man in red, white and blue into a world of gray. For the Avenger who entwines morality and mission, Rogers has to take down ambiguous enemies, even if they are friends. He still fights for truth, justice and the American way, but now the enemies aren’t wearing badges on their sleeves.

But the movie knows it’s not a political platform. If you want fights, boy is there a slew of shield-smashing action. The indestructible Winter Soldier is Cap’s equal, providing an onslaught of hand-to-hand combats — the first compelling use in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie fills its quota of property damage but it never gets so over the top that it becomes numbing. And enough well-chosen surprises keeps things intriguing.

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” pops the cork for the spewing of summer blockbusters. Acrobatic kicks and shield melees deliver on the promise of superhero hype. But it also throws in a bit of character depth and emotional complexity to soothe any burns the big budget explosions might inflict  — it’s the zeroing in on character’s humanity that keeps this one fresh.  And on top of all this is a politically savvy script that knows when to stop. Not only is this Marvel’s best yet, this is one of the best superhero pictures in a while.