Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, is known for being an all-around good guy. There is no doubt that he is noble and self-sacrificing, but you may wonder why he decided to crash the Hydra bomber at the end of The First Avenger. Was this act really necessary?
Captain America crashed the plane because it was heading toward New York City, and the only way to prevent a lot of innocent people from dying was to manually pilot the plane into the ocean.
Contents
What Year Did Captain America Crash the Plane?
In Captain America: The First Avenger, we see how Steve Rogers is transformed from a skinny, sickly kid to a specimen of peak human strength and fitness. This transformation comes about when he is injected with the experimental super soldier serum during World War II.
After initially being used as a mascot of sorts during the war, Rogers, now known as Captain America, begins to uncover the activities of a Nazi terrorist group called Hydra. He goes on to lead various attacks on Hydra’s bases.
Near the end of the movie, Rogers boards a Hydra jet armed with weapons of mass destruction that is bound for New York City. In the ensuing struggle, the plane is damaged and Johann Schmidt, the leader of Hydra is sucked into a wormhole.
Rogers takes control of the jet, which he discovers is on autopilot. Unable to disarm the weapons or disable the autopilot, Rogers manually pilots the plane to a crash landing in the frigid Arctic regions of the Atlantic Ocean, where he is presumably lost.
The majority of The First Avenger takes place over a period of about three years. The climactic plane crash scene happens near the end of the timeline, in 1945.
Why Did Captain America Have To Crash the Plane?
A number of Marvel fans have questioned the plausibility of Captain America’s plane crash.
Yes, it was necessary for the story–the writers needed a way to get Captain America from the 1940s to the present day without aging him, and it needed to make sense.
But does it make sense in-universe?
Actually, there are a number of reasons why Cap decided he had to crash the plane.
Remember, the plane was on autopilot, and it was hurtling toward New York at incredible speeds. Rogers could pilot the plane manually, though his control was limited–and he couldn’t take it off autopilot. As soon as he released the controls, it resumed its predetermined course.
What’s more, the plane was carrying bombs that might have exploded on impact when the plane crashed. Even if the bombs didn’t go off, the plane would likely have crashed in the city and killed a lot of people.
Steve Rogers is selfless, willing to face death himself to save those around him. This was shown near the beginning of The First Avenger, when he instinctively pounced on a grenade to save his comrades–only learning after the fact that the grenade was fake.
His selflessness was on full display once again near the end of the movie, when he was at the helm of the Hydra jet. He couldn’t see any alternatives to crashing the plane, so he used his limited manual control to make it dive into the ocean.
Some fans have argued that he could have somehow destroyed the autopilot or found some other way to keep the armed plane from ravaging New York City. He’s a smart guy, after all.
The problem was that the plane was traveling extremely fast. He knew he only had a few minutes to make a decision.
It’s possible that, had he not been under such pressure, he might have come up with a better solution. But his only concern was saving lives, even at the cost of his own–so he did the best he could do given the circumstances.
Why Didn’t Captain America Jump Out of the Plane?
So, it’s understandable why Captain America decided to crash the plane into the ocean, but you may still be wondering–why didn’t he jump out before the plane crashed?
After all, we saw him perform such a stunt in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
As mentioned in the previous section, the Hydra jet in The First Avenger was on autopilot. Rogers could override the plane’s controls to some extent as long as he was manning the joystick; but as soon as he let go, it would have resumed its track toward New York.
So, he stayed with the plane in order to make sure it crashed into the ocean and not into New York City.
Of course, he could have wedged something under the control stick, right? If he had done this, the wedge would have held the joystick in place, allowing him to escape the plane while still causing it to crash into the ocean.
Why didn’t he do this? The simple answer is, he didn’t want to take the risk. What if the wedge had fallen out of place after he escaped the plane? It would have resumed its course for New York City.
Captain America’s sense of selflessness wouldn’t allow him to take this risk. He knew that the only sure way to keep the jet from hurting anyone was to take it into the ocean himself.
How Long Was Captain America Awake Before The Avengers?
As mentioned, most of The First Avenger takes place in the 1940s. The beginning and the end, however, happen in the present day.
At the beginning of the movie, we see a team of scientists discovering a plane frozen in the arctic. On board, they discover Captain America’s shield.
During the film’s closing moments, Steve Rogers wakes up in a 1940s era recovery room but quickly realizes that things are not what they seem.
He breaks out of the compound, runs out into the streets of present-day New York, and is surrounded by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Nick Fury approaches and tells Rogers that he’s been asleep (frozen) for almost 70 years.
If Captain America crashed the plane in 1945, 70 years later would be 2015. However, “present day” at the time of the movie’s release would have been a few years earlier–2011, to be exact.
Meanwhile, The Avengers was released in 2012, and the events of that movie take place that same year.
So, Steve woke up several months to a year before the events of The Avengers.
Conclusion
Steve Rogers crashed an armed Hydra bomber heading for New York City in 1945. He did this because the plane was on autopilot and he could only get it to change course by piloting it manually–so he took it down into the ocean himself, where it wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Nearly 70 years later, the plane was discovered and he was unfrozen. He woke up from his long freeze about a year before the events of The Avengers.
Sarah Hood is a freelance content writer and editor with a love for all things Star Wars. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking, singing, and spending time in the great outdoors.