Overthinking It: Where did Captain America Learn to Fight?

I was on the treadmill the other day, on my second km of a 5k run, when something terrible happened: my headphones died.

My music helps me set my pace, so without it I started singing a little song in my head, which often ends up being “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan” from the first Captain America movie.

Its got a good tempo, its a movie I enjoy with a character I love, and it motivates me. As often happens when I’m running, my mind started to wander and I started thinking about other parts of the movie, when a question occurred to me: where did “Cap” get his fighting skills in the first movie. He went from skinny and sickly to bad-ass almost instantly. How?

So I started….

Early in the movie you see Steve getting beat up after confronting the guy in the movie theatre. Then later, as he and Peggy are driving down the road he lists all the spots they’re driving past where he got beat up.

On the surface that might make it seem like he doesn’t know how to fight, or he’s bad at it. However, the scene suggests that he’s been in LOTS of fights. A person that has been in that many fights probably knows what he’s doing.

I think Steve’s problem wasn’t that he didn’t know how, it was that he was physically incapable of following through. In the movie theatre alley fight you see him grab the garbage can lid, which is obviously a nod to his shield later in the movie but also shows him trying to adapt to a fight where he is obviously out classed and knows it. Highlighting that he can think tactically, he just can’t overcome the physical disparity.

A person can be an experienced fighter, even if he has lost every fight he has been in.

• Side note: taking on people who were physically superior to him and getting his butt kicked so many times as “Tiny Steve” also hints at why he wasn’t afraid to go up against, and could hold his own against so many villains that were more powerful than him.

After getting the super soldier serum he suddenly has a body that can physically perform in a fight at the level that his mind operates at, resulting in the ass kicking machine that Captain America is.

Later in the MCU you can see that he’s studied modern fighting techniques, especially evident when fighting Batroc in Winter Soldier.

A fighter who is intelligent, experienced, and adaptable, with a vast knowledge of fighting techniques would very nearly be unstoppable, even when improvising against superior opponents.

I’ve always been kinda curious how it worked out after Endgame, taking all the fighting knowledge he has (not even considering the Technical knowledge he has) back in time when he returned to Peggy. I wanna see THAT “What If” episode!