For both Steve Rogers and the viewer, Captain America: The Winter Soldier offered a new learning curve. While the Winter Soldier was still around to pose a physical danger, the ultimate enemy was Hydra and an algorithm that put the entire globe at risk in the film. However, subsequent investigation revealed that Hydra’s algorithm was both defective and lethal.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
When S.H.I.E.L.D. proclaimed Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff fugitives, the two fled into hiding and started their own digging. They discovered the remains of Arnim Zola, a Hydra scientist. Rather than a guy over 100 years old, they discovered a computer that contained his consciousness. Hydra built an algorithm through him that could target and kill anyone it deemed a threat almost quickly. Furthermore, this strategy worked in tandem with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s brand-new, fully equipped helicarriers, which were capable of eliminating targets from miles away.
Flaws Surrounding It
After questioning Jasper Sitwell, Steve, Nat, and Sam Wilson discover that Stephen Strange and Bruce Banner are among the people included in the algorithm. Strange was still a surgeon at this point, therefore his appearance was merely an Easter egg. To add to the confusion, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Maria Hill were all on the list when the algorithm was activated, but they were joined by mostly random names. That means characters like Natasha, James Rhodes, Erik Selvig, and Sam from the Marvel Cinematic Universe weren’t named or even considered threats.
The lack of a paper trail is the logical explanation why other powerful hitters like Thor and Loki aren’t addressed. As Gods, the two never had to worry about bank records, medical histories, voting tendencies, e-mails, or phone calls, to name a few. That effectively renders them invisible to Zola’s algorithm, but therein lays the fault, as Thor is an Avenger who assisted in the destruction of Hydra in Avengers: Age of Ultron. While it’s merely a computer that solves the problems it’s given, it’s astonishing that Alexander Pierce or another high-ranking Hydra member didn’t include these names deliberately or mistakenly.
After the huge events of the first Avengers film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier provided a terrific opportunity for the MCU to anchor itself. As a result, the threat it posed was more focused on future foes than on a current global or cosmic menace. However, while Zola’s algorithm’s intellectual threat was a fantastic method to unify the world’s leaders against a shared peril, a closer study indicates Hydra’s strategy wasn’t as foolproof as first thought.
