Marvel Shows Off 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' Fight Style At D23

When I spoke to Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo at Comic Con, the brothers talked about their approach to creating fight scenes for the film, and how it differs from what we saw in the first movie.

In short, the two have envisioned Cap as a killer close-quarters fighter, and they're capturing action with a hand-held camera but with the intent to depict physical space in a more coherent way than many modern films influenced by the Bourne movies. There was a good illustration of that fight style when footage was shown at Comic Con that depicted Cap taking out a half-dozen guys in an office elevator.

That footage was shown again at D23, but a new extended clip was also revealed. This one further bolstered the image of Cap as a deadly black ops fighter. We can't show you the clip, but you can get a full description of it below.

Here's Germain's description of the Winter Soldier clip shown at D23:

The footage was in black and white, featuring unfinished animation and animatics. It's a very rough early clip. Cap and Black Widow are passengers in a plane, bantering, talking about what they have planned for the upcoming weekend. Black Widow: "You doing anything Saturday night?" Cap: "All the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so, you know."

Cap gets ready to jump out as the plane is over water. Is he wearing a parachute? Nope! Cap just flies through the sky, no 'chute, and dives into the water feet first. Nearby is a huge cargo ship, rendered via animatic in the clip's current state. There are many guards on the ship, but Cap climbs up the anchor chain to the deck. He silently takes out one guard, and throws his shild at another. In short order, cap runs around the perimeter of the deck, just kicking ass. At a dead run, he takes out almost a dozen guards. Some go down with just one hit.

One guy is about to pull fire alrm, but Cap throws a knife through his hand. This is a more brutal Captain America — a one-man black ops squad. There's no dialogue in this sequence; just fighting. Cap's fighting techniques are way more modern than the last time we saw him. He's learned new moves; the action in general is much more hard-hitting and intense.

Finally, Frank Grillo parachutes down and helps take out one guy. Black Widow also lands on the ship, and begins shooting some of the remaining guards. Despite the setting and action, she's still in weekend mode. Black Widow: "How about the nurse who stays aross the hall from you? She seems nice." Cap: "You don't have to get me a date."

That was the cut point, and the reaction to the clip was huge.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens on April 4 2014.