It’s not news to anyone that the various Marvel characters have changed their outfits as the Cinematic Universe progressed, but it turns out that it wasn’t just to make more toys: it was also to track the development of their emotional arc, at least in Captain America’s case.
Yes, you can track the entire story of Cap through his costume. Specifically, his chest and right shoulder.
This particular insight came from ScreenRant, who made a rather excellent video celebrating the various callbacks and subtle nods between MCU films (including answering the question “hey, why the hell was Ant-Man not immediately killed when Thanos blasted that wall right in front of him at Avengers GQ?”).
But the one about Steve Rogers and his nifty outfits is especially well observed, and a tribute to the costume design team at Marvel.
First up, we have the duds he was sporting in Captain America: The First Avenger, which was basically a less awful version of his stars’n’stripes stage clobber…
which was upgraded for The Avengers…
…but then by Avengers: Age of Ultron he’s showing that he’s part of the team with a newly-added Avengers A on the shoulder…
…but that A was missing once things got bad in Civil War, once Steve and Tony Stark’s competing visions of freedom, and the sudden reveal that Steve’s old pal Bucky “The Winter Soldier Solider” Barnes was the assassin that murdered Tony’s parents. That missing A symbolised the strife which tore the group apart and left Cap a terrorist outlaw…
…and then by Avengers: Infinity War he’d lost the A and the star along with this friends and support network, but had at least acquired a nice beard.
But by Avengers: Endgame‘s final battle all the bits are back: the star, the A, the whole shebang. So presumably he’s either held onto his old outfits, or there’s a very overworked costumer somewhere in the Avengers base.
So yes, throughout his tenure in the MCU Captain America’s been literally wearing his emotions on his sleeve. How pleasingly literal!