Captain America: The Winter Soldier proved that if HYDRA was going to be taken down, then it had to be at the hands of Steve Rogers. Known by some as a man out of time, it was never easy for Steve to fully adapt to modern times, especially when something in the MCU would remind him of his past life.

Captain America spent most of The First Avenger bringing down HYDRA, a terrorist organization heavily ᴀssociated with the Nazis. Steve did everything he could to bring an end to HYDRA during World War II before he went into the ice, which was what made the organization’s surprise reappearance 80 years later so devastating to him.

Steve Rogers’ Captain America: The Winter Soldier Motivation Looks Different When Considering The Hero’s Past

The reveal that HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. remains one of the franchise’s most surprising twists. The trusted government organization was ᴀssociated with some major MCU allies, including Peggy Carter, Nick Fury, and Natasha Romanoff. The reveal that the organization was corrupt made it hard to trust anyone.

For Steve specifically, his dislike of HYDRA runs much deeper. His mission was to fight injustice, so he was always going to help in the effort to shut down HYDRA, but their roots in Nazism hit especially hard for someone who fought in World War II. The moment he hit the ice, he could only hope that his efforts to take down HYDRA and the Nazis were successful.

Steve missed out on plenty of history in the 80 years he spent in the ice. He missed the Nuremberg trials, where the Allies investigated Nazis for their war crimes, but he also missed eras like the Cold War, where the American government quietly recruited ex-Nazis as spies and informants.

Surely Steve learned about this history when he awoke in modern times, and it would just cement the fact that he would have to be the one to take down HYDRA. If he wanted to ensure that the organization was truly stopped once and for all, he’d have to do it himself.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s Story Validates The Hero’s Worst Fears

One of Steve’s fears was that HYDRA wouldn’t be fully dealt with unless someone like him directly tried to deal with them, and his fear came to fruition in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Not only did some of the Nazis responsible for inhuman crimes essentially get away with their misdeeds, but they also managed to corrupt people he trusted.

Steve worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. after getting accustomed to modern life and met some of his closest allies through the organization. The fact that Alexander Pierce, one of the leaders that he worked directly with, was actually a major pillar of HYDRA showed just how deeply the terrorist group had infiltrated.

Steve possibly felt like he could’ve prevented Bucky Barnes’ brainwashing at the hands of HYDRA. Though he had no way of knowing that his best friend was going to survive his fall, their meeting in Captain America: The Winter Soldier was his reminder that he didn’t do enough. Steve was set on destroying HYDRA once and for all, eradicating the inhuman forces that loomed over his past.