Marvel’s Phase 2 movies continue with the new Captain America: The Winter Soldier, an action-packed, light-hearted film with deep political undertones of real issues. The movie focuses on the continued adventures of Steve Rodgers, better known as Captain America, and his escapades as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s top agents.

Of the three post-Avengers Marvel comic-films, Winter Soldier is easily the best. Due to the new direction from the Russo brothers (the directors of the film), the movie features plenty of  very complex, fast-paced action sequences that show the improved qualities of Captain America, as well as his friendship with Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).

There seems to be something for everyone in this movie: a noble and heroic main character, a beautiful and strong female supporting character, a new sidekick, deeply inherent political and ethical conflicts, plot twists, and precise references to the comics that imply amazing future plans for those who have the knowledge to catch them.

Personally, I found the reveal of the main conflict to be quite cheesy. As the story went on it became more believable and realistic, but still it left me with the taste of cliché.

The film was simply an enjoyable movie, one that dealt with deeply rooted problems about the struggle to balance security and freedom.

On Rotten Tomatoes the film’s current score is 89% from critics and 95% from viewers, IMDB’s users gave it an 8.3/10, and the critics at Metacritic gave it a score of 69/100. I would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a movie to see this week.

The movie also has some awesome implications for future movies, but from here on in this review, there will be spoilers.

One of the best parts of the movie for me was discreet and I almost missed it — the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that Cap, Black Widow and Falcon interrogate on the rooftop mentions Stephen

Strange. Doctor Strange is rumored to have his own movie in the works, and this shoutout is proof enough for me.

While the end-credit scene implies further character development for the Winter Soldier, the mid-credit scene implies much, much more. The twins shown in the secret facility are Quicksilver and his sister Scarlet Witch (a fact I am proud to have guessed within one minute of the scenes conclusion), the illegitimate children of Magneto.

The fact that there are two mutants with major parts in the X-Men comics in the second Captain America movie raises a torrent of questions. The film rights to portray the characters in the X-Men, the Fantastic 4, Daredevil and all of the related villains are owned by Fox, not Marvel Studios (and in turn, owned by Disney). This means that there has either been a deal made between Fox and Disney about combining their efforts, or there will be big trouble.

Hopefully, the cameo represents a successful effort to cooperate and bring as many Marvel heroes into the line of successful films as possible. If so, Marvel comic movies are about to be invaded by a level of depth and success that I never thought possible.