WHY CAPTAIN AMERICA SHOULDN’T BE BASHFUL OVERSEAS

Good article. I think when all is said and done, it will have been a non issue. If the movie is good, audiences will respond, regardless of nationality. True Cap is basically a walking flag, but it's not like other successful blockbusters don't wave the flag around sometimes.

I think it will make just as much, if not more, than Thor did.

Renn, you make some interesting arguments for why the movie could still connect with foreigners who actually see it (and for sure, there's no way it will pack 1/4 of the sociopathic jingoism as Transformers 3, which will probably do fine internationally), but the question you seem to skip right past is will they even show up to be won over?   I don't pretend to know, but my gut tells me its not going to be a question of people walking out hating it so much as not even walking in, and the slower opening meaning that even positive word of mouth won't have time to really build it up to Thor levels before the next shiny blow-em-up comes along.

I think they're doing a good job of selling the story and the universally appealing elements. I think the spectacle will bring people in by itself, and all the other stuff will actually make it work for them.

It's purely a gut feeling, but I feel like (as it seems to have been with many of blockbusters this summer) for better or worse the trailers are selling what we'll get.

As a non American the story reads (for me) exactly as you described it. Its the story of a kid who gets bullied/picked on because of his size and gets the chance to make a difference to the world.  For me the key point (as to why it will work )comes down to two key moments in the trailers.

1. The team behind Cap appears to be Allied forces rather than just Americans, but more importantly....

2. The line where it talks about Cap knowing the value of strength (i cant remember the exact quote).  For me that was what sealed the deal, it tells you all you need to know about the character and why Steve was chosen, and it has nothing to do with him being American and everything to do with him being a good man.

As a European I think generally we don't have a problem with exceptional Americans, which Cap clearly is. Europe definitely got behind Obama and some of the world's greatest free thinkers are American. I do think there is a problem with low brow jingoism and patriotism to the point of denigrating others in some of the American populace, although I think less Americans are actually like that than some Europeans suspect. In relation to Cap, this is a tonal problem that I'm sure they will avoid in the finished product.

The UK can be very sensitive about world war 2 revisionism in film*, I personally was pretty angry about that submarine movie with Jon Bon Jovi in it. If care is taken to have some European bad arses (Red Skull doesn't count) then I reckon they'll not have too many problems.

*EDIT - I realise how silly this might sound when we're talking about a comic book movie

If Europe can handle Transformers 3 I don't see them having a problem with Captain America.