He doesn’t have anger management issues like Hulk, a charmingly cunning brother with daddy issues like Thor, or a slightly amusing drinking and philandering problem (and different set of daddy issues) like Iron Man. He’s a fairly normal all-American dude, albeit one with a nearly indestructible and potentially deadly shield.

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, out today, the clean-and-never-mean Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) we’ve all come to know and sorta like in two previous Marvel films is transformed into something his more superhero-y counterparts can’t pull off: A genuine action star (think Sylvester Stallone, not Superman). Thanks to a fantastic team-up with Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson), The Winter Soldier not only gives Cap a personality, it makes him badass—and makes his latest movie a worthy successor to, and almost rival of, The Avengers.