The who's who in Captain America 2

Don't know who the main players of Captain America: The Winter Soldier are? Here's help!

The Marvel cinematic universe continues to bound forward in exciting new directions, and while Captain America was perhaps everyone’s least favourite in the Avengers movie, this second outing gives the character a lot more meat to play with.

So in case you don’t remember every single geekily interlinked Marvel movie, here’s a quick primer telling you who you’re likely to meet at Captain America: The Winter Soldier in theatres this Friday.

Steve Rogers, Captain America

The leading man of the franchise, Captain America is a young man called Steve Rogers who was turned into a ‘supersoldier’ by American scientists during WW2.

He was frozen after the war and, as seen in the last Avengers movie, is currently struggling to modern life. He’s played by Chris Evans.

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An impossibly qualified international spy -- and one of the most lethal assassins in the world -- Romanoff has been played memorably by Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2 and The Avengers.

She’s a super-tough girl who fills out her suit very well indeed, and will be around in the Avengers sequel as well.

Those who watched the first Captain America film may recall that Cap’s best friend Bucky was killed in combat during the war.

Well, not quite.

Played by Sebastian Stan, Bucky returns this time -- and isn’t as much of a buddy as Cap might have expected.

Played by Anthony Mackie, Falcon -- introduced in Captain America #117 back in 1969 -- has the distinction of being the very first African-American superhero in mainstream comics.

He’s an ex-paratrooper and a very enjoyable character with a lot of charisma.

There is only one Samuel L Jackson, and over the years he’s pretty much become the role of the eyepatched leader of the all-powerful government body the movies refer to as Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.

He got the Avengers together, he knows all the answers -- he’s in charge, and don’t you forget it. 

Played by Cobie Smulders (Robin from How I Met Your Mother), Hill is a very tough and high-ranking agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, a no-nonsense leader used to making impossibly difficult decisions in a snap.

A senior S.H.I.E.L.D leader -- and longtime buddy of Nick Fury -- Pierce is a man from another time, another war.

And in tribute to his unforgettable movies from the 1970s, the character is being played by the legendary Robert Redford.

Wow.