Captain America: The Winter Soldier make it so profitable, is its emotional bandwidth—all the vivid, nuanced life lived by its characters in between their frenzied escapades," and felt it fixed all the shortcomings of "The First Avenger" "and then some". Conversely, Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" said, "["Captain America: The Winter Soldier"] is everything a big budget superhero film should be – except inspired." Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" said, "Like many others of its type, ["Captain America: The Winter Soldier"] gets off to a kinetic start only to lose steam before blowing everything up." Robbie Collin of "The Daily Telegraph"
Captain America: The First Avenger Toby Jones was cast as Arnim Zola, a biochemist for the Nazi party, Richard Armitage portrays Heinz Kruger, the Red Skull's top assassin, Lex Shrapnel portrays Gilmore Hodge, a candidate for the super soldier program, Michael Brandon portrays Brandt, a United States Senator who recognizes the PR potential of Captain America. Jeff Goldblum had originally been approached to play the part; he later played Grandmaster in "". Natalie Dormer portrays Lorraine, a private who attempts to seduce Rogers, and Jenna Coleman appears as Connie, Bucky's date at the World Expo. Laura Haddock, who would go on to portray Meredith Quill