Steve Rogers: Can I ask you a question?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Just one?
Steve Rogers: Why me?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: I suppose that is the only question that matters.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: [Displaying a wine bottle] This is from Augsburg, my city. So many people forget that the first country the Nazis invaded was their own. You know, after the last war, they... My people struggled. They... they felt weak... they felt small. Then Hitler comes along with the marching, and the big show, and the flags, and the, and the... and he... [he waves his hand]
Dr. Abraham Erskine: And he hears of me, and my work, and he finds me, and he says "You." He says "You will make us strong."
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Well, I am not interested. So he sends the head of Hydra, his research division, a brilliant scientist by the name of Johann Schmidt.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Now Schmidt is a member of the inner circle and he is ambitious. He and Hitler share a passion for occult power and Teutonic myth. Hitler uses his fantasies to inspire his followers, but for Schmidt, it is not fantasy. For him, it is real. He has become convinced that there is a great power hidden in the earth, left here by the gods, waiting to be seized by a superior man
Dr. Abraham Erskine: So when he hears about my formula and what it can do, he cannot resist.
[flashback of how Schmidt takes Erskine's formula and injects himself with it]
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Schmidt must become that superior man.
Steve Rogers: Did it make him stronger?
Dr. Abraham Erskine: Yeah, but... there were other... effects. The serum was not ready. But more important, the man. The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great; bad becomes worse
Dr. Abraham Erskine: This is why you were chosen. Because the strong man who has known power all his life, may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows... compassion.
Steve Rogers: Thanks. I think.
Dr. Abraham Erskine: [Gesturing toward the wine] Get it, get it. Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing. That you will stay who you are, not a perfect soldier, but a good man.
The entire military wanted the strongest soldier, so why did Dr. Erskine choose Steve because he was the weakest recruit?