Captain America: Civil War is so far the grayest Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film made.
Unlike with Age of Ultron, this is not a reference towards the film’s color palette, (Civil War is mostly bright and colorful, except during scenes that call for a grittier feel), but towards the film’s morally complex storyline. Civil War is all but in name an Avengers film, containing the MCU’s largest assembled cast, missing only a few significant heroes such as Thor and Hulk. I’d go so far as to write it’s The Avengers true successor over Age of Ultron—though such grandiose gives Civil War both strengths and flaws. The film is certainly impressive, having some epic, large-scale fight sequences—including one that rivals The Avengers finale—in addition to smaller, yet impactful battles focused on vengeance, friendship and morality. Civil War’s very large cast, however, means more spread out time and focus between characters, roles and development. Even with its near two-and-a-half hour runtime, the film, unfortunately, can’t give everyone the necessary attention—resulting in several poorly rushed plot points.
Unlike with Age of Ultron, this is not a reference towards the film’s color palette, (Civil War is mostly bright and colorful, except during scenes that call for a grittier feel), but towards the film’s morally complex storyline. Civil War is all but in name an Avengers film, containing the MCU’s largest assembled cast, missing only a few significant heroes such as Thor and Hulk. I’d go so far as to write it’s The Avengers true successor over Age of Ultron—though such grandiose gives Civil War both strengths and flaws. The film is certainly impressive, having some epic, large-scale fight sequences—including one that rivals The Avengers finale—in addition to smaller, yet impactful battles focused on vengeance, friendship and morality. Civil War’s very large cast, however, means more spread out time and focus between characters, roles and development. Even with its near two-and-a-half hour runtime, the film, unfortunately, can’t give everyone the necessary attention—resulting in several poorly rushed plot points.
Despite their similar premises, Civil War deviates largely from its comic book source material, the main similarity being the central conflict between Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain American/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). The film takes place a year after Age of Ultron, where the United Nations is planning to pass the Sokovia Accords—named after the fictional country destroyed during the battle against Ultron—granting them authority and control over the Avengers, who, up to this point, have had complete free reign. The Avengers become split over such decision, with a guilt-ridden Stark supporting the accords, while Rogers (who’s become cautious towards overpowered government after his conflict with S.H.I.E.L.D. in The Winter Soldier) believes it best to leave such power to the heroes’s judgment. The conflict escalates when the accords’s ratification conference is bombed by who appears to be Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Rogers believes his old friend to be innocent, and teams up with Barnes to find the real culprit: a terrorist named Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl). The divide reaches a high point as Stark forms a team to stop the two, Rogers, likewise, gathering allies to assist him.
Let’s jump right to my main gripe with Civil War: the film is all over the place. MAJOR SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ONWARD: Civil War has its focus divided between:
- Barnes’ backstory
- Hydra’s secret team of brainwashed supersoldiers
- Zemo’s complex revenge scheme
- Rogers trying to locate and protect Barnes
- Rogers and Barnes trying to locate Zemo
- Stark’s relationship with parents plus backstory
- Stark’s guilt over Ultron and Sokovia
- The UN’s jurisdiction over the Avengers
- Stark and Rogers conflicting ideals
- Scarlett Witch’s (Elizabeth Olsen) guilt over her destructive powers plus being confined due to public fear
- Stark and Rogers’ conflicting viewpoints over Scarlett Witch’s confinement
- Peggy Carter’s death and funeral
- Vision (Paul Bettany) trying to understand himself and his powers
- Spider-Man’s (Tom Holland) introduction
- Black Panther’s (Chadwick Boseman) introduction
- Black Panther’s revenge and character development
- Hawkeye’s (Jeremy Renner) return and participation
- Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) joining the fray
- War Machine’s (Don Cheadle) critical injury
- Black Widow’s (Scarlett Johansson) conflicted views on the accords
- The return of (former) general Ross (William Hurt) as the new US secretary of state
- Introducing several new military/Avenger bases
- Various minor character introductions
- Several lengthy fight sequences and their build up
- A Stan Lee cameo
As well as a ton of character interactions/developments—including, but not limited to:
- Captain America and Iron Man
- Captain America and Barnes
- Captain America and Black Widow
- Iron Man and Black Widow
- Iron Man and Barnes
- Black Panther and Barnes
- Black Panther and his father
- Black Panther and Zemo
- Barnes and Zemo
- Captain America and Zemo
- Iron Man and Zemo
- Iron Man and Spider-Man
- Spider-Man and everyone else
- Black Panther and everyone else
- Ant-Man and everyone else
- Captain America and Sharon Carter
- Scarlett Witch and Vision
- Scarlett Witch and Hawkeye
- Black Widow and Hawkeye
- Iron Man and Vision
- Iron Man and War Machine
- Captain America and Falcon
- Iron Man and Falcon
- Iron Man and Ross
- Captain America and Ross
Credit where credit is due, Civil War does a fairly solid job juggling all these plot elements around, yet it’s far from a flawless performance. For such an omnipotent ally, Vision sure gets the short end of the significance stick (Bettany received better screen time and development as J.A.R.V.I.S.). The film directors (Anthony and Joe Russo, who previously directed The Winter Soldier) likely didn’t know what to do with this overpowered Age of Ultron leftover, and ultimately had him wander from subplot to subplot like a stray lamb, uncertain about which direction to take the character. The “romance” between Rogers and Shannon Carter is extremely rushed, made even worse by how little development they got in previous films (I went back and checked, there’s around a minute’s worth of conversation). Black Panther’s introduction felt hasty in the beginning (where did he get the suit from? Did he already own a cat-themed, vibranium-composed super suit?), though his part gradually blends better within the plot—having a naturally effective role by Civil War’s finale. There are also several important plot points that either get underdeveloped or left out, such as how much Rogers “knew” about Stark’s parents’s deaths: did Rogers know Barnes was responsible for their deaths (if so, when did he learn about this), or only knew their “accident” was HYDRA’s fault (as briefly shown in The Winter Soldier)?
Civil War has some rough sailing bringing all these characters together and conflicting them into a six on six battle (Ant-Man and Hawkeye are hastily thrown in simply to add/even out the players), but I would be lying if I wrote the end result wasn’t worth the bumps. Civil War’s midway clash between heroes is the best MCU fight sequence since The Avengers’ New York finale. It’s a terrific battle with great action, comedy, visuals and some decent drama. The MCU is often (rightfully) criticized for lacking memorable villains, so what better way to avoid such fault then by making its memorable heroes the antagonists. Iron Man vs Captain America, Spider-Man vs Ant-Man—the battles people dreamt of seeing onscreen, done not only spectacularly, and creatively, but in a manner that (for the most part) makes sense. There are a few questionable moments throughout the event, such as why Vision didn’t simply blast the getaway plane instead of blowing up the runway tower, or how such senseless destruction conflicts with Stark’s newfound views (at least the airport’s civilian-less).
The fight's MVP’s are Spider-Man and Ant-Man, who work effectively as opposing comedic relief characters with lighthearted, witty personalities, alongside awesome powers with endless creative possibilities (Ant-Man becoming Giant-Man was an unexpected, yet absolute delight). Both jokesters work particularly well with Stark’s dry sense of humor, such as when Ant-Man sneaks inside the Iron Man suit to disable it:
Ant-Man: Oh, you're going to have to take this to the shop.
Iron Man: Who's speaking?
Ant-Man: It's your conscience. We don't talk a lot these days.
Or when Spider-Man comes up with a plan to defeat Ant-Man.
Spider-Man: Hey guys, you ever see that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back?
War Machine: Jesus, Tony, how old is this guy?
Iron Man: I don't know, I didn't carbon date him. He's on the young side.
Interestingly, it’s Spider-Man—the most obviously squeezed in cameo to make the fight sequence better—who feels the least forced in. Perhaps because it makes sense Stark would have his eyes on Parker, or because we don’t need another long intro story for a character who’s been rebooted twice in the past decade. The initial conversation between Parker and Stark is highly entertaining and a great way to introduce the web-slinger—who’s 2002 film helped renew interest in the superhero genre—to the MCU, particularly by having him converse with Iron Man, the very hero who began the MCU’s success.
While the midway battle is Civil War’s popcorn highlight, it’s the finale that brings the film up to the next level. The trailers spoiled the scene slightly, so I knew it was coming, but not how it transpired—which is where the finale really comes together. Zemo, the big bad of the film, turns out to be an ordinary, though very intelligent, military officer out for revenge—yet his reasoning for vengeance, as well as how he accomplishes it, is where Zemo differs from the majority of revenge-obsessed antagonists. The film pulls a fast one, making it appear Zemo wishes to resurrect a squad of super soldiers to destroy the Avengers—yet when the heroes arrive to stop his plan, Zemo has already shot the soldiers in the head (“Did you think I wanted more of you?”) His ultimate, complex plan turns out to be surprisingly simple, yet far more dangerous—playing on the heroes's emotions in a very relatable way: duty and revenge, love and hate, friendship and betrayal. Zemo is an interesting villain for a comic book movie: he has no flashy powers, nor is he really memorable (I had to look up his name), yet he is well-written—with grounded motives and a very everyman personality rare to find in blockbuster films (a strange oxymoron: forgettable, yet impactful).
