10 years after the third installment of Captain America, I mean, Avengers 2.5. No, wait, it’s also a subliminal Iron Man 4! Ok, let’s walk it back for a moment.
Captain America: Civil War remains one of the best installments under the MCU banner, which has taken its fair share of criticism since the catharsis of Avengers: Endgame, which delivered a substantive and enriching finale. And in retrospect, Marvel could’ve easily subjected itself to the same misery and collapse that the DCEU experienced with its take on the versus canon in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice two months earlier; however, there was a permeating sentiment that Marvel had gone full throttle into ensuring their selection (at the time) would make folks yearn for more.
You see, Marvel Studios became an aberration, learning to pride itself on character and heart-driven tales before making the eventual Avengers films every few years, after shaking the world with The Avengers in 2012 and making waves with Age of Ultron in 2015. But something audacious was missing. Yes, James Gunn made a zany group of misfits into everyone’s favorite characters in Guardians of the Galaxy, and Paul Rudd made Ant-Man a fun and light-toned delight. Marvel, though, needed a disparate chapter to cement their vision for the next wave of superhero blockbusters and ensure audiences would respect their diligent work.
Enter Captain America: Civil War.
The Russo Brothers and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely returned from the fantastic rollout of The Winter Soldier and upped the ante when it came to consequences. Adapting the source material, they decided to pit Chris Evans’ Captain America and his group against Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and his team, while also keeping the dangling threads from the predecessor in full force and effect. Yes, it may have an overabundance of characters synonymous with the Avengers films, but at its core, it remains a Captain America film. Captain America has learned that government oversight/involvement cannot be trusted, as infiltration has occurred within the shadow organizations themselves (SHIELD compromised by HYDRA). His friend Bucky also remains an on-the-run fugitive, searching for answers while staying out of harm’s way. Once a significant mess occurs in Lagos in the film’s opening inciting incident, it sparks a fascinating look at the Avengers’ conflicts over the government’s involvement in monitoring them (the Sokovia Accords).
Iron Man, plagued by his personal issues of losing Pepper and the fallout from Age of Ultron, attempts to redeem himself by going along with the involvement to prevent further damage and fallout. Captain America argues against this, believing their hands remain the safest, free from oversight and no longer subjected to any other perilous scenarios. And this stellar character work keeps the film moving forward rather than relying on bombastic writing choices or preposterous swerves. The teammates surround their leaders because of similar beliefs or because they’re close with them on a personal level; hell, you even get some characters in conflict with the side they’re on (think Black Widow’s relationship with Captain America, despite working with Iron Man, or Vision’s continued romance with Scarlet Witch, despite being on the opposing side). And Marvel learned they could safely bring in third-party characters to spruce up the atmosphere: Chadwick Boseman’s dignified Black Panther with a fantastic revenge-driven plot on Bucky. At the same time, an exuberant youngster in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man gives Iron Man a perspective and a newfound father-son relationship he hadn’t felt before.
The airport scene is tremendous fun, giving every character a moment to shine. And the Russos still find time for plenty of wisecracks and levity that ensure the MCU formula remains in full force while juggling these themes of conflict and consequence.
But when a consequence occurs in this film, it lands with prowess. The Lagos incident. The bombing in Vienna. One member gets severely injured in the airport battle. The festering wounds of the conflicts of both sides over the Accords. And then, the final battle with Iron Man against Captain America and Bucky. A practically flawless battle, founded on betrayal, lies, and a fundamental disconnect since Iron Man and Captain America first met. It’s personal, brutal, and sensational. Lest we forget, the villain, Daniel Bruhl’s Zemo, makes an impact in more ways than one, hellbent on fracturing the Avengers due to his losses. Ruthless yet clever, he doesn’t pull any superhero shenanigans to beat the team to a pulp, and instead manipulates events to pit the team against one another. Other than Josh Brolin’s Thanos, he’s a villain who succeeds because his desire is simple, based on a justifiable grief.
It’s a huge aspartame of rush of a grand feature, and it never veers from attaining its thought-provoking ideas. And the greater impact is that it leaves a nice fallout that bleeds into Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame, and subsequent MCU stories and television episodes.
The characters we’ve come to grow and accustom ourselves to lead a weighty feature, and it’s miles ahead of any versus movie since then. Batman v. Superman was impersonal and ridiculously flawed, cracking the DCEU before it even got rolling. The Fate of the Furious, much like the Fast saga as a whole, tossed it out the window for more impossible car stunts. Transformers: The Last Knight was a cacophony. Godzilla vs. Kong was admittedly good in a dumb, fun way, albeit forgettable in the long run. Call it studio interference or rushed marketing schemes or whatever you wish, but none have made an impact when you pit an icon against an icon. Why spend the time and effort when you can take two folks people know and have them fight one another? The gnarly problem is that it won’t yield anything memorable and wastes folks’ interest.
Captain America: Civil War came out at the right time, with the right beats, and cemented Marvel Studios as a behemoth for their next wave of superhero movies (until fatigue set in the 2020s). It will stand as a paragon, one that triumphed due to excellent storytelling, but also having the temerity to commit to further ramifications.
