The Problem(s) With Captain America: Civil War

Civil War is among the TOP tier MCU films. The real problem here is that MCU couldn’t make more films like this one, or The Winter Soldier.

The flaws in this movie are absolutely ignored because of the stellar character work from both the team behind the cameras and the actors themselves. Some of the lines delivered in Civil War are among the best in the MCU. Winter Soldier and Civil War had a surprising number of nuanced and understated deliveries that hold up as legitimately good acting.

You can feel the desire for revenge in Iron Man's voice when he says, "I don't care he killed my mom".

"the book agrees with Cap" Wait until you find out Mark Millar, the writer of the book, literally said Iron Man was right and we were supposed to be rooting for him

The critical detail about the comic-book event that kicked off the Civil War is that the superhero team that antagonized Nitro and crew were young, barely trained and they jumped into the situation without understanding who they were up against for clout on social media. They were actually more focused on recording their endeavors than the threat posed by the villains they faced. This made the upstart superhero team responsible for the explosion. It was a threat that would have been better handled by The Avengers or Spiderman.

United we stand Divided we fall Reminds me in Endgame when Tony confronts Steve and said “you said we’d lose together but you weren’t there”

Your issue with the movie was an essential part for Infinity War because they needed to be divided when Thanos attacked.

Remember when the MCU made movies like Civil War or Winter Soldier that took matters seriously? Now everything is a joke, everybody quips like they’re Spider-Man, Iron Man or Deadpool.

The fact that the sokovia didn't matter much brought to the conclusion that many guys were in the battle just to help someone else and not because they thought it was important. The story at the end evolves around cap and iron man so guys like spiderman and ant were included just in function of those two, they had basically nothing to do with the clash

5:47 I think these taglines serve as the core for what each version of 'Civil War' were trying to achieve and why you fundamentally may've not liked the MCU direction. The film, as the Russos/Markus & McFeely stressed, is ultimately about the breakup of a family. Rather than A "who's a side are you on" or "who's right type of story" where two ideologies are pitted and it arrives at a conclusion. Natasha's role is often overlooked in this film but what she says about "Staying together is more important than how we stay together" may as well be a/the thesis statement of the film. Like the United We Stand...Divided We Fall tagline, it emphasizes that one of the core messages is that they should focus on how they stand strong together even through all the differences than break apart because of them. I personally loved how the writers didn't write Avengers' as suddenly out of character and openly hostile towards one another. The climax of their disagreements, the airport battle, is not them violently blowing over these disputes but rather them coming at a crossroads regarding a major international issue and most members having to take a stand based on what they believe is right (it's not "Steve being in love with Bucky") a personal stake or both. So while each side is fighting hard to get to their goals, they still respect & like the other side, even exchange quips. Clint & Nat's little conversation I think is a representation of this dynamic at the heart of the sequence. Later, Tony is willing to listen to the other side, admits Steve was right about Bucky and why he protected him, and initially joins the 3rd act as an ally. The actual violent blow-up ultimately occurs over a personal issue; a dark secret kept between family is revealed, which makes it both a betrayal as it is a shock for Tony. Again, in-keeping with the family drama about "going through a divorce" theme. I also disagree that it substitutes the wider MCU's progress or the original comic's themes in favor of character progression and having heroes punch other in the face for the sake of that spectacle. While I think the Sokovia Accords ultimately didn't reach to the narrative potential and impact they could've had on the Avengers and wider universe, I feel that's mainly a retroactive failing on the MCU's part in Phase 3 rather than a problem with the script. Based on the film's ending and Markus & McFeely's commentary post release, it seemed like there was a time where we're going to the events lead to a wider arc and change to the MCU's superhero landscape. But they ultimately sidelined it and had even the heroes who signed turn away from it or ignore the accords without any acknowledgment about it in Infinity War's events. The only lasting consequence was the Avengers' division playing a factor in their loss in that film. Which does enhance aforementioned theme of "United We Stand...Divided We Fall" and the importance of the Avengers staying together. So the film had one lasting effect.

Depends on how you feel about the MCU. If you watch everything, Civil War is great. If you're a casual fan, it definitely leaves more to be desired. I saw it thru the lens of the Avengers as a whole. How it splintered them and how its consequences for their failure against Thanos. It's that dichotomy of making movies like episodes in a series vs making movies that stand on their own. I enjoy how personal Civil War is for the characters vs being a take on society.

It's a damn shame that MCU all but ignored the Sokovia Accord. There's so much potential there. However, in the context of CW, movie I thougth it was brilliant that the writers showed how things can go from political to personal, which is very true in the real world.

I needed a movie with Cap and Black Widow’s Avengers team before Civil War

I think the problem I have with the MCU as a whole is that these trilogies within the universe don’t feel like a series. I can’t just sit down and binge the Thor movies in a row because of how wildly different they are in tone and structure. I think the only franchises within the MCU that do this well are Spiderman, GotG, and Iron Man. These films feel similar, like they were designed as a set meant to be watched independently. I think the big mistake made by Feige is the loss of these unique tones that made each movie special. What was intriguing about Avengers was how they would take these tonally diverse characters and have them interact in an organic way. Now, as we move further through the universe, every film feels the same and there’s no interesting character mashups because each character has been forced into an MCU mold. This is why I’m excited for the DCU. I think James Gunn sees the potential for this diversity and is putting himself in the right position to give everything that marvel fans have been sorely lacking. I hope he lands the ship and we have another great film franchise to follow.

Captain America Civil War is good, but Winter Soldier easily tops it. Winter Soldier's story doesn't rely on your knowing 80 different movies and characters to care about the premise. And Civil War is arguably not an actual Captain America movie, more of an Avengers 2.5 according to Anthony Mackie.

Just because the movie is different from the comics doesn't mean that's a problem. In fact, I think it WAS a better idea to focus on the interpersonal relationships between the heroes rather than making a Star Trek: The Next Generation trial. By doing that, it not only elevates the emotional mistakes between the two figureheads of the conflict (Ironman and Captain America) but also builds expertly and develops the pretence of the Sokovia Accords. They were never meant to really underline the film but instead supposed to instigate a divide. In reality, I don't see how the comic ending could have done well in the films, especially since they are more about focusing on our favourite superhero characters than trying to insert mob mentalities or third-party interventions that rob us of the inevitable tragic ending that was delivered when two titans clash.

I think the movie is better for making it personal. It does something different from the book. The book shows how fear effects mob mentality through a nameless crowd of civilians, but the movie shows that personal bias often gets in the way of genuine progress through the main characters themselves. Bucky being brainwashed and Wanda being a scapegoat are both examples of victims having their rights discounted for the same reasons under different contexts. They both draw emphasis to the fact that Iron Man isn't thinking logically but is driven by his personal biases, whereas Cap is trying to do what he thinks is right. We can see how Steve is torn between two friends, trying to weigh the situation and mediate justice, which makes it incredibly difficult for anyone to definitively say he has any kind of personal bias. Steve knows that Bucky is a victim of a system of control and Tony is another victim of that same system, but Tony is trying to scapegoat Bucky without any consideration for the full context. That reflects back on Tony's treatment of Wanda. I think that successfully adds a deeper nuance that wasn't present in the book, where the secret identity aspect shoulders the weight of the themes. The movie illustrates on a character level how that fear manifests in Iron Man's stance on the issue. Tony isn't being pragmatic, he's trying to offload a lot of his own personal guilt to the government, and the issue with his parents shows how willing he is to throw justice out the window... so he isn't motivated to register out of any sense of justice, but from his own emotional imbalance. Removing the accords from his stance by giving Tony a strong bias against another victim reveals his true motivations. I think that's a brilliant augmentation of the source material, not a problem. It's not about revenge for Tony's parents, it's about Tony's lack of regard for justice or consideration for victimized individuals. The accords are the curtain revealing Tony's flawed motives when pulled back, not the other way around. The accords are an outlet for Tony's lack of consideration for others. The accords exist because people react to disaster by demanding easy accountability rather than considering individual accountability, because civilians have no way of knowing the details that result in their destroyed livelihoods. Tony's motives to sign the accords align with the people who just want to feel in control over a situation they don't understand, so the issue of Tony's parents just highlights how that same motivation can arise outside of politics. One stance is primarily motivated by fear, taking personal accountability and individual rights away based on discrimination against super powered individuals, all out of an emotionally charged response to a disaster. The other stance is in favor of personal accountability and individual rights, and keeping the power of supers from being exploited by government and political biases. The movie has no issue conveying any of that. I'd argue the book gets more lost with it's theming, veering off into media influence territory, than keeping focus on the honest, personal consideration of the issue based on observable factors. The movie stays centered squarely on how what motivates promotion of that kind of policy, even in moving beyond the policy itself. There is no better MCU film than Civil War. This and Winter Soldier are the peak of the entire MCU.

My biggest problem is how easily EVERYONE was fooled by Zemo. It's totally ridiculous.

That kiss between Steve and Sharon was so contrived and unearned that I've been (internally) ranting about it frequently for the past three months after rewatching the movie. I do think they should be together because she's his girlfriend in the comics and having her not be his girlfriend would make her a bad adaptation (as her being his girlfriend is part of the point of her character), but the kiss, as is, was still contrived and needed proper build-up. One could argue that they flirted in The Winter Soldier, but otherwise they didn't seem really close before the kiss.

I thought it was a great movie, the only problem I ever had with it from the first time I saw it? Iron Man and Cap each have their own viewpoint. Everyone else they recruit just goes along with whoever happens to recruit them. Except maybe Black Widow.