‘Captain America: Civil War’ – The Steve and Bucky Love Story

Surprisingly, Steve lived.  STEVE LIVED!  Hot tip: that didn’t happen in the comics.  He dies as a result of the civil war.  But he did leave the Avengers with Bucky and sent Tony a heart shattering break up letter that basically says “we are never ever ever getting back together, but if shit goes down give me a call.”  Fandom is going to produce some amazing art and fanfic out of this.  I can feel it.  Bring it, fandom.  I’m eagerly waiting for it.

Okay non-shipping friends.  It’s safe to come back to the Captain America Civil War review now.  And wow, there is a lot to talk about.

First and foremost, let’s talk Spider-man.  This was probably the most disappointing part of Captain America: Civil War for me.  I understand Peter Parker is an awkward nerdy teenager, but his previous incarnations haven’t felt quite so grating on my nerves as this one did.  His introductory scene with Stark seemed really promising but as soon as we actually saw him do battle he felt out of place.  His quips got a lot of laughs from the audience, but the humor just didn’t seem to mesh with the already established tone of the MCU.  I can’t even put my finger on why that is other than the fact that he’s very young and inexperienced.  Wanda is young, too, but she’s seen a lot of stuff in her short life and doesn’t come off quite so naive.  I’m really bummed that something so many of us had been looking forward to didn’t quite hit the marks we were hoping for.  It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t great either.

While many people felt the film was too packed, I actually enjoyed all the new character dynamics and interactions that we got to see (Spider-man notwithstanding).  While I haven’t been the biggest fan of Ant-Man, his unique brand of humor actually did mesh with the other characters nicely.  It was a much needed comic relief.  Seeing Sam and Rhodey play off each other was also quite enjoyable and also helped with the diversity of the cast.  When they are separate it can feel like having a token POC character to prop up the white male lead at times, but having them there together made it feel much more organic and less like an effort to up the diversity quotient of the superheroes.  I love these two characters for who they are as individuals, but being the solitary POC in the core cast of a film can feel a bit awkward.  The undeniable chemistry and angst between Vision and Wanda was also a highlight and I can tell that’s going to be a relationship I enjoy seeing develop in future films.  And speaking of Wanda…

I gushed over how great Scarlet Witch was in my Avengers: Age of Ultron review, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m over the moon about her here, too.  She’s training to become an Avenger and one mistake tipped the scales against them in the public eye. It basically pushed the Sokovia Accords into action, which was the root cause of the civil war.  She has a lot of guilt about it, but she still sides with Steve to protect Bucky and keep the Avengers free of government control.

It’s also interesting to note just how powerful she is.  She’s the only one that can go toe to toe with Vision, and many people are naturally scared of her because of her powers.  Bonus: her addition to the Avengers means that Black Widow is no longer the token female on the team.  We’ve finally got some genuine gender diversity happening and that’s fabulous.  More women please.  And more POC characters.  And can we throw in a canonical LGBTQ+ character too maybe?  I mean technically we have Loki, but that aspect of him hasn’t been mentioned in MCU.  But I’m getting a bit off track here.  The point is, Wanda is amazing and my sincerest thank you for whoever decided to add her to the MCU.

One of the strongest themes in Captain America: Civil War was how blurred the line between hero and villain is sometimes.  Black Panther is one of the biggest examples of this, and his character arc in the film highlights this theme in a really blatant way.  He can be seen as a villain at first to some because he’s siding against the protagonist of the film, but he’s being driven by the desire to avenge his father’s death.  Tony has similar motivation and even though I’m #TeamCap, I still feel for Tony.  Even Helmut Zemo, who is basically responsible for turning the Avengers against each other, is motivated by his loss.  He’s absolutely an antagonist, but he’s not a maniacal mustache-twirling villain.  He’s just really damn upset over his entire family being killed. Then we get to Bucky, who is an antagonist in Winter Soldier (against his will, but still), but very much on the side of the film protagonist this time around.  The same can be said of Wanda, who was being used as a tool against the Avengers and is now joining them to utilize her power in a positive way.

Even online feelings about which side is “right” seem to be mixed.  I’m definitely on Team Cap, but I have quite a few friends that are on Team Iron Man, so to them Captain America and Bucky may be viewed as the primary antagonists of the film.  It’s all up for interpretation and can’t be easily pegged down.   I think that’s a sign of brilliant writing.  It’s incredibly nuanced.

So far Captain America: Civil War is my second favorite MCU to date, beating out Winter Soldier and the original Avengers film by a mile. Guardians of the Galaxy is still my favorite, though, and it’s going to take a hell of a lot to nudge that out of my top spot.  Perhaps that rumored Black Widow film will do it.  Or maybe Guardian’s of the Galaxy Volume 2.  But second place isn’t all that bad considering there are 13 completed MCU films to date with another 9 set to be released in the next three years.  There was very little to be unhappy with here, and I hope the stellar script quality from Captain America: Civil War carries over for the rest of Phase Three.