Jason's Movie Blog

The battle lines are being drawn and superheroes are turned against each other, choosing their side to stand on. Yup, I’m talking about the newest movie from the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Captain America: Civil War. With the recent release of the new trailer for the movie, many Marvel fans out there are anxiously awaiting this next superhero installment, which ultimately begins Marvel’s Phase III cinematic saga. It’s a movie that’s brimming with comic book excellent and anticipation, but there’s might be some out there that might by asking “What’s Civil War about?” or “What’s the BIG whoop about Captain America 3?”. So, to those comic book” uninitiated” or those who generally don’t know, here’s all you need to know about Captain America: Civil War.

THE COMICS

(Civil War)

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For starters, since this is a comic book movie, let’s go back to “Civil War” comic book source. Running from 2006-2007, Civil War is a Marvel comic book crossover storyline that was comprised of limited seven-issues series, which was written by Mark Millar and drawing by Steve McNiven. Like a lot of similar “big event” storylines in Marvel comics (i.e. the Annihilation Conquest comic series), the ground work for the Civil War story was developed in other comics such as House of M, Decimation, and Avengers Dissembled. There’s a lot to be said in the Civil War comics, so instead of trying to writing it all out, which would take some time, I decided to use what Wikipedia has summarized as follows:

“The plot of the series follows a framework storyline in which the U.S. government passes a Superhero Registration Act ostensibly designed to have superpowered individuals act under official regulation, somewhat akin to law enforcement. However, superheroes opposed to the act, led by Captain America, find themselves in conflict with those supporting the act, led by Iron Man, with Spider-Man caught in the middle; the X-Men take a neutral stance. The superheroes in support of the law, such as Iron Man, Dr. Reed Richards, and Ms. Marvel, increasingly become authoritarian. In the aftermath of the war, Captain America surrenders and is imprisoned. The conflict between freedom and security is an underlining theme in the storyline, with real-life events and discussions, such as the U.S. government’s increased surveillance of its citizens, serving as a backdrop for the events in Civil War.”

So, yeah, that’s a lot to going on that wasn’t mention above. Suffice to say, that Civil War was a “monster” event in Marvel’s comic book universe, including several characters that were effected in Civil War’s aftermath in their own respective solo comic book stories. Such a heightened crossover event was paramount in the comics, with the promise of trying to capture that “grandness’ within a feature length film.

 

THE MOVIE

(Captain America: Civil War)

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Originally, Marvel’s Phase II of their cinematic universe was going to end with Avengers: Age of Ultron (coinciding how they previous did it within Phase I), with Ant-Man opening up Phase III, which was then to be followed by Captain America 3. However, Marvel decided to changed that up, having Ant-Man close their Phase II saga and have Captain America 3 opening up Phase III saga. It was later on revealed that Captain America 3 would be titled Captain America: Civil War and comic book fans and enthusiasts knew what that meant.

Here’s the official summary for Captain America: Civil War

“One year after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, prompting politicians to form a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to call in the team. When Steve Rogers attempts to protect his friend Bucky Barnes from government hit squads, his efforts bring him into conflict with Tony Stark. This results in the fracturing of the Avengers into two opposing factions–one led by Rogers who wishes to operate without regulation, and the other led by Stark who supports government oversight–while they attempt to protect the world from a new enemy.”

At a glance, it sounds similar to the comics. Indeed, Captain America: Civil War will be a loose adaptation of the Civil War comic book story (having the same central conflict between Iron Man and Captain America) or the Superhero Registration Act been changed to the “Sokovia Accord” in the movie. It also sees (from the trailers) that conflict will also surround the character of Bucky Barnes (aka The Winter Soldier), acting as a catalyst that will drive a wedge between the superhero leaders. However, due to licensing rights by other franchises (20^th Century Fox) certain characters from the Civil War comics will, of course, be omitted from the story and (as if a no brainer), no all of the event from this huge crossover story will be represented in a 146-minute movie. Thus, don’t expecting a full fledge unedited theatrical adaption of Marvel’s Civil War in this movie.

 

THE DIRECTORS

 

With the success of the Marvel movies (I’m speaking about the ones in the MCU), Captain America: Civil War will be the thirteenth movie in their cinematic universe and to say that anticipation for this movie is at an all-time high would be a bit of an understatement. Though, the movie seems to be in the right hands with the Russo Brothers at the directorial helm for this project. Their work on Captain America: The Winter Soldier brought something unique and different to the movie world of comic books, a conspiracy thriller narrative that was slightly dark and grittier from the norm. The Winter Soldier was not just a great standalone movie (a solid runner-up behind Guardians of the Galaxy as my favorite of the Phase II movies), but was also a centerpiece for the MCU saga, changing up the status quo on several things (i.e. downfall of S.H.I.E.L.D) and laying the groundwork for future installments. Again, thanks to the Russo Brothers behind this project

With that being said, it’s clear that fans are expecting (and wanting) that same feeling when they see Captain America: Civil War, hoping to see what the Russo Brothers bring to the MCU table with this movie. It’s definitely going to be exciting and action packed, but I wonder where the Russo Brothers will take this movie. Will it follow similar lines along the Civil War comics or just simply use the name of the comic for the movie (like Avengers: Age of Ultron). To even add more fuel to fire, this film will ultimately set the tone for the Phase III saga (as all the other installments play out their respective stories) as the Russo Brothers will be leading the charge (and the daunting task) of executing the highly anticipated cinematic crossover event in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and 2.

 

I can’t wait for this movie!!!!!

 

THE TEAMS

 

When it was announced the next Captain America installment would be based off of the Civil War story, many began to widely speculate on who would join sides with who? Eventually, Marvel released the official lineup of the two teams which is as followed:

 

TEAM IRON MAN

IRON MAN

BLACK WIDOW

WAR MACHINE

VISIONt

BLACK PANTHER

 

TEAM CAPTAIN AMERICA

CAPTAIN AMERICA

SCARLETT WITCH

HAWKEYE

ANT-MAN

FALCON

BUCKY BARNES

 

Those are the names that have been released (with the exception of Agent 13 who sides with Captain America. To me, it’s going to be interesting how they movie will play out how these superheroes form their teams (and the reasons behind their decision). Of course, this is going to be a lot of excitement of seeing some of these characters’ fight alongside each other and fight former allies. It’s definitely going to be a big superhero brawl and I can’t wait to see that.

 

ALLIES AND ENEMIES

 

While there’s plenty of Avenger “veterans” in this movie (Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, etc.), there’s several new ones who will make their big screen debut in the MCU during this movie. Of course, the “big one” that everyone has been talked about is Spider-Man. With the acquisition of the superhero from Sony Pictures, Spider-Man is now in the MCU movies and big question has been on which side does the Spider-Man. Judging from the newest trailer, he looks to have sided with Iron Man and his team. However, appearance can be deceiving in a trailer. It will be also interesting to see how young newcomer actor Tom Holland will be playing the famous web-slinging superhero, a character who was previously played by Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Whatever your stance on Spidey’s costume in the movie (some like, while others don’t) or the choice to recast the character with a younger actor, Spider-Man was an important piece in the Civil War story in the comics. Thus, he might be in this movie as well. Let’s hope so.

Captain America: Civil War also see another new character joining the ranks with the character of T’Challa (or known as the superhero Black Panther), who will be played by actor Chadwick Boseman. Like the appearance of Spider-Man, the amount of screen time and the importance Black Panther has in the movie is unclear. Regardless, its a good way to introduce to the character (both him and Spider-Man) as each one will get their own time to “shine” in each of their respective solo movies.

Additionally, Civil War adds Marvel villain Dr. Baron Zemo (or just simply Zemo), who will be played by actor Daniel Brühl. In the comics, Baron Heinrich Zemo was a brilliant scientific genius who made advances in the field of laser technology and was an adversary to Captain America. It’s been unclear what Zemo’s role will have in the movie as not a whole lot is being mentioned about him (he’s not even shown in the trailers).

Returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for this movie is the character of Brock Rumlow (Crossbones). He was Captain America: The Winter Soldier and was played by actor Frank Grillo, who will reprise his role again for Civil War. Again, like Zemo, Crossbones was a main bad guy in the comics, but will mostly have only a smaller role to play in this particular feature (Grillo stated he filmed a couple of days on the Civil War set and that was it).

Then there’s Martin Freeman’s character of Everett Ross, who will also appear in the movie as well. Ross is a joint member of the Counter Terriosim Center and a person who is associated with Black Panthers in the comics. Though producer Kevin Feige has said that Ross’s appearance is a brief one. Lastly, previous MCU characters are returning, including Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and William Hurt as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt Ross”.

 

THE RUMOR MILL

 

There’s plenty of rumors going around with Captain America: Civil War. Of course, the biggest “rumor” of the movie is if the character of Steve Rogers (Captain America) will be killed off? There’s been a lot of speculation about this notion for several reason. First and foremost, is that actor Chris Evans’s contract for the Marvel movies is almost over and has expressed an interest in going beyond being “typed cast” as Marvel’s Captain America (desiring to work in both in and behind the camera lens). Secondly, the movies have introduced to two “possible” characters (Sam Wilson / Falcon and Bucky Barnes / The Winter Soldier) that have played the role of Captain America in the comics. Both these signs point to that decision and it would be an interesting way to open up Marvel’s Phase III saga (by killing off one of the movie franchise’s main heroes), but you never know. As a side-note (base on the movie trailers), it looks like Don Cheadle’s character James Rhodes (War Machine) will be killed off in the movie. Again, nothing confirmed, but the images from the trailers are convincing enough to me.

Then there’s the rumors flying around that the character of Bruce Banner (The Hulk) would appear in Civil War. Originally, he was supposed to be appear in the movie, but written out and was (reportedly) saved for another future installment. Now new rumors are stating that he might make an appearance in the movie again. Personally, though his addition in the feature would be a welcomed one, I doubt he will be in the movie. What has been confirmed is that the character of The Hulk will appear alongside the might god of thunder in Thor: Ragnarok, which is debut in November 2017. Whether or not he will appear in Captain America: Civil War remains unclear.

Even in comic book movies, love is in the air and so are the rumors for Civil War. There’s plenty of comic book hooks up in the movie with Scarlett Witch and Vision or Captain America and Agent 13 or even Hawkeye and Black Widow (again). These are all possibilities, but in a movie that has a lot to tell and with the promise of non-stop action, these romantic notions seem unlikely to be shown and realized in Civil War.

Then there’s the now commonplace post-credit tag scene at the end of a Marvel movie. Sometimes two (one mid-credit and one at the very end of the credits), these little scenes have become a fan favorite to some and a bane to others. While some are just short cheeky “zinger” scenes (i.e. Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers, and Iron Man 3), most usually introduce some future installment or foreshadow events to come in the cinematic universe. What will Civil War’s be? It’s hard to say. It could introduce the next film, which would be Dr. Strange (that would be cool), or setting up either Spiderman or Black Panther for their own respective standalone movies. The scene could possibly be a scene foreshadowing the events of Thanos and his search for the Infinity Stones. Again, it’s all up in the air.

Then there’s this scene from the comic books that has a lot of fans hoping for this scene to be appear in Captain America: Civil War. And giving the fact that both Hawkeye and Ant-Man are on the same team, its a possibility that they might see this scene in the movie.

And I for one am hoping for this to happen as well.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

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Its undoubtedly clear that Captain America: Civil War will be a monster of a movie, with plenty of action and superhero nuances to quench avid moviegoer and Marvel comic books fans. There’s a lot hyped being put into this movie and the anticipation for it is only growing as Civil War is set to kick off the 2015 “summer movie” lineup. Personally, I think its going to open up the summer with a blockbuster bang and be better than Avenger: Age of Ultron. As a fan of Marvel comics and as a bigger fan of the MCU movies, I’m so pumped up for this movie (ranked as #1 in my Top 15 Most Anticipated Films of 2016). However, I do have some lingering notions of doubt for this movie, feeling that it’s going to be too big for the story it wants to tell and sort of short-changing some characters along the way. Regardless, I hope this somewhat help you (the reader) get a better understanding of the upcoming Captain America movie. To me, I’m super stoked for this movie. Probably gonna see it multiple times.

So it really boils down to this question….

Captain America: Civil War comes to theaters on May 4^th, 2016