Behold, the Übermensch

Rating: 1/10 (12 May 2016)

Superheroes may misunderstand and they make mistakes but, ultimately, they are morally incorruptible. If they find themselves on the wrong side of a fight it's because they've misunderstood the nature of the problem. However, when reality finally hits home we can rely on them to admit their error and go off to fight together in the name of Truth, Justice and the American Way. People who die are unavoidable collateral damage, superheroes are beyond reproach and we need them too much to limit their powers. The world is just too scary and too dangerous to shackle the mighty with red tape and bureaucracy. Superheroes are better than us mere mortals, not just more powerful but also more moral. They don't need to follow the same rules we do.
After Winter Soldier I was under the (apparently mistaken) belief that Marvel's Capt. America franchise was criticising neoliberal America. There was all that stuff about the ends not justifying the means and about how politicians use terror to convince the population they need to be oppressed for their own good. How wrong could I be! Now I see that it's actually the opposite. It pretends to be anti-establishment but really it's just about justifying a sense of self-entitlement. Like Donald Trump, Capt. America criticises the State for oppressing people whilst simultaneously adhering to exactly the sort of high-handed moral superiority that inevitably leads to that oppression. He (I mean Capt. America) obviously skipped school on the day they taught the importance of checks-and-balances and why one of the central principles of US Democracy is that of the separation of powers.
The message of this film is simple. If you believe you are right, then you can do whatever you want as long as it's in the name of *insert moral cause*. Anyone who tries to limit your personal crusade is either stupid, naïve or oppressing you. Freedom from oppression means the freedom to act like you're better than other people, because, well, you ARE better than other people (go on, admit it, you're amongst friends here).