Captain America: Civil War

***Captain America: Civil War*** is a 2016 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Captain America, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), and the 13th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay by the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America alongside an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, William Hurt, and Daniel Brühl. *Captain America: Civil War* held its world premiere in Los Angeles on April 12, 2016, and was released in the United States on May 6, as the first film in Phase Three of the MCU.

A sequel, *Captain America: New World Order* is in development, acting as a continuation of Marvel Studios' Disney+ series *The Falcon and the Winter Soldier* (2021), following Mackie's Sam Wilson as Captain America. Set for release on May 3, 2024, the sequel will be a part of Phase Five of the MCU.

## Plot

On December 16, 1991, the Winter Soldier attacks a car, kills its passengers, steals Super Soldier Serum samples, and destroys a security camera that had recorded the assassination. In the present day, after the Avengers cause another incident with civilian deaths mainly from the country of Wakanda, the world is becoming increasingly afraid of their destructive power, as a result the UN create the Sokovia Accords; a set of international laws designed to heavily restrict the freedom of the Avengers and other superpowered individuals and only allow them to act under strict permission. Steve Rogers, having become disillusioned of authorities after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. is firmly against the accords while Tony Stark, feeling guilty over the Ultron incident, actively supports them. Half of the team takes Steve's side while the other half takes Tony's side. In the middle of the arguments, Peg Carter dies and Rogers gets news about the Winter Soldier a.k.a. his old friend Bucky Barnes. This further sets him into rejecting the idea of the accords only for Tony to push for them more, dividing the team even more.

Meanwhile, a scientist named Helmut Zemo is investigating the incident of December 1991 and the downfall of HYDRA. Zemo finds a notebook with a set of keywords involving the Winter Soldier protocol. The day the Sokovia Accords are to be signed, the pro-accord Avengers meet Wakandan King T'Chaka and his son Prince T'Challa. During the conference, T'Challa notices someone planting a bomb right next to the building and tries to warn everyone but he's too late, and the explosion kills T'Chaka. After the News state that The Winter Soldier was responsible for the bombing T'Challa takes the throne of Wakanda swears revenge against Barnes. Rogers, who also heard the news, tracks down Barnes who insists he was framed and is ready to escape. Barnes flees just as a SWAT squad appears but is suddenly attacked by a man wearing a Panther themed Vibranium suit. Captain America and Falcon chase Barnes and the Black Panther down the street only to be caught and arrested by War Machine, who declares that Captain America is now a criminal.

The Black Panther reveals himself to be T'Challa; it is a tradition in Wakanda for the king to wear the Black Panther armor and be the country's protector. Barnes is taken into custody for interrogation, during which power suddenly goes out and the psychologist interrogating him turns out to be Helmut Zemo. Zemo uses the keywords to reactivate the Winter Soldier brainwashing program and lets Barnes go on a rampage, other superheroes try to subdue Winter Soldier in vain, during the fight Bucky attempts to shoot Tony. Captain America finds Zemo, who claims he'll destroy an empire right before fleeing. Steve and Falcon manage to capture Barnes and snap him out of the brainwashing. Bucky explains that HYDRA used the Super Soldier Serum samples he stole in 1991 to make five more Winter Soldiers but they were frozen in a Siberian HYDRA facility because they were too unstable and violent. He also assures them that Helmut Zemo is the one who framed him for the bombing and is planning to take control of the other Winter Soldiers with the same brainwash code. If those Winter Soldiers are awakened, Zemo could potentially overthrow any country he wants with little trouble.

Knowing that Tony won't help them, Steve gathers all the Anti-Accords superheroes and forms a new Avengers team, with Falcon, Winter Solder, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, and Scarlet Witch. Tony on the other hand also forms his own team of Pro-Accords Avengers with Black Widow, War Machine, Vision, and Black Panther. He also visits teenager Peter Parker, who just recently had become the "*Spider-Man"* and recruits him into his team in exchange of improved Spider-Man equipment. As Captain America's Avengers reach an airport to go after Zemo, Tony's team confront them. Steve tries to convince Tony to listen to no avail so the two teams fight each other. During the battle Ant-Man reveals his "Giant Man" trick, Winter Soldier tries to convince Black Panther that he's innocent, Spider-Man battles Captain America, and Black Widow betrays her team to let Steve and Bucky escape in a jet. War Machine tries to chase the Jet, but a misfired shot from Vision knocks him out of the air and he violently crashes into the ground. Rhodes survives but is left paralyzed from the waist down. The rest of Steve's Avengers team is arrested and imprisoned in the raft jail.

Tony finds evidence that Zemo is indeed the one who framed Bucky and decides to go help Captain America after all, with Black Panther following him secretly. Once Tony arrives at the Siberia facility he offers a truce with Steve and Bucky which they agree to. When the three find Zemo he reveals that the Winter Soldiers were already dead and shows them his real plan: he obtained footage of the December 16, 1991 incident and plays it for them. T'Challa overhears the conversation and realizes that Zemo is the one who murdered his father. Tony immediately recognizes the date and car on the footage. To his horror, ***the footage shows the Winter Soldier murdering Howard and Maria Stark.* *Bucky Barnes was the one who killed Tony's parents*.** Tony is shocked by this revelation, Steve tries to calm down Tony but Tony simply asks if Steve already knew the truth, to which Steve says he found out years ago when HYDRA took over S.H.I.E.L.D. Hearing this, Tony snaps, violently attacks Rogers, and attempts to kill Bucky. Steve is forced to fight Tony to protect Barnes.

Outside the facility T'Challa confronts Zemo and learns that Zemo wanted revenge against he Avengers because they accidentally killed his family when Ultron destroyed Sokovia. Zemo knew that the only ones who could defeat the Avengers, where the Avengers themselves, so he planned to have them destroy each other and has succeeded at it. Seeing what revenge has done to Tony and Zemo, T'Challa chooses not to kill Zemo, stops him from committing suicide, and arrests him. Back at the facility Tony overpowers Winter Soldier and blows up his mechanical arm but Rogers pins down Tony and savagely beats him up with his shield. Steve almost kills Tony but at the last moment he instead breaks the Arc Reactor powering the Iron Man suit, ending the fight. As Steve and Barnes leave, Tony exclaims that Steve doesn't deserve the vibranium shield and that Howard Stark made it. Steve stops for a moment and drops the shield, also abandoning his title of Captain America.

Tony calms down and decides to return to the Avengers facility, but with Rhodes paralyzed, Natasha on the run, Black Panther and Spider-Man returning home, the Anti-Accords Avengers imprisoned, and Steve still a fugitive, there isn't really an Avengers team anymore. Just then Tony gets a letter from Steve apologizing for hiding the truth about his parent's deaths and promising to one day return to reform the Avengers. As Tony reads the letter Steve breaks his team from prison and takes them to safety. In the epilogue, Steve's team are now hiding in Wakanda and Bucky decides to freeze himself until his brainwashing can be cured. T'Challa agrees to keep them hidden to apologize for hunting them down. Meanwhile, Peter Parker returns home to find Tony has made more upgrades to his Spider-Man equipment.

## Why It's a Civil War

1. This movie had the most amount of superheroes at the time of release (third only to *Avengers: Infinity War* and *Avengers: Endgame)*, with nearly every MCU superhero at the time (with the only exceptions being Thor, Hulk, and the Guardians of the Galaxy). The movie manages to not feel clogged and oversaturated. This was helped by the fact that Marvel has proven before that they can handle large crossover movies.
2. It covers the general Civil War plot from the comics in a condensed (and arguably better written) form while still feeling like Captain America 3 as it continues the plot of Steve trying to find Bucky after learning that he's the Winter Soldier.
3. The movie is entirely character-driven. Despite the film being marketed over a "*Which Side Are You On?*" campaign, the motivations of every character in the movie and the side they take in the conflict all feel reasonable and non-forced because we've had over 12 movies to know all of them and see their respective character developments. Even the villain's motivation is understandable and reasonable (even sympathetic). Some notable character-driven moments include:
	* Tony's decision to support the Sokovia Accords due to his guilt over Ultron.
	* Steve rejecting the Accords due to his increasing distrust of authorities after HYDRA hijacked S.H.I.E.L.D.
	* Tony snapping and trying to kill Winter Soldier after learning the truth about his parent's deaths while already being emotionally unstable and stressed over recent events.
4. The late Chadwick Boseman's portrayal of Black Panther feels almost tailor-made for him.
5. It features the long-awaited debut of Spider-Man in the MCU for years, and the way Tom Holland portrays him is a ton of fun.
6. Both Spider-Man and Black Panther were well introduced, and because they were introduced here their respective solo movies didn't to be origin stories and instead picked up from where they left after the Civil War.
7. Ant-Man was an **awesome** addition to Captain America's team. Especially for this scene.
8. Amazing fight scenes such as the epic Airport fight scene and Captain America vs Iron Man.
9. **A superhero movie that's not afraid to delve into the serious subject matter in politics such as assassination, government regulation vs freedom, torture, terrorism, civilian deaths, career-ending injuries, family issues, betrayal of friendship, etc.**
10. Henry Jackman's score is awesome.
11. Watching the Avengers fight each other is awesome, but also a bit nerve-wracking.
12. Memorable dialogue, such as:
	* *"We haven't met yet, i'm Clint."*
		+ *"I don't care."*
	* *"Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict breeds catastrophe."*
	* *"Sorry Tony, you know I wouldn't do this if I had any other choice; but he's my friend."*
		+ *"So was I."*
	* *"So no matter what, I promise you, if you need us, if you need me, I'll be there."*
13. One of the few times in the MCU where the main antagonist succeeds at their goal. Even though Zemo was arrested and Tony and Steve didn't kill each other, he succeeded at turning the Avengers against each other, Tony and Steve's friendship is completely broken, and most Avengers are either wanted fugitives or out-of-commission. At the end of the movie, only Iron Man and Vision are the only fully active members of the Avengers.
14. On a rather meta move, the movie itself is a commentary on how modern Superhero movies, MCU included, tend to have very destructive fight scenes with lots of casualties and collateral damage, yet the heroes never face any consequences for said destruction.
15. Excellent use of foreshadowing, particularly to *Black Panther* and *Spider-Man: Homecoming*.
16. The final battle is unique, as it isn't between everyone and Zemo, but between Iron Man and Captain America.
17. Overall, it not just concluded the trilogy featuring Chris Evans' Captain America, but started the Phase Three on the high note.

## Bad Qualities

1. It's dissapointing that Captain America's Avengers and Iron Man's Avengers only faced each other once.
2. The conflict, while very tense and dramatic, could've been solved with not much problem. Had it been better communication between Steve and Tony, and the former warning him about Zemo's plans and how Bucky was brainwashed for so long, the problems of the film could've been avoided.
3. **False advertising:**
	* The trailers hinted that the Winter Soldier would kill War Machine, but it was actually Vision who injured Rhodes and he didn't die either.
	* **Somewhat misleading title:** Though the title indicates that this is a Captain America movie, the film focuses on a civil war between the Avengers than solely on Captain America, to the point this feels almost like an Avengers movie; much like how *Iron Man 3* is more a sequel to *The Avengers* than *Iron Man 2*. That said, if Robert Downey Jr. had refused to appear here as Iron Man, the writers were planning to write another story with Captain America fighting the Madbomb. Since that did not happened, this film would be considered to be called *Avengers: Civil War* or *Avengers 2.5.*, since the events of the Civil War come directly from *Avengers: Age of Ultron*.
	* Despite being a *Captain America* movie and Steve having a way bigger screentime than Tony, for some reason, Robert Downey Jr. is credited before Chris Evans in the posters.
4. Some characters, like Crossbones and Sharon Carter doesn't get a lot of screen-time and doesn't have any purpose to the story after Crossbones was apparently killed by Scarlet Witch, it also doesn't help the fact that Sharon Carter was in more marketing than Spider-Man.
5. The scene with Sharon Carter kissing Captain America received mixed reviews from MCU fans.