On May 6, 2016, Captain America: Civil War powered into theaters. By the end of its run, it made over $1.1 billion worldwide. Marvel fans went on a victory lap, proudly declaring that this movie had made more money and secured better reviews than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which was released a few weeks earlier.
Whether you’re a Marvel or DC fan, you can’t disagree with those facts. Civil War made money and achieved a tremendous fan and critical reception; it surpassed Batman v Superman in that regard. Ten years later, though, you have to ask yourself which film had the bigger impact on pop culture. Spoiler alert: it isn’t the one from Marvel Studios.
Captain America: Civil War sets Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) on a collision course. Even though Steve used to be a good little soldier, he isn’t accepting the demand that the Avengers must be registered and overseen by the United Nations. You can’t blame Steve’s position here, since when’s the last time any politician made a good decision for the betterment of humanity? Tony, though, feels remorse for creating Ultron and the events of Sokovia, so he backs the decision. This dissension fractures the team, as members are forced to pick sides.
There were three main selling points to Civil War. One, it pitted Avenger against Avenger, as fans were finally able to see fan-favorites battle each other in the famous airport scene. Two, it introduced Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, bringing the Webslinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And three, Iron Man and Captain America were guaranteed to do battle.
Apart from that, can anyone else remember anything from this movie? There are numerous Avengers in this film, but if you don’t go back and check the cast list, could you prattle off their names one by one because of how memorable they were? Not so easy now, is it?
Even by the MCU‘s lofty standards, Civil War hasn’t aged as well as some of its contemporaries. The Avengers flicks and even Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings have surpassed it in the action department, while it doesn’t even boast the best storyline in its own series. It’s probably the second-worst Captain America film ahead of only Brand New World. However, when you compare it to The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier, there’s no disputing that those two films are miles ahead of Civil War in overall quality.
Maybe it’s a case of the hype eclipsing everything else at the time. Looking back at Captain America: Civil War, it has nothing on the comic book series that it’s influenced by. In the 2006 comic book storyline, the stakes are much higher and have wider consequences on the characters and world. It’s a bigger event that pulls in more parts of the Marvel Universe, such as characters like the X-Men and Fantastic Four, while it also sees Spider-Man revealing his true identity to the world and features many more hard-hitting deaths.
The film doesn’t match the gravity of the comic book narrative. Yeah, the battle lines are murky, but the critical point is when Tony and Steve fight, because a brainwashed Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) killed the Starks and Steve wants to protect Bucky from Tony’s ire. A few weeks earlier, fans laughed at how Batman and Superman fought and how the mention of their mothers’ shared name snapped them out of it. Yet, here, they applauded when Tony said, “I don’t care. He killed my mom.” Make it make sense.
Is Captain America: Civil War a bad movie? No, not at all. But it isn’t the alpha and omega that it was painted out to be in 2016 either. It’s a perfectly serviceable Marvel movie – much like pretty much everything else the brand puts out. It’s sanitized, predictable, and safe, taking zero risks and paling in comparison to the source material. Looking back now, it’s almost embarrassing how much everybody twerked for it when it was released.
RELATED: Batman v Superman Has Outlived Captain America: Civil War
Did Civil War actually earn your loyalty, or was it just the hype? Let us know in the comments.
stupid premise, stupid article. try writing something intelligent!