Just so we're clear: I love English accents.   Bettany has become the Vision voice for me; I hear him as Bettany when I read the comics, or think of him speaking at all, ever.    So clearly more Bettany-Vision was a no-brainer for me.

 

And just in time for my birthday: this version of Doctor Strange comes out in early April :D

 

Anyway, fun so far, but no Vision as of yet.  I know he's not in a majority of the movie, but the time he cooks for Wanda, yes, please!   And I hope they at least make mention of his suits.   Which have become a minor fetish of mine.   Not the suits in general, just him wearing them.    I, like, obsess over that guys.   So very much.   

 

And I need this tonight.   Turns out I'm not leaving for like a half hour.   There's dinner, then a visit at the hospital.   

"Following the events in Sokovia, involving the Avengers' earthshaking battle with the robotic menace known as Ultron, the Super-Soldier Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, found himself leading a new team of Earth's Mightiest Heroes."

 

Well, that was a convoluted first sentence that tried to cram way too much information into way too little space.  I see where this is going, book, and I have one thing to say: 

 

 

But there are yummy Vision visuals near the end, so... well, I'd say try not to judge me too hard, but I'm actually going to read this because I have very little MCU Vision out there.   Judge me as hard as you want, guys, this is still happening.

 

 

After the sloppy, undercooked mess that was Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War is a gourmet meal that’ll cleanse your palate and leave you wondering when the heck DC’s gonna get their act together. Put it this way: people are still divided about BvS. You either love it or hate it.

 

No one’s gonna be divided on this movie. It’s everything it needed to be.

 

It’s been said before and will always be said: the main reason the Marvel movies work is because the audience has had the time to become fully invested in the characters. CA: CW introduces two “new ones”- Black Panther and Spiderman- and you’re brought along for the ride with them. Buckle up.

 

***MINI-SPOILERS AHEAD*** You know the plot: a year after the destruction of Sokovia in Age of Ultron, the Avengers are viewed as running rampant across the globe. Many of the world governments come together to declare the Avengers are in dire need of supervision… or else. (FYI: this isn’t a new idea; in the comics the Avengers operated under the auspices of the US Government.) For reasons both pragmatic and personal, Stark agrees but along those same veins, Cap doesn’t. Both have valid arguments. As the UN ratifies the Sokovia Accords, a terrorist attack leaves many delegates dead, including the King of Wakanda. Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, is identified as the prime suspect and the hunt for him begins. Bucky professes innocence to Cap, who supports his friend despite the pressure to bring him down and the lines are drawn.

 

There’s no real twists to this story; you can tell the whole time where it’s headed, but it’s a fun ride all the way. Even the prologue scene is framed so that if you didn’t intuit its significance right off the bat they still handed it to you on a platter almost immediately anyway.

 

In typical Marvel movie fashion, it’s the subplots and asides that made the movie shine. Scarlet Witch and Vision’s budding relationship, Peter Parker’s conversation with Tony Stark (and Marisa Tomei as a sexy MILF Aunt May!), Steve and Bucky reconnecting, even a seemingly throwaway line by Stark during the climactic fight at the end- all good stuff that put heart and soul into an action movie.

 

The villian’s arc also helps to sell the story. F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote: show me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy. The same hold true for the bad guys; it matters more when it’s personal and nothing’s gonna change their course. His entire history is inextricably linked to the whole- both the Avengers as well as Hydra- and makes for a good character arc in its own right.

 

The much anticipated big fight at the airport was surprisingly pretty good. Everyone got their moments to shine in the scene, even Spiderman and Antman making big contributions to the cause. Got a little choppy on the editing, but nothing too distracting.

 

As for the climactic fight between Bucky, Cap and Shellhead, it was satisfying both emotionally and visually, a dynamo of action and drama that brought the plot full circle.

 

Not that there aren’t a few warts here. The inciting incident at the beginning was clumsy and kinda dumb; I had a hard time believing anyone, even a rookie like Scarlet Witch, could’ve made a mistake like hurling an explosive device INTO an occupied area, especially when if you let it explode in the air- where it already was- you’d have been fine. But plotwise that was simply the icing on the cake anyway.

 

I thought T’Challa/Black Panther’s intro could’ve been built up a little more but they did a fine job of his development and juxtaposing him as an almost literal anti-Stark character: similar resources yet different personalities and motives.

 

The Peter Parker/Spiderman intro scene needed more explaining as to how Tony found him but you can roll with it. Spiderman was everything he should be- an anxious kid in way over his head yet eager to prove himself to the adults, and talking too much the whole time to cover up his nervousness. An excellent addition to the movie.

 

On a side note the Agent Carter story arc is also wrapped up, and given the ambiguous state of the tv show, it doesn’t look like a good sign.

 

CA: CW is a great comic book movie and fantastically entertaining. This is one you really need to see, not only for continuity but for the fun of it. 5/5 stars.

 

One question: how’s Tony calling Spidey ‘Underoos’ when in this world there weren’t any superheroes to make Underoos from…? lol

The thing is this ties into Bucky Barnes, but Civil War is - or should be - about more than one man.   See, the original Civl War - comic book, not real thing - was about how far we go to protect people and how much heroes have a right to a private life.   

 

Not that I liked the Civil War crossover all that much.   I tried rereading some recently and still did not like it all that much.   That being said, it was trying to be big and show how contentious ideas and fracturing of the heroes due to different ideals could end up.   It was big and serious.   It was big.   As much as I love so many Marvel characters, it was bigger than everyone one of them.   It was bigger than my love for each separate character put together.    And I applauded it for being about that, for trying even if it didn't really interest me. 

 

Which is why a comic like this that focuses solely on Bucky and Cap's search for his old friend worries me.   It's why, as awesome as the previews look, the cinematic Civil War worries me.  I get what they're trying to do it, and how they're trying to personalize it, and make the struggle more relatable.  I just think it might be a big mistake.   (They couldn't do this, at least not with Bucky, in the comic book version, but Bucky has more history.   And I think it's smart that if they have to do it, they do it for Cap and Bucky.)

 

That being said, this was an enjoyable story if I could manage to forget why this is a bad idea.  I was reminded just enough, and then again at the end where they say this is going to be continued in the movie, that I couldn't quite enjoy it as much as I'd wanted to when I purchased this.  (I bought some Infinite comics because I remembered how much I liked them.)

 

It was a valiant try, Marvel, I will give you that.   If it weren't leading up to Civil War, I suspect this would have been a four or four and a half star read.   I salute the effort, but you've still got me worried about this movie, maybe more so than before.   (Especially since the original event was all about spectacle and all the heroes choosing a side.  Your sadly small cast in comparison?   Does not bode well for the movie either.   I do hope I love your movie, but I've yet to see anything to convince me that I will.)

 

I think that reading this alone out of the whole series doesn't give you the entire picture. I feel like I have some holes in my understanding. I am hoping my library has all or most of these. I like the idea of presenting the situation through the eyes of various characters in the Marvel world. Each one would have a different vantage point based on their worldview and life experiences. It's not a big surprise that Captain America and Iron Man come out on different sides of the issue. However, Captain America stands against the Superhero Registration out of sheer belief that it is wrong and it goes against the principles of a free society. As a true patriot, he is willing to fight for the rights of others. Iron Man doesn't have a POV in this story, so it's hard to argue his viewpoint, but I believe in his own way, he thinks he's doing the right thing as well. That's the anguish of the situation, that there are good people on both sides, although the baddies like HYDRA and Dr. Doom are going to use the discord to advance their own agendas. The Winter Soldier has a big role in this book, as well as some protegees of well known superheroes, such as the next Hawkeye, Kate Bishop. Even Namor, who fought with Cap back in WWII shows up. It was neat to read more about TWS after seeing the excellent movie a couple of months prior to this. I hadn't even heard of him until the movie came out and from watching Marvel's Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The artwork is lovely and the writing touches on the emotional battlefield that Captain and others around him face. Civil War is an apt title for this series, because we are seeing the Marvel heroes well and truly divided.