Captain America: Civil War

[The Laughing Fish]

I think music is one part which the MCU could improve on. Zimmer hasn't always been my cup of tea, but he brought his A game to Man of Steel and BvS.

Fair call. I was hoping Danny Elfman would bring something unique when he was brought in to co-perform the score for Age Of Ultron, as he did for Burton's Batman and Raimi's Spider-Man. But it wasn't to be. I totally agree about Zimmer.

Does Chris Evans have one more movie on his contract? Maybe Infinity War will be Steve Rogers' last appearance in the MCU.

Sebastian Stan has lend his support for BvS, and gave his thumbs up to Ben Affleck and Jesse Eisenberg's performances.

Source: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/captain_america/captain_america_civil_war/sebastian-stan-weighs-in-on-batman-v-a141515

[The Dark Knight]

BvS also had the better cinematography and visuals in general, to be honest. The opening scene with the Wayne murders told me immediately this would be a lovely film to watch.

[johnnygobbs]

I found this article on-line which echoes some of my thoughts about why Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) is one of the most resonant villains we've yet seen in a Marvel movie:

'Captain America: Civil War': Why Zemo May Be The Best Villain In The MCU

By Phillip Martinez

It's not news that the  Marvel Studios films have not handled their villains well. Outside of Loki, there hasn't been a bad guy in the MCU that has stayed around for more than one movie, let alone resonated enough with the audience to remain relevant.

However,  Captain America: Civil War has finally broken the streak of forgettable villains.

While it helps that the crux of the film is superheroes facing off against each other, the person behind the scenes pulling the strings takes  Civil War beyond  just friends punching each other in the face.

SPOILER ALERT! The following contents spoil the events of Civil War . If you haven't seen the film yet, don't proceed. You have been warned.

If you've seen Civil War , you now know that Zemo (played by Daniel Bruhl) is the force behind the breakup of the Avengers. Through a series of well thought out and planned events, from the creation of the Sokovia Accords to the gut-wrenching finale, Zemo saw an opportunity to strike the Avengers and did so without a bat of an eye.

After the casualties in Africa in the beginning of the movie, Zemo pounced to take down the "empire." Knowing full well that Bucky and Cap were linked forever, he impersonated Bucky and took it upon himself to frame the Winter Soldier to get the pro-registration side to go after him.

And, of course, Cap would go and protect his friend, even if it meant going against his former teammates.

This led to some in-fighting between the Avengers, as they were split in two before the final fight in Russia. While the audience thought Zemo was using the infighting to get to the army of Winter Soldiers in stasis, he was actually luring Cap and Iron Man to the facility to reveal the final piece of his plan: to show Tony Stark that Bucky was the one who killed his parents.

The revelation reversed Iron Man's change of heart and he went to kill Bucky, with Cap stepping in to stop him. This elaborate plot was to get revenge on Cap for the events of  Age of Ultron, where Zemo's wife and child were killed in Sokovia.

Now, the Zemo in Civil War  is very different from the purple-clad villain of the comics. This Zemo is a product of the Avengers' shortcomings, which makes him a more intriguing character to start with. Civil War explores the limits of superpowers and the consequences of superheroes' actions, and Zemo provides a lasting reminder to Iron Man and Captain America that they failed a lot of people, demonstrating how the people they are dedicated to protecting can turn against them.

It wasn't made clear if Zemo was a part of Hydra before he went on his personal vendetta quest, but the way he went about and tore up Hydra to get to the Winter Soldier and complete his plan was brilliant. It didn't matter if he was aligned with Hydra or not beforehand, no one was going to stop him from achieving his goal.

And unlike past Marvel villains, Zemo's motives are clear and rational. He's not trying to take over the galaxy or get revenge on a race of aliens for vaguely defined political reasons, he's getting revenge on the people who he believes are directly responsible for the death of his family.

Is Zemo right to place blame on the Avengers for their death after trying to save the world? What would you do if the people who swore to protect you were the reason your loved ones were gone?

That's the tricky part, Zemo is working solely on his emotions and his grief makes his motives and thinking logical in his own mind, which makes him an especially dangerous and sympathetic villain. And once he felt his work was done, he tried to commit suicide because he wanted to be with his family again.

Thankfully, T'Challa was there to stop him, but as we saw by the end of the film, Zemo's story is not done. Comic book readers know that Zemo is one of Cap's most enduring and recognizable villains, but in the film he isn't anywhere near who he is (or will become?) in the comics. It's going to be exciting to see what Marvel Studios does with him down the line.

The seeds are planted for Zemo to torment Cap and the rest of the MCU for years to come, and I can't wait to see what they do with him.

The only thing I'm unsure about it Zemo's relationship to Hydra.  The film briefly mentions that he was in some type of militia or mercenary group, however, I think it's far more powerful if he has no direct attachment to Hydra.  Hydra was an inherently evil organisation, so Zemo's vendetta evokes far more sympathy if he was in fact a relatively decent, moral man before his family ended up as 'collateral damage' during The Avengers' Sokovian mission.  It adds a degree of complexity to the dynamic instead of offering us an easy black-and-white one (i.e. making Zemo's descent into evil a product of Iron Man/Captain America's actions, rather than something that was already a part of him).

[The Laughing Fish]

In my opinion, Black Panther was the best character in this movie. I liked his arc a lot, and I look forward to his solo movie.

I read a theory online that the reason Iron Man recruits Spider-Man to face Captain America and Bucky was because he wanted to make up for that kid who died in Sokovia, whose mother blamed Stark for his death.

Tony Stark has entered quite a dark journey within the last three years. He had to overcome his PTSD following Loki's attacks and now he has to carry the guilt of creating Ultron and the consequences of what happened afterwards for the rest of his life. He's splitting up from Pepper, and now he learns a close friend of Cap's was the one who killed his parents. I suppose he would've been torn apart over all of this if he never met Peter Parker. Who knows, mentoring Peter could give him a relief to cope through all of this personal anguish. Sort of like a surrogate son.

[The Dark Knight]

In my opinion, Black Panther was the best character in this movie. I liked his arc a lot, and I look forward to his solo movie.

Fair call. I was impressed with him too. He felt nigh unstoppable in combat, especially during the chase sequence.

[Silver Nemesis]

Worldwide box office now stands at $940,892,078, which means it's already surpassed BvS.

Cap 3 should hit one billion within the next week. And that will make it the first film of 2016 to join the 10-figure club. The MCU has now grossed over $10 billion, cementing its status as the highest grossing film franchise of all time (unadjusted for inflation).

[The Dark Knight]

Best of luck to them. Marvel clearly have a plan that works.

[johnnygobbs]

Worldwide box office now stands at $940,892,078, which means it's already surpassed BvS.

Cap 3 should hit one billion within the next week. And that will make it the first film of 2016 to join the 10-figure club. The MCU has now grossed over $10 billion, cementing its status as the highest grossing film franchise of all time (unadjusted for inflation).

That's a very funny graphic.  But I do wish DC would get its act together.  They have such great characters, and Burton's Batman, Donner's Superman, TDK trilogy and, best of all, the DC animated universe, have demonstrated that it is possible to make entertaining and enjoyable films/TV shows out of these characters.

[riddler]

What I find hilarious

Originally when the date for civil war was set, it wasn't announced to be a civil war film, it was tentatively known as 'captain america 3'. DC set BvS to release on the same day in a bully tactic. Marvel didn't budge and many people pointed out DC is taking the bigger risk because Marvel could afford having a film underperform whereas DC had everything riding on BvS so DC bumped up their start date.

Marvel did better anyhow. Imagine how bad things would have been for DC had they let the two films compete with each other (or Marvel retaliated and bumped up their start date as some suggested?)

[Silver Nemesis]

Cap 3 will be Robert Downey Jr's fourth consecutive outing as Iron Man to gross over $1 billion. Is it any wonder he's the highest (over)paid actor in Hollywood?

I have my doubts this trend will continue with Spider-Man: Homecoming, but you never know. Raimi's movies grossed insane amounts, and they did it without the added revenue from 3D ticket sales. If Homecoming can recapture that level of audience interest, then it should do extremely well.

Marvel did better anyhow. Imagine how bad things would have been for DC had they let the two films compete with each other (or Marvel retaliated and bumped up their start date as some suggested?)

It would've been a massacre. WB did the smart thing by moving.