Captain America: Civil War
If there’s been a recurring theme of this column lately, it’s the steady presence of Marvel films releasing in late April and early May. That status quo doesn’t change much this week with a brief recollection of this middle-act, quasi-cliffhanger in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which was technically the third film in Captain America‘s trilogy but ultimately served as the bridge between the first and last two Avengers films with the original casts.
Civil War united, for lack of a better word, most of the then-current Avenger characters (sans Thor and Hulk) — only to see a fallout brew over the political and human consequences of the actions taken by Earth’s Mightiest Heroes over the years. Robert Downey, Jr., of course, was a major draw here, but Chris Evans remained the technical star of the film as his Steve Rogers reached an existential crossroads over how far he was willing to go in satisfying the world’s ability to control superheroes while still honoring his ideals of freedom and the desire to serve humanity.
The divide between Rogers and Tony Stark, of course, became a major plot point (mirroring its source comic material) for the franchise and had numerous ramifications on the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame in the years after.
