We’re just a couple of months away from the release of the highly anticipated Captain America: Civil War. It’s going to be the thirteenth movie in the hugely popular and successful Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, and fans around the world can’t wait for it.
The movie’s concept is unique, as two teams of superheroes will fight each other over their opposing views in regard to the Sokovia Accords – a legislative bill that requires superheroes to register as such, so their actions can be controlled and monitored by the government.
Captain America will lead one team, Iron Man the other, and the likelihood is that it will be epic. But what if it actually ends up being disappointing. Here are ten reasons why that might actually turn out to be the case for some fans.
If you’re expecting the comic book story…
Captain America: Civil War is, of course, loosely based on the Civil War comic book story arc that was featured in Marvel Comics back in 2006, with “loosely” being the operative word.
That event was much, much larger in scale than the movie is going to be, so if you’ve read the comic – and enjoyed it – and are now expecting the movie to be as epic and sweeping in scope as the events in the comic, you may be sorely disappointed.
Captain America: Civil War will be a much more intimate affair, with much, much smaller teams fighting for superhero supremacy. Just about every hero in Marvel’s comic books was involved in the comic book version, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s cast of characters is simply nowhere near as big.
There could also be a problem with the plausibility of this battle even taking place.
It might not be believable
The problem with this Civil War occurring at this stage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that it might not be believable. What we mean by that isn’t the fact that there will be fantastic superpowers on show that aren’t “realistic” – we simply mean that the feud between these friends might not make much sense at this stage.
The last time we saw the Avengers together – in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron – they were the best of friends. Even Tony Stark and Steve Rogers were starting to genuinely like each other, so for them to want to go to war with each other so abruptly is a little out of the blue.
A violent feud should have been hinted at for a longer period of time for it to be believable. Sure, the Avengers have bickered among themselves, but not to the point of wanting to kill each other. There’s a very real risk of the feud not seeming authentic.
And then there’s the possibility of linking it to a future movie.
Is it just a platform for Avengers: Infinity War?
Given the cosmic scale of the upcoming battle in the two Avengers: Infinity War movies (in 2018 and 2019, respectively), it’s hard to see exactly how Captain America: Civil War – a totally Earth-based movie, with Earth-based characters – could possibly fit into it. However, Captain America actor Chris Evans has claimed that it will provide the jump-off into it.
How is that the case? These are unrelated events, and to use this opportunity for a creating a brilliant movie like Civil War just to provide a platform for an unrelated future movie seems like it could backfire.
Hopefully, Captain America: Civil War will focus on itself, rather than on an unrelated future event, if only to avoid disappointing the fans.
And then there’s the chance that it could be outshone by another movie.
Batman v Superman might blow it out of the water
Originally, Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice were due to be released at the same time. However, Warner Brothers decided to bring the latter’s release forward by two months. Many people saw this as a move instigated by fear, but it could have actually been a masterstroke by the people behind the DC movie.
If Batman v Superman is as good as we all hope it’s going to be, it will set a standard that Captain America: Civil War will have to live up to – and it might be quite a struggle to accomplish that.
If fans watch Civil War following a major high from seeing Batman v Superman, it could end up being a huge disappointment in comparison. Of course, as comic book movie fans, we all hope that both movies are fantastic.
And now, a little bit about the bad guy…
Another bit-part villain
The Marvel Cinematic Universe may be a phenomenally popular movie franchise, but it undoubtedly has its faults, one of them being that its villains have largely been very poor.
The likes of Loki and Ultron aside, the majority of the bad guys have disappointed. The Mandarin/Aldrich Killian, Malekith, Ronan, and Baron Strucker, for example, were all terrible and underdeveloped. With so much going on in Captain America: Civil War, there’s a fear that the same thing could happen with Baron Zemo.
Daniel Brühl portrays the villain, but nobody has any idea about what role he’ll have. He hasn’t been seen in any promotional material, and the worry is that he’ll be wasted like Baron Strucker was in Avengers: Age of Ultron. As such a huge character in the comic books, that would be a real shame.
And now, on to the movie’s tone…
A lack of humor
One thing the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become known for is its humor. To date, the movies in the franchise have all had light-hearted elements, including lots of laughs – but this movie could be different, which could disappoint fans as a result.
Granted, the likes of Iron Man and Ant-Man – characters known for being witty and funny – are in the movie, but you get the impression from the trailers that even they will be forced to get serious.
If fans go into this movie hoping for some belly laughs and a warm fuzzy feeling inside, they could be shocked by its potentially serious and dire tone – something far more strongly associated with DC’s movies, i.e., Batman and others.
And now, on to how the movie’s outcome could disappoint people…
Someone has to lose
As far as fans are concerned, the feel-good factor of any comic book movie comes from the usually inevitable final victory, as achieved by their favorite heroes. In Captain America: Civil War, for some fans at least, that won’t happen.
With two teams of heroes set to duke it out with each other, one team will have to lose. Will it be Captain America’s? Will it be Iron Man’s? That we don’t yet know, but one large section of the Marvel Cinematic Universe fan base is going to be disappointed with the outcome.
It’s tough to imagine either team losing – Captain America is the titular character and Iron Man is the franchise’s flagship character – but you have to believe that one of them will come out of this movie with a loss to his name.
Speaking of loss…
Too many deaths
To date, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been accused of lacking the guts to kill off its major characters. The likes of Loki, Thor, Nick Fury, and Phil Coulson have all appeared to die, only to reappear alive and well in some capacity later on.
Captain America: Civil War seems like the ideal opportunity to rectify that. An all-out brawl between superheroes would surely result in some deaths – but what happens if Marvel Studios takes it a step too far?
A key death would be welcome – audiences need to know what Marvel Studios is prepared to do, as it will keep them on the edges of their seats in future – but with everyone from War Machine and Scarlet Witch, to Hawkeye and Captain America himself rumored to be meeting their demise in this movie, it could be too much for fans if that is indeed the case.
Regarding the aforementioned characters and their fellow cast members, there really are a lot of them in this movie…
Too much cramming
Let’s face it, the cast of Captain America: Civil War is absolutely huge – but is it actually too big? The probable answer to that question is “yes”, and that could leave some fans disappointed.
Captain America, Iron Man, Vision, War Machine, Falcon, the Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Sharon Carter are the heroes on show – but they aren’t the only characters in the movie by any stretch of the imagination.
Villains Baron Zemo and Crossbones will also be make appearances, while General Ross, Everett Ross, and the recently confirmed Pepper Potts will all appear, too. The screen time of some popular characters will have to be sacrificed as a result.
Speaking of which…
Spider-Man in a glorified cameo
One of the most exciting things about Captain America: Civil War is the fact that it will be the first appearance of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Young British actor Tom Holland will portray the Webbed Wonder in what will be his debut away from solo outings (having previously been portrayed by both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in Sony-distributed movies).
But nobody knows exactly what his role will be. Spider-Man has been completely left out of all promotional material for the movie, and that has led some people to believe that his appearance might be reduced to nothing more than a glorified cameo.
After all of the excitement surround this character’s inclusion, that would be hugely disappointing for the fans who paid to see him.
What do you think? After all the hype, is there a chance that Captain America: Civil War might disappoint? Or is it a guaranteed success? Have your say below!
