It’s pretty much guaranteed that Captain America: Civil War is going to be a massive financial success. The draw of two teams of Avengers characters fighting against each other – led by Captain America and Iron Man, no less (and the fact that they’re going to be joined by Spider-Man for the first time) – is obviously huge, but that doesn’t guarantee that it’s going to be a great movie.
Don’t get us wrong, Marvel Studios has hardly made any missteps since the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicked off with Iron Man in 2008, but they aren’t perfect.
In order for Captain America: Civil War to be as good as everyone is undoubtedly hoping it’s going to be, it needs to fulfill certain criteria, ten of which are covered here.
Managing the massive cast
The cast of characters in Captain America: Civil War is absolutely huge. It’s so huge that it’s actually quite unprecedented. The showcased heroes include 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 – and that’s just for starters.
Villains will come in the form of Baron Zemo and Crossbones – adding spice to an already epic conflict – and that’s still not everyone.
General Ross, Everett Ross, and the recently confirmed Pepper Potts will all appear too. If Marvel Studios wants to make this film great, this cast has to be managed accordingly.
Everyone needs screen time, but trying to give everyone lots of it could prove difficult and make the movie seem crammed.
It needs to be better than Batman v Superman and Deadpool
Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have a reputation to uphold – that is, they produce the best comic book movies in the world right now. With Fox’s Deadpool already a box office smash this year, and DC/Warner Brothers’ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice set to be released at the end of March, Marvel could have a rivalry.
It needs to be better than both of those movies. How will it ever be considered great if it’s only considered to be the second or third best comic book movie of the year, especially when the year will only be five months old?
The MCU finally has some serious competition, and if it wants to remain top dog, it needs to rise to the challenge.
Whether or not it can do it – given how good Deadpool was and how good Batman v Superman looks – is another story entirely.
An improvement on The Avengers
While 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron was an entertaining and hugely successful movie, it couldn’t beat its predecessor – 2012’s The Avengers – in a critical or financial sense. Sadly, that meant it was something of a disappointment to some people.
Given that Captain America: Civil War is being seen by many as Avengers: 2.5, it will be judged as such, so it needs to be better than both Avengers: Age of Ultron and The Avengers in every way.
A better story, more action, more memorable moments, and, crucially, a bigger worldwide gross will all be necessary for this movie to be considered great.
Not only that, but it is also the official follow-up to the brilliant Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which gives it even more to live up to.
A great villain
To date, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s villains have been a weak aspect of its movies. Loki and, maybe Ultron, aside, the franchise’s antagonists have been very poor. The likes of Aldrich Killian/the Mandarin, Malekith, and Ronan have been poorly developed and very vanilla.
In addition to the fight between the two teams of heroes, Captain America: Civil War will also feature some villains – most notably Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl) and Crossbones (Frank Grillo).
The fact that this movie has so much else going for it doesn’t negate the fact that these villains need to be decent. Crossbones already has some development after Brock Rumlow appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but Baron Zemo – an iconic Marvel comic book villain – is new to the big screen. Hopefully he won’t be terrible.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will feature Lex Luthor and Doomsday. Zemo and Crossbones have a job to do to compete with those guys.
A key death
After seven years of Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron finally seemed to kill off a major character permanently. It was Quicksilver and, that being said, there are rumors that even he could return. In general, however, Marvel Studios has lacked the balls to permanently kill off popular major characters.
The likes of Thor, Loki, Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, and Tony Stark have all appeared to die on screen, only to be resurrected later, either in the same movie or in other media later on.
Captain America: Civil War is an all-out battle between two teams of super-powered heroes – somebody HAS to die. This would show that Marvel Studios has the guts to break precedent and take risks – and that’s what makes a good movie.
The likes of Scarlet Witch, War Machine, and even Captain America himself have all been rumored to be potential victims. Let’s wait and see if one of them perishes.
A definitive winner
The most anti-climactic thing that could possibly happen in Captain America: Civil War would be to have neither team definitively win. It would seem like such a cop-out and such a waste of a great concept if it ends as a draw or has no definitive outcome.
Granted, both teams will need to reunite in order to combat Thanos in the Avengers: Infinity War movies (and, potentially, to defeat Baron Zemo in Civil War). But let them settle their differences properly in this movie first, for goodness sake.
We’re hard-pressed to pick a winner – Captain America is the titular character of the movie and Iron Man is the flagship character of the franchise, so it’s hard to see either losing – but Marvel Studios must have one in place.
It might leave some fans upset, but it will make the movie a much better and more meaningful endeavor if someone wins outright.
A link to the Infinity War movies
It’s difficult to see exactly how Captain America: Civil War could possibly link to the Avengers: Infinity War movies. The 2016 offering is very much Earth-based, while the two-part 2018 and 2019 movies will trouble the entire universe.
However, Captain America actor Chris Evans has stated that this movie will indeed provide the jump into the massive cosmic event – and linking it to what promises to be by far the biggest event in comic book movie history can only be good for it.
Teasing the coming of Thanos and the catastrophic events that could accompany him will make audiences leave with huge smiles on their faces – and have them champing at the bit for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
How exactly that will be done in this movie remains to be seen.
The action should be absolutely epic
While there won’t be any mass alien invasions or entire cities heading skyward, the action in Captain America: Civil War needs to be absolutely epic.
Really, this goes without saying, but the fact is that the battle scenes – particularly the ones between the two teams of heroes – should surpass everything seen in any comic book movie to date.
Explosions, a vast array of superpowers, acrobatics, severe injuries, and even deaths should all occur en masse and make things like the Battle of New York in The Avengers, the Battle of Xandar in Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Battle of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron look small-time in comparison.
Whether or not the Russo Brothers can pull that off remains to be seen, but we’re certainly hopeful!
A big impact by Spider-Man
Let’s be honest; as epic as the events of Captain America: Civil War may be, and as huge in scale as the battle might be, the one thing that audiences are really looking forward to seeing is the debut of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Tom Holland will portray the Webbed Wonder – who has, thus far, only appeared on the big screen in Sony-distributed solo movies – and fans will be extremely disappointed if his appearance amounts to nothing more than a mere cameo.
He is expected to side with Iron Man and at least have one fight scene in the movie – though whether he will switch sides as he did in the comic book that this movie is loosely based on remains to be seen.
Either way, if he’s only on screen for a couple of minutes, fans aren’t going to leave happy and the movie as a whole will be judged on that basis.
It needs to matter
Most importantly, the events of Captain America: Civil War need to matter in terms of the bigger picture of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is nothing worse than a major movie event being followed by a sequel that barely acknowledges it or isn’t impacted by it in a major way.
The Civil War is a huge event. The ramifications of it should be felt among the ranks of the Avengers for years to come. As much as the heroes will need to re-form to face Thanos, the cracks need to still be there for this movie to matter – the Avengers should potentially never trust each other again.
That’s what will truly make this a good movie – its potential impact on potentially every other movie that comes after it – and surely that will be the case.
It will be a shame to see Steve Rogers, Tony Stark and company on edge for the entirety of their MCU futures, but that’s how it should be after this.
What do you think? Will Captain America: Civil War be awesome? What does it need to do to be great? Have your say below!
