Captain America: Civil War review: How does it impact Infinity War?
By Mike McNulty
Credit: Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Pictures; theatrical poster for Captain America: Civil War (2016)
The last Captain America movie (and somewhat third Avengers film), this Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Civil War still remains excellent as ever.
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Two years ago, I wrote a review of Captain America: Civil War (2016) for the FanSided Network’s Spider-Man fan site, Whatever A Spider Can. As you can probably guess, it’s from a particular perspective. It’s also written from a time when, after seeing it in theaters on opening day, this third entry into the Captain America series still remained fresh within my enthusiastic brain. Not even a spiting headache caused by watching it in 3D could ruin my viewing experience.
I’ve seen Civil War several more times since then. If you saw how I ranked the Marvel Studios movies, then you may already know I still hold this movie in very high regard. So, too, do a lot of other Marvel movie fans, critics, and general audiences worldwide. After all, it’s inspired by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s hugely popular Marvel Comics limited series.
I argued at the time, and I still do, that what Anthony and Joe Russo made was a film which surpassed its original comic book roots in nearly every respect. The question of registering the Avengers and “enhanced humans” had an international scope. The central conflict naturally grew from what happened in previous films. It was also far more personal, with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Shaw) as a catalyst, framed for a terrorist bombing he didn’t commit. It even seamlessly throws in a Black Panther origin story and the MCU debut of Spider-Man.
Yet once again, I’m taking another look at this film with a particular perspective. With Avengers: Infinity War a mere three weeks away at the time of this writing, what impact does Civil War have on it? Given much of it takes place on Earth with little cosmic interference, does it even have any impact at all? First, however, let’s remind ourselves why the thirteenth Marvel Studios film turned out as well as it did.