Captain America: Civil War

I guess I'm a bit (more than a bit) of a dork because I was looking forward to this one. I actually completely nerded out and saw this before noon on the first day it came out. To bring up the dork level even higher, I will admit that when I was a kid, Captain America was one of my favorite heroes and that series was not only the first Marvel series I read, but also the first I started to collect.

Now although this was called a Captain America movie, it might as well have been an Avengers movie. In fact I might go and say it had more of a real Avengers feel than the ones that were supposed to be Avengers movies. 

First off, get the Hulk the hell out of any Avenger movie. He was in the first four issues back in, what, the sixties? Let it go people. 

Secondly, yes, Thor is a member of the Avengers so I can deal with it, but he was not there more often than he was. The Avengers were often struggling against the craziest of villains with just a handful of heroes, none of which was more powerful than Cap.

So let's start with some good things. Who is more upstanding than the Captain? He's the all-American guy. So what does this movie do? Makes him into all but a criminal because he decides to pursue what he thinks is right at all costs. Hat off for going there. In this era where standing up for what you believe in could get you jailed and bucking the system (pun intended) will get you fined, beat up, and tossed in prison, to have a guy who’s name is Captain America taking the anarchy road, well that’s just flipping awesome.

So Cap represents the guy not sacrificing his morals and risking it all to do what he knows is right and Iron Man is the mega-rich billionaire sucking up to the government and the interests of the corporations who back the establishment and status quo. Frankly, I'm amazed the corps allowed a mainstream movie to come out like this. Although they probably assume that most Americas won't get it or care even if they do. Still, they took a risk and I commend them. That is what good writing is all about.

It was exciting to see Black Panther, which again made it seem more like an Avenger's film. Funny how they all have bullet proof armor these days, which makes sense because it would be a shame for one loser with a lucky shot to take one of these men out. Still, I remember reading a Black Panther comics when I was in second grade and seeing his costume torn and going through agony because he was lashed to a cactus.

I didn't mention it before, but Scarlet Witch is fantastic. I always loved her character. It's so nice to see her and Vision in these movies instead of the Hulk.

Either you like these movies or you don't. I'll be grading this as a super hero movie and as such it was superb. It would have gotten five stars save for one issue.... I am sure you saw the ads so it will not ruin it to address the battle between the heroes. For some reason the Vision was present, but was not in any of the fight scenes. I guess I know why, because his side would have won in about a minute if he'd been involved. Nevertheless, it would have been better to figure out a reason he couldn't be there, instead of him off having a smoke or something.

The first X-men was pretty good and I loved the scene in the first Spiderman movie where the New Yorkers threw lunch boxes at the Green Goblin, but overall, this movie is my favorite so far.