Shattered Alliance: Regarding Captain America - Civil War

It never made much sense to me that Captain America and Iron Man would be anything more than work buddies. Tony Stark is the rich kid that has never known anything but a life of luxury, full of swagger and style that would put off someone that literally grew up alone and sickly during the Great Depression in a big way. Even in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the two briefly came to blows in Age of Ultron and very nearly did so as early as their first team-up in The Avengers all those years ago; Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are on the same team and work towards the same goals but go about it in very different ways.

Right around the time Man of Steel came out, audiences were growing weary of seeing populated metropolises being caught in the crossfire of super-powered action, the novelty of watching skyscrapers tumble had quickly worn off in a world of increasing consequence.

And consequence really is the name of the game here. After watching the intelligence agency he helped found become a front for shadow extremists, Steve can't bring himself to trust the bureaucracy ever again; he believes his safest hands are his own. There is a dangerous, stubborn arrogance to that but it's Captain America so he more than gets the benefit of the doubt. Meanwhile, a recent break-up with longtime girlfriend Pepper Potts has forced Tony Stark to come to terms with the guilt of being responsible for Ultron. The man that once proudly announced he had privatized world peace now realizes the importance of oversight after a lifetime of recklessness. After a tragedy in Lagos, these two opposing viewpoints find themselves on a collision course that turns very personal and very ugly very quickly. It was easier when Cap's ideals pit him against HYDRA and their plot to kill millions; this time Cap is facing down friends that disagree with him on how heroism works.

I like that Cap brought his own Nalgene bottle to a meeting where he gets dressed down.

Civil War is a tragedy of timing for Earth's Mightiest Heroes; at any point if the timing was different, maybe Steve and Tony could've sat down and compromised instead of coming out swinging. Maybe if Tony Stark wasn't confronted by a grieving mother. Maybe if Peggy Carter hadn't died in the midst of the UN vote hardening Steve's resolve. Maybe if Steve and Sam Wilson had tracked down Bucky Barnes before Interpol were right at their heels. Maybe if Tony had worded Wanda Maximoff being confined at the Avengers compound a bit better. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

At the end of the day, "maybe" doesn't matter; hypotheticals are just that: hypotheticals. All that matters is what is. Daniel Bruhl's Helmut Zemo may have orchestrated the UN bombing killing T'Challa's father and framing it all on the Winter Soldier but all the fissures within the Avengers were already there, all he had to do was give it a little push. Throw in the debut of Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther and Marvel finally regaining [partial] cinematic rights to Spider-Man and the battle lines were set.

They always have such cool jackets.

Of all the MCU movies leading to Infinity War, Civil War may have the most impact; the film that divides Earth's first line of defense at the worst possible moment before the planet faces its greatest threat. A tragedy of timing. Good thing Ant-Man and Spider-Man are around to balance things out with a well-timed quip otherwise this flick could've felt like a slog. A comedic spoonful of sugar to help the bitter medicine of superhero breakups go down. And the thing is, the filmmakers know when to pull back and when to hit hard (Could do without the augmented reality flashback of Tony's mom singing Jerry Orbach though). The airport fight closing the movie's second act is this effusive dust-up with all that pent-up aggression finally out in the open; it's the premise the movie was sold on so we never want it to end...until things escalate and the theme of consequence returns front and center when Tony's best friend Jim Rhodes pays the price. In a bid to save his best friend, Steve Rogers nearly costs Tony Stark his.

For all the bickering and fisticuffs, this is the moment where the Avengers actually fractured.

The other side of that is the final showdown that has Steve and Bucky fight Tony in an abandoned Siberian bunker and it all stems from probably the most selfish decision Steve has ever made: After learning that a brainwashed Bucky personally killed both of Tony's parents, Steve tries to keep it all a secret from the Iron Avenger until Zemo puts it all out in the open and when Tony learns that Cap knew all along? Before the Avengers' split was one of ideological difference; now, all Tony sees when he looks at Bucky and Steve is the man that killed his parents and the man that tried to cover it all up and Tony is seeing crimson. We never want the airport fight to end because it's the [relatively] consequence free brawl we're used to in superhero fare. The fight in the bunker just as Steve and Tony are about to mend fences is a heartbreaker, one we didn't want to take place.

I got a call from my dad after he saw Civil War, genuine concern in his voice if Captain America and Iron Man could ever be friends again. I hesitated to answer: Captain American and Iron Man can (and will) put aside their differences in the face of an even greater threat, especially one that's been openly teased for the last six years. Time does indeed heal all wounds but I've got more than enough scar tissue to know that all doesn't happen as neatly as we'd like. The ideological difference between Tony and Steve will never resolve as it currently stands. But Steve knows he made a big mistake on a personal level, something he did in the name of friendship that led to consequences he would never have imagined. But if his old friend needs him, no matter what, he'll be there.