YMMV / Captain America: Civil War

Items A to J

• Abandon Shipping: The interactions between Tony and Steve in this movie make it clear that, when it comes down to it, Steve would always side with Bucky. The relationship between them took a big hit, platonic or not.
• Adorkable: The very dorky Ant-Man geeks out over being deemed important enough to serve alongside Captain America, stumbling over his words when telling Cap how much it means to him. And, as is appropriate for a 15-year-old kid science geek/amateur hero meeting Tony Stark, young Peter Parker is a fumbly, awkward, stumbly child.
  Ant-Man: I'm shaking your hand too long!
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Because of the story's government versus anti-government plot, people were already politicizing the story and thus the characters since it was announced. Following Cap's actions in The Winter Soldier (in which he entirely shut down a government agency when half of it proved corrupt and the other half inept to stop it), MCU Cap has already been branded a hardcore libertarian icon.
  • The initial trailers implied that Tony was fighting against Steve simply over different approaches to heroism, while the film shows that they really come to blows over Bucky. Regardless, it's disputed whether their conflict was also fueled by whatever grudges the two have had since the first Avengers flick.
  • A lot of the parts revolving around Bucky have this trope in-universe as well as out. Steve believes Bucky is an innocent victim while others see him as dangerous due to his brainwashing, which can be activated by anyone who knows the proper trigger phrase.
  • Sebastian Stan has suggested that Bucky is lying when he says he remembers killing Tony's parents, because he would rather tell Tony what he wants to hear in order to make his death as quick as possible. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, though, established that Bucky wasn't lying.
  • Iron Man's morality can certainly be called into question.
    • Is Tony supporting the Accords for good reasons, or is it out of remorse over the Sokovia incident and his confrontation with Miriam Sharpe made him overly fearful and guilty?
    • Tony's ties to Spider-Man. Is Tony trying to help an Ascended Fanboy make a difference in the world with his powers, or is he simply trying to exploit the abilities of a Naïve Newcomer for the sole purpose of advancing his own goals? Furthermore, the fact that Peter Parker is a minor being brought into the conflict and that Spider-Man: Homecoming reveals that Tony didn't explain what was going on, only claiming that Cap had "gone crazy" (at least, that's how Peter interpreted it), also raise a completely different set of questions about Tony's moral compass. Additionally, given that Clint and Scott are fathers, and Steve and Sam are Nice Guys, they would all hold back against a kid where they wouldn't against an adult (Steve in particular is clearly holding back when they fight). If that was part of Tony's calculations, it would be a clever and very ruthless strategic move.
  • Is Vision keeping Wanda company because he genuinely cares about her, or is he just following Tony's orders to make sure she stays put? A flashback in the eighth episode of WandaVision where Vision provides emotional support to Wanda between Age of Ultron and Civil War hints towards the possibility of the former. And is Tony trying to keep Wanda in the Avengers headquarters because it's for her own good, considering that he's risked his reputation, business, and fortune to keep a visaless and stateless^note as revealed by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier foreign national who had accidentally killed eleven people safe from various governments? Or is it because he's scared of her and her powers given the rampage Hulk went on when he last encountered her? The fact that neither Vision nor Tony are doing anything to help a clearly distressed Wanda in captivity towards the end of the film muddies this even more, though the fact that Vision and Wanda do become lovers between this movie and Infinity War mitigates things a little bit for Vision.
  • Is Helmut Zemo an Anti-Villain whose actions are somewhat justified and even somewhat tragic? Or is he a Manipulative Bastard who wants to see the Avengers' destruction, and gladly crosses the Moral Event Horizon in order to see it happen? This incarnation of him doesn't seem to care about HYDRA, saying that they deserved to be taken down. All he cares about is to avenge the death of his family who perished during the Battle of Sokovia, for which The Avengers are partly responsible, and when finally accomplishing that, clearly has no plans to do anything else and prepares to commit suicide. Further complicating this is the fact that T'Challa/Black Panther is Pro-Reg not because of any moral stance, but simply because he wanted a chance to kill Bucky - and actually admits that he is similar; he would have killed an innocent man out of misplaced vengeance if circumstances had been otherwise. Zemo even admits to T'Challa that he feels sorry about causing his father's death during the bombing in Vienna.
  • Is Black Widow's decision to betray Iron Man's team and let Steve and Bucky escape because she honestly thinks Steve is in the right while Tony is mostly motivated by his own ego and flawed logic? Or is her allegiance biased herself because she's always had a closer relationship with Steve than Tony, considering what they had gone through together in Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Natasha's also established in the beginning of the film that she supports Tony's decision to sign the Sokovia Accords but she also tries her hardest to convince Steve to change his mind without being too antagonistic, so the reason she lets him go at the airport might be because she really doesn't want to bring him in. And finally, at the ending of the film, she goes into hiding and carries out the events of her solo movie when the government agents come to arrest her, but leaves her other compatriots behind to be imprisoned in The Raft until Steve breaks them out. Is this the sign of the "doing whatever it takes to survive, even by playing both sides" mindset that Tony accuses her of, or because she genuinely cannot find a way to break them out on her own, considering the nature of the prison itself? Or was her decision because she knows all too well what the Winter Soldier really is (since Natasha was similarly used as a tool and living weapon by nasty people), so she is actually more or less neutral in the whole conflict and willing to see that both sides have very good reasons for their actions? Hawkeye probably did something similar for her way back when, and saved her from possible execution or a life sentence in jail. So is she acting out of loyalty to both Steve and Clint, and out of sympathy for Bucky, while still agreeing with Tony's point that there needs to be safeguards against people like her?
  • Is Steve really fighting the Accords because he genuinely thinks that the Accords are wrong? Or is he fighting against them for more personal reasons that he can't, or won't, admit to himself?
  • Is Steve using Sharon Carter as a Replacement Goldfish for her aunt Peggy? His interest in her does seem to increase once he finds out Sharon's parentage, and as his dedication to Bucky throughout shows, Steve tries to hold on to whatever he can from the past. Steve's characterization in Avengers: Endgame adds a lot of evidence to this interpretation. Even seven years after Peggy's death, he's still deeply in love with her, to the point that he'd rather return to the past just to be with her. In addition, a deleted scene from Endgame would have featured Steve living with Sharon after the Snap in what's supposed to be an unhappy relationship.
  • Did Steve leave his shield behind because he agreed with Tony's claims that he didn't deserve it or as a bitter "are you happy now?" gesture? The Russos claim that it's the latter.
  • Considering that in Black Panther, T'Challa let Killmonger die on his own terms (albeit after offering Erik medical treatment), is his decision to not only spare Zemo but prevent him from killing himself more proof that he's gotten over his desire for vengeance, or an act of Cruel Mercy?
  • To what extent is Steve's status as The Paragon an Informed Attribute in this movie? Is his motivation for not signing the Accords—that he can't stand by when he has the power to stop something—a moral imperative stemming from his WWII roots, or is it a run-of-the-mill American "we know what's best for the rest of the world" mentality that ignores the collateral damage the Avengers have created and the possibility that other countries might prefer to look for less destructive solutions to problems that the Avengers have historically dealt with violently? Is his decision to pull Bucky out of the anonymous life he was trying to live, only to throw him into the middle of an intra-Avengers feud, because he really thinks that's what's best for Bucky, or is it just because he wants Bucky to be his best friend again? Is Steve's desire to keep Bucky from facing accountability for anything he did as the Winter Soldier based on a broad belief that people aren't culpable for things they do while they're brainwashed or because he doesn't want his friend to go to prison? To what extent is he disregarding the safety of others by keeping Bucky out in the world and off the radar when he can still be activated by anyone who knows the trigger words? And does the fact that real-world brainwashing exists and people are usually held accountable for the things they do while brainwashed cast Steve's actions in a worse light? Did he leave the rest of his team at the airport to get arrested because that was the only way to beat Zemo to the other Winter Soldiers or was he just using them as cannon fodder to slow down Tony's team so they wouldn't get to Bucky? Did he lie to Tony because he really thought it would be better for Tony if he didn't know the truth, because he was worried that Tony would flip out and go nuclear on Bucky if he even thought the latter might be involved in his parents' death, or to spare himself from thinking about the real-world consequences of Bucky's actions and to protect Bucky (this one is lampshaded in-universe)?
  • Tony claims he has no idea Team Cap would end up in the Raft. Was he just saying this? Or did he genuinely not realize it? If the latter, is it because he thought the government would let him keep custody of them, or is it because he didn't consider the consequences of the fight at all?
• Anti-Climax Boss: Intentional. When Zemo threatens to "topple an empire", the Avengers assume he intends to use the team of super-serum soldiers just like the Winter Soldier to overthrow an organization or something in the same vein. Turns out the "Empire" he was talking about were the Avengers themselves, but he doesn't want to fight them head-on as he knows he doesn't have the power to, so he instead manipulates events so that he appears to be attempting to create a One World Order and planting breadcrumb trails for both Steve and Tony to find (in a manner that would ensure they find out at different points), feeding dissension from within rather than attacking the Avengers directly, so that when his plan comes together the Avengers nearly destroy themselves. As for the soldiers themselves, he shoots them all in the head because he doesn't need more super soldiers around with a reason to fight him.
• Ass Pull: How Tony Stark knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, much less where he lives, is never explained. The writers explained it in a later interview: Tony has been using his vast resources to keep tabs on the various metahumans and vigilantes that have been popping up. While this is slightly implied in the context of the movie itself, it doesn't make Spidey's entrance into the plot any less sudden and unexplained.
• Award Snub: After Captain America: The Winter Soldier became the first Captain America-based movie to earn an Academy Award nomination, Disney gave Civil War the largest "For Your Consideration..." campaign yet for Cap's series. Unfortunately, it failed to persuade the Academy to nominate it for anything. Also surprising, Civil War ended up receiving less Oscar recognition than the less-beloved Suicide Squad from the same year (which won an Academy Award for Best Makeup), then went on to become the Russos' only Infinity Saga movie with zero Oscar nominations.
• Base-Breaking Character: Zemo. Some say he's another generic, forgettable Marvel villain with a convoluted, nonsensical plan, some say he's one of the best in the franchise with more sympathetic motivations than other villains in the series. The differences from the comics version as well is also a point of contention.
• Broken Base:
  • Who was right regarding the Accords? Captain America or Iron Man? The debate continues to rage on ferociously to this day, and completely intentionally so. According to the directors on the DVD commentary, the film went through several test screenings and the final cut was chosen for causing the test audience to divide between Team Cap and Team Stark 50/50. Its tagline even says: Whose side are you on?
  • The choice to make the conclusion of the Captain America trilogy a Civil War adaptation rather than a solo movie that focused squarely on Cap and his entourage. Especially given that by this point in time, Tony Stark was becoming a massive Base-Breaking Character in the fandom. This means that fans of Tony^note Who, per Robert Downey Jr.'s contract, was mandated to have the most spoken dialogue, over even Steve or the other heroes making guest appearances were overjoyed, especially they each get their own Moment of Awesome, while fans of Captain America and his primary supporting cast were understandably miffed at all these other characters taking up screentime for what was Steve's last solo outing.
  • Zemo's plan is a big one. For a lot of people his plan made no sense at all, relied heavily on luck and chance, and only worked because everything was handed to him. Others however follow the plan easily once it all comes together, and find that he did a lot of hard work piecing the different aspects all together to make it work, taking advantage of coincidental things others wouldn't think to use. A third group find that its true his plan was messy and convoluted, and was indeed based on lucky breaks, but he was charismatic enough that the film worked anyway (and give him the benefit of the doubt by presuming he probably had backup plans to ensure he got the outcome he wanted).
  • Was it a smart decision to stay faithful to the Civil War storyline from the comics, with Tony supporting the Registration Act and Steve opposing it, or would it have been more believable to reverse their roles instead? Some fans and critics feel that it would have made more sense for Tony to be against registration, since he's spent so much time opposing government bureaucracy and fighting for the right to decide how his technology is used; likewise, they think that Steve should have supported registration, partly because he's a veteran soldier who believes in serving a higher cause, and partly because he's a working-class "Man of the People" who believes that superheroes have an obligation to help the masses. Others, however, believe that both men have had enough Character Development since the first Avengers movie to make their roles believable, with Tony seeing one of his inventions grow beyond his control, and Steve uncovering a massive government conspiracy within the ranks of S.H.I.E.L.D. After all they've gone through together, some people feel that it makes perfect sense that Tony would become more willing to submit to authority, with Steve becoming more willing to question it.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: The Winter Soldier killed Tony Stark's parents. Not only is the car crash shown at the very beginning, but it's unlikely that Zemo would go to such lengths over any random car crash. However, the video of Bucky graphically beating Howard Stark to death was still unexpected and emotional.
• Common Knowledge:
  • Everyone assumes that Steve knew that Bucky was responsible for the Starks' deaths and deliberately withheld that information from Tony. While he knew that HYDRA was behind the "car crash" (and whether he should have told Tony is a very hotly debated issue), HYDRA has lots of assassins, and he had no way of knowing for sure that the Winter Soldier was the one behind it.
  • Many fans believe that the central conflict of the movie is over the Sokovia Accords and that is indeed how the movie was marketed and is an important plot point; however, the actual conflict is really over the fate of Bucky Barnes and the question of his guilt or innocence as exploited by Zemo, with the Accords simply adding to and framing the tensions.
• Complete Monster:
  • Brock Rumlow is a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative who is really a member of HYDRA. As a STRIKE commander, Rumlow happily killed HYDRA's enemies for years. When Captain America exposes HYDRA's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., Rumlow personally activates Project Insight, a trio of Helicarriers designed to kill millions of people who may threaten HYDRA's power, before killing several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the chaos. Barely surviving the battle and becoming severely disfigured, Rumlow abandoned his loyalties to HYDRA and became the Arms Dealer Crossbones, killing rival dealers and attacking several police stations. He then attacks the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Lagos, killing everyone inside and stealing a dangerous bioweapon. When stopped by Captain America, Rumlow sets off a suicide bomb, hoping to kill Cap and the numerous people nearby as revenge for his disfigurement.
  • Junior Novel, by Chris Wyatt: Brock Rumlow, aka Crossbones, is a mercenary member of HYDRA who participated in the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. In search of a payday, Rumlow attacks the Institute for Infectious Disease in Lagos and steals a deadly virus, which is noted to threaten millions in the wrong hands. Alongside one of his mercenaries being willing to break the virus and threaten a global pandemic when cornered, Rumlow confronts Captain America and taunts him with Bucky's memory, taking advantage of his distraction to set off a suicide vest. Though the explosion does not kill Captain America, it does kill many innocents, including eleven Wakandans.
• Contested Sequel: It is heavily debated whether this film is superior, inferior, or equal to The Winter Soldier.
• Continuity Lock-Out: This is probably the most continuity-heavy MCU film to date, to the point where it often gets described as an Avengers film rather than a Captain America film. In addition to continuing plot threads from Age of Ultron AND the previous two Captain America movies, it incorporates references to a bunch of other MCU films like Iron Man 3 and Ant-Man, and similarly gets referenced by later films like Black Panther and the MCU Spider-Man Trilogy. The Russos even said in an interview that there was an unspoken assumption that if you're going to see Civil War, you've probably already seen most of the other MCU movies anyway.
• Die for Our Ship:
  • Due to Steve's status as a Launcher of a Thousand Ships, fans have descended like a pack of wolves upon Sharon Carter or her actress as soon as word came out that Steve Rogers might have a romantic relationship, even though it was never even confirmed in that interview that it would be with her. Especially shippers of Steve/Tony and Steve/Bucky. It's not limited to slash fans, as Steve/Peggy fans are also opposed to the pairing. Even Hayley Atwell has been fueling the shipping wars. Accusation of this have been leveled for at the filmmakers for the possibility of Peggy passing away so that Steve can take off with Sharon.^{Note (spoilers)} Though Peggy is extremely elderly and that she and Steve are no longer involved anyway. And Peggy passing from old age did happen back during Ed Brubaker's run right around the time the first Captain America film came out, so if it happens it is at least based on source material and not thrown in just for the film. An interview with Emily Van Camp seemingly confirming that Cap and Sharon would have some romantic hints together only intensified the bashing, leading to shippers throwing nasty comments towards the actress herself as well.
  • At least some have been wishing for Clint's wife and kids to be killed off in the film, some of which has been to justify him getting with Black Widow, Bobbi Morse, Wanda, or one of the other women he's commonly shipped with.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Ayo, the Dora Millaje bodyguard of T'Challa's who gets up in Black Widow's face. She returns for Black Panther as well as Avengers: Infinity War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
    Ayo: Move or you will be moved.
  • Brock Rumlow becomes Crossbones in this film and serves as a One-Scene Wonder but does a mighty fine job of being Evil Is Cool.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • With Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, being films with similar concepts released within a few weeks of each other by rival comic books franchises. The fact that many early reviews of this movie contain snide references to Batman v Superman is bound to exacerbate the rivalry. Fans of that movie have especially reacted negatively to the largely favored reaction this film has gotten from critics and reviewers, some of which has resulted in Hype Backlash. It also helps the rivalry that both films feature similar villains — a non-costumed, non-powered chessmaster playing the two sides against one another because of familial issues — however, while Zemo has been largely praised for his depth, charisma and how well his plan worked, Luthor has been generally cited as one of the worst aspects of BvS. It's gotten to the point where certain fans of the former are known to be very hostile towards this film and its fans, with a lot of nitpicking involved, especially concerning Zemo.
  • There's a debate among fans within the Marvel Cinematic Universe arguing if the Marvel series by Marvel Television and Netflix are and should be canon. While a lot of fans of the latter insist it's canon despite Marvel Studios not being directly involved, the other side often take that movie to make a point as Miriam Shape's actress appearing in a different role in Luke Cage proves in their eyes Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios don't care about The Defenders.
• Fan Nickname:
  • The movie itself is often referred to as Avengers 2.5, both positively and negatively, due to featuring the entire team even though it's still primarily a Captain America movie.
  • In a similar vein with Apocalypse getting compared to Ivan Ooze, Black Panther's costume is compared to the Jungle Fury Rangers' costumes, earning him the nickname "Jungle Fury Panther Ranger".
  • "Aunt Bae" for Aunt May, who is portrayed as much younger and more attractive than her comic book counterpart.
  • "Finding Zemo", for the part when Cap and Bucky were going to Siberia to find Zemo.
• Franchise Original Sin: In this film, Peter Parker is introduced as an Ascended Fanboy of the Avengers, especially Iron Man who becomes his mentor figure, provider of his first "true" costume, and parental substitute of sorts. However, his past with Uncle Ben is still alluded to as his superhero motivation in such a way that people familiar with the Spider-mythos will understand that Uncle Ben's death is being referred to even if he isn't named. Also it would make sense that Peter wouldn't just tell his whole origin to someone he just met, even if that someone is his idol. Spider-Man: Homecoming further develops Peter and Mr. Stark's relationship but still only alludes to Uncle Ben indirectly via Aunt May's troubles. Unlike Civil War, however, Peter comes across as much more of a fanboy and Avengers-wannabe who admits to Tony that "I just wanted to be like you." Tony tells him to be worthy of the suit he gave him, which comes up in a key scene homaging a sequence from the comics... where Peter was thinking about Uncle Ben and Aunt May instead. This began to rub Spider-fans the wrong way since it seemed Uncle Ben's importance was being rather downplayed in favor of Mr. Stark. This continues in Avengers: Infinity War where Uncle Ben isn't even alluded to and Peter fights at Mr. Stark's side for much of the film. Then Peter dies in Mr. Stark's arms, saying his name. Many Spider-fans were turned off by now, comparing it to the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie where Uncle Ben dies saying Peter's name, and seeing the later scene as a weird mirror which shows Uncle Ben's virtual erasure from the MCU.
• Genius Bonus:
  • One of the benefits from eating plums is improving your memory. That might be the reason why Bucky bought them when he's in Romania.
  • Wanda’s line about not being able to control other people’s fears, only her own, is the definition of the philosophy of stoicism.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Japan seems to love this movie. This might have something to do with Spider-Man's appearance, as he's considered a national icon in Japan and is one of the most beloved superheroes there. Cap and Iron Man are also well-liked in Japan.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Tony's holo-tech being called "B.A.R.F." and him muttering "I gotta figure out a better name for it" becomes this after Spider-Man: Far From Home reveals who really created it and that the name was the worst thing Tony could've called it.
  • During the airplane fight, Natasha and Clint stop mid-fight to confirm they're still friends and this is Just Business that they are on opposing sides. Clint even seems amused about it. In seven years, they'll be fighting each other because they are friends and one of them has to sacrifice their lives to get the Soul Stone.
  • Rhodey surviving being blasted down, yet being crippled, due to his chest arc reactor being destroyed becomes this after the Free Comic Book Day issue of Civil War II was released the day after the movie got released in the US, as Rhodey is killed by getting smashed in the chest by Thanos.
  • "Congratulations Cap, you're a criminal." and Cap taking a stand against registration in this film becomes this after the reveal in the comics that thanks to the Red Skull causing a Cosmic Retcon, Captain America is a member of HYDRA.
  • Peggy's funeral can be seen as this, after her show was cancelled the week after the release of this movie.
  • Black Panther's entire storyline after the release of his solo film which shows how his cousin Killmonger was consumed by vengeance after his uncle killed his father, and went miles further than T'Challa. Not only that, but the reveal of what T'Chaka did in the 1990s makes him look like a hypocrite in Civil War. He accuses the Avengers of bring indifferent to others' suffering, all while T'Chaka himself is indifferent to the suffering of the world outside Wakanda, to the point of killing his own brother who wanted to help oppressed black communities.
  • Hawkeye jokes that he retired for a while and everything falls apart. He doesn't appear at all in Infinity War, and Thanos ends up killing half of all life in the universe, including Hawkeye's entire family. By the time Black Widow manages to find him five years later, Clint has murdered thousands of organized crime groups out of despair and hatred.
  • Cap's letter at the end is meant to be a "Ray of Hope" Ending, showing how after everything the Avengers are not fully broken and there is a chance that the team can come together when it is needed. Avengers: Infinity War shows that the letter was mostly futile with the Avengers still being broken throughout the movie and Word of God is that the split is why Thanos won. It will take six years before the Avengers not only fully get back together, but reconcile from the events of this movie.
  • Black Widow saying "I know I'm gonna regret this," when helping Steve escape in the airport fight hits a lot harder considering this ultimately leads both Steve and Tony into Zemo's trap at the HYDRA base and having their final fight which splits up the Avengers, which is a factor in Thanos winning in Infinity War, which then leads to the mission to Vormir in which Black Widow has to sacrifice herself for the Soul Stone.
  • The ending of Avengers: Endgame makes the Steve/Sharon romance, which was already criticized as Squicky due to the Replacement Goldfish undertones, gain another dimension of Squickiness since Steve goes back in time to marry Peggy, meaning that he likely knew Sharon from birth as his niece. Doubly so if one believes in the Stable Time Loop interpretation, as that means this Sharon is the exact same one he kisses.
  • Tony's justification for keeping Wanda under house arrest due to her powers being a "threat to the masses" doesn't feel quite like Disproportionate Retribution anymore after the events of both WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness reveal that she's both the most powerful character in the MCU and showed what could happen if she were to lose control of her Reality Warper abilities, or use them for villainous purposes. Especially this particular exchange when Wanda is overpowering Vision as Clint is busting her out.
    Vision: "If you do this, they will never stop being afraid of you."
    Wanda: "I can't control their fear. Only my own."
  • Furthermore, Vision's insistence on keeping Wanda from leaving the complex Tony put her in also takes a dark turn after WandaVision reverses those roles, with Wanda keeping Vision from leaving Westview (although it's much more justified in this case).
  • A number created with the release of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier:
    • Isaiah Bradley, also known as the Black Captain America, was tortured and experimented on by HYDRA/SHIELD for decades to study the effects of the Super Serum. It's left ambiguous as to whether Howard Stark knew of his existence, but it's very likely that Howard's recreation of the Super Soldier Serum had Isaiah's suffering and pain to thank for the fruits of that (unwilling) labor.
    • Sharon Carter was branded an enemy of the state and forced to go on the run, to the point she's becomes a full-blown supervillain who leads The Syndicate out of desperation, with none of the Avengers doing anything to help her. Steve's closing words about not letting those who helped him down now ring a little more hollow.
    • T'Challa's decision to spare Zemo and arrest him only ends in Zemo becoming even more dangerous than he was here. He now firmly is Baron Zemo, who was a notorious Avengers villain in the comics.
    • When Steve is arrested and his shield confiscated, Natasha teases "Technically it's not yours; it's the government's". The show kicks off demonstrating just that. As the shield is government property, the US government overrides both Steve's decision to bestow the shield and Captain America mantle to Sam at the end of Avengers: Endgame and Sam's decision to donate it to the Smithsonian and passes it to their replacement Captain America John Walker, a US soldier but who lacks Steve's good-hearted nature.
  • After being arrested by the UN, T'Challa notes that his people believe that he will meet Bast on the Ancestral Plane, and be able to run across a large green veld forever alongside her. While the Ancestral Plane is indeed seen a few times in his solo film, not only does Bast herself fail to make an appearance, but Thor: Love and Thunder would reveal that she is among the many gods who ventured to Omnipotent City in order to indulge in the vice and hedonism there while also staying safe from Gorr the God Butcher. Seems that Wakanda's faith in their gods may be a bit misplaced...
  • Knowing that Bucky and Tony never reconciled after this film is a shame. Bucky disappears to Wakanda and lays low until he dies in the blip. He doesn't come back until Hulk revives everyone. While Bucky was hiding in Wakanda, Tony was mentoring Spider-Man. Tony and Spider-Man are seen again in space with the Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange. After Thanos kills them all except Tony, he's stuck in space and never interacts with Bucky during the final battle. Tony dies during the final battle killing any chance they had of burying the hatchet. It especially sucks since Tony and Steve were able to mend their relationship.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • After Chadwick Boseman's death in August 2020, T'Challa's monologue about how "in [his] culture, death is not the end" was used in many fans' online tributes to him as a send-off for how much he and his Black Panther had impacted them.
  • Scott telling Wanda, "I know you, too, you're great", in a sincere tone of voice becomes particularly touching in light of the events of WandaVision, given that Wanda has been and will continue to be feared and hated by much of the world for her entire life due to having limited control of her magic. Seeing one single moment of validation of her heroics makes her visible happiness all the more meaningful.
• He's Just Hiding: Even though Crossbones blew himself up in an attempt to kill Captain America in a murder-suicide at the beginning of the film, Frank Grillo himself hinted that he may return regardless. This has somewhat died out after only his past self from 2012 appeared in Avengers: Endgame, suggesting he really is dead.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • As of this movie, Martin Freeman plays Everett Ross. This is only a few months before his best-known acting partner, Benedict Cumberbatch, debuted as Doctor Strange. One wonders how many Sherlock and Hobbit jokes would come out of that. Even better, Robert Downey Jr. is also known for playing a 19th century Sherlock Holmes.
  • The whole The Empire Strikes Back gag got even funnier when Tom Holland revealed a year later that he'd actually never seen the original Star Wars trilogy—or even earlier in the commentary for the movie.
  • When Secretary Ross asks Cap about the whereabouts of Hulk and Thor, the film originally played it as an Armor-Piercing Question that underscores the importance of responsibility. After Thor: Ragnarok, it's hard to take the line seriously anymore, because the audience reaction is now "They're having kick-ass adventures on Sakaar together!".
  • Peter says that Aunt May would freak out if she knew he was Spider-Man. Cut to the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
    Aunt May: ''WHAT THE F-"
  • During the airport battle, Sam is utterly confused as to how Spider-Man is shooting his webs at them, with him openly asking Peter if it's coming out of his body. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter himself ends up having this exact reaction upon finding out one of his variants has organic webbing coming out of his body rather than constructing webshooters to fire them.
  • Tom Holland and Sebastian Stan would face off against each other once again in The Devil All the Time, which had many people joking that their characters fighting each other in the woods was the closest thing the Winter Soldier and Spider-Man would get to a rematch.
• Ho Yay: Sizeable enough to get its own page.
• I Knew It!:
  • Everett Ross was the most popular guess for Martin Freeman's character since it was announced he would have a part in the film, long before his character was confirmed.
  • Black Widow helping Cap. It was such an obvious move given that, not only has she worked with Steve more, but that even in the comics, she only sided with Tony AFTER the war was won.
  • Bucky killing Howard and Maria Stark, to the point that many, many people didn't even know it was supposed to be a reveal; it was kinda just assumed after the montage Zola showed in The Winter Soldier and soon became an extremely popular Fanon theory.
• Improved Second Attempt: This movie manages to sidestep many issues regarding the original Civil War comic released in 2006.
  • The main source of conflict downplays the political views each hero has regarding the signing of the Accords in favor of debating about what to do with Bucky Barnes (who is a wanted man due to the crimes he committed as the Winter Soldier, and is framed by Zemo as having bombed the UN headquarters and killed King T'Chaka), and Cap's willingness to go against the law to protect him. This gives both sides much better grounds to stand on instead of being needlessly horrible for their own selfish reasons.^note On the one hand, he's crossing a line by actively attacking legitimate law enforcement agents to protect a fugitive, on the other hand, Bucky doesn't deserve the punishment he's facing and protecting his friend is a completely understandable thing to do.
  • In the original comic, Tony Stark became infamous for being a Strawman Political character who did very terrible things such as work with supervillains to arrest superheroes and throw them in what amounted to being a concentration camp for anti-registration heroes, simply because they chose the wrong side. Here, Tony signs the Sokovia Accords out of guilt for creating Ultron, and only reluctantly enforces them when he believes Steve is being unreasonable. Furthermore, he justifiably only becomes more vindictive towards Steve and Bucky after he finds out the latter was responsible for his parents' deaths, and that Steve knew that HYDRA was responsible for years without telling him.
  • Relatedly, Tony's role as the man who imprisons the Anti-Reg Avengers is given to Thunderbolt Ross, which many agreed was much more in-character for the latter than the former. In fact, Tony is horrified at the conditions of the Raft and calls Ross out on it, though he can't do anything about it without risking getting thrown in there himself.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Helmut Zemo may be a villain who kills many innocent people in order break up the Avengers, but it's hard not to feel sorry for him since he lost his entire family when Sokovia was destroyed.
  • Despite being loyal HYDRA agents the other five Winter Soldiers are somewhat sympathetic, as they're tortured by Karpov and driven insane by the serum (which was given to at least one of them unwillingly), and they're shown to be genuinely loyal to each other. Their fate of being unceremoniously executed by Zemo doesn't help, with even Bucky seeming to find it disturbing.
• Just Here for Godzilla: The film seems deliberately engineered to have a Godzilla for just about everyone.
  • Fans who aren't interested about Captain America and his cast are still interested in watching the film because of the appearances from the other heroes, such as Iron Man, as well as characters who didn't yet have their own solo films or a sequel to them anytime soon, such as the Scarlet Witch, Vision, Hawkeye, and Ant-Man.
  • Conversely, some fans who weren't interested in the movie being a Civil War adaptation still saw it simply because it would follow up on the Winter Soldier subplot.
  • Quite a lot got hyped up for the debuts of Black Panther and Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • Fans clamoring for diversity in the MCU were excited to see three black superheroes (Falcon, War Machine, and Black Panther) in the same film.
  • The announcement that Helmut Zemo would be in the movie garnered a lot of interest, as he is one of Cap's most famous and popular nemeses.
  • And, of course, there are many who came just to see the epic 6 vs. 6 airport battle.

Items M to Z

• Memetic Mutation: Has its own page.
• Moral Event Horizon: Zemo crosses the line when he bombs the UN convention, killing T'Chaka and numerous others, just so he could draw out Bucky to continue his plan. It's somewhat softened by the fact that he did try to get what he wanted from Bucky's old handler first specifically noting that if he doesn't then he'll have to resort to "bloodier methods" that he doesn't truly want to, and when he sincerely apologizes to T'Challa for what he did, but it still shows his blatant Revenge Myopia — inflicting upon others the same pain he uses as an excuse for his actions in the first place, and when he does apologize he's also hoping T'Challa kills him. Then he tries to weasel out of being punished for his actions by committing suicide, but fortunately T'Challa stops him from doing so to make him face justice for his crimes.
• Narm: See here.
• Narm Charm:
  • Spider-Man's "Hey, everyone." line in the trailer is badly mixed and sounds like a deadpan, shy young teen in the midst of an action scene desperately trying to sound nonchalant and cool, but that's perfectly fitting for his character (well, except maybe for the "badly mixed" part). The actual film avoids this by having him say the line after he lands and introduces himself to Captain America.
  • EXILE ATSUSHI's "Itsuka Kitto", the Japanese theme for the movie, sounds incredibly off and, as mentioned in Narm above, probably fits a Japanese drama or a shoujo anime more. However, there are a number who have gone on to declare that the song is Steve and Tony's "bromance theme".
  • The dramatic shot of two armies charging at each other across an empty space is always Narm Charm on account of being the classic example of Rule of Cool Hollywood Tactics, but even more so in this instance, when the "armies" consist of exactly six people apiece.
• Nausea Fuel: The shaky cam during the opening action scene has caused some viewers to suffer from motion sickness, leading to symptoms such as headaches, nausea and temporary dizziness.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Many fans have questioned why characters like Spider-Man and Black Widow would even consider joining Iron Man, ignoring the fact they were on his side in the comic, at least initially. In fact, in the years right before Civil War, Tony Stark and Peter Parker developed something of a mentor/student relationship, which you see the start of in this film as well.
  • As mentioned above, one of the arguments used against the idea of Widow joining Iron Man and not joining Steve and Clint is her friendship with them, but they tend to ignore that during the Civil War comic, many friends and even families were split during the conflict regardless of how strong their bond were (Example: the Fantastic Four).
  • With this 15-year old version of Spider-Man being the youngest movie incarnation of the character as of yet, there are some fans who think he's way too young to be a crime fighter going up against supervillains, and that it would make more sense for him to be in his late teens or an adult. Others point out that Peter Parker also became a crime fighter at 15 in both the main 616 and Ultimate Marvel continuities and was already fighting multiple supervillains at that age.
  • Some fans have joked that Scarlet Witch's new costume makes her look like Jean Grey in X-Men: The Last Stand. In the comics, red, flowy outfits were always Wanda's thing, while Jean generally favored body-hugging green-and-gold (70s) or blue-and-gold (90s) costumes. In fact, Scarlet Witch's Civil War outfit has some similarities to her look from X-Men: Evolution.
  • There are some fans who are mad that Zemo wouldn't have a mask and would only play a major role in later films. This is actually consistent with the comics, where Helmut Zemo was originally a fairly handsome one-shot antagonist before being disfigured and reimagined as a much bigger threat by later writers. Indeed, his iconic mask would finally make its appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
  • Iron Man being just as important as headliner Captain America. In the 60s, before Iron Man or Captain America had their own individual books (post-defrosting, in Cap's case), they split the former-anthology title Tales of Suspense for four straight years. In something of a reversal, Tales of Suspense was a de facto Iron Man book (including the first appearances of Black Widow and Hawkeye as villains) that made room for the recently thawed Cap.
  • Not only does Operation: Galactic Storm predate the Civil War comic, it even predicts part of the divided lineup in this movie (Captain America, Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch on one side, Iron Man and Vision on the other).
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Alfre Woodard as Miriam Sharpe in her confrontation with Tony Stark. Robert Downey Jr. suggested Woodard for the role, knowing she would be a stand-out in her performance that would impact the storyline.
  • Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross, who's assigned to guard Zemo, and is more than willing to dish out some pain.
  • Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, who's physically present in one scene (inspiring many compliments by Tony) and in The Stinger.
  • T'Challa's Dora Millaje bodyguard Ayo who tells Natasha "Move, or you will be moved."
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Miriam Sharpe. The original character is one of the most despised characters to come out of the original Civil War event, between her constantly blaming heroes who had nothing to do with it for her son's death and her blaming Goliath for his own death in a manner that aged extremely poorly. Here, she only shows up once but leaves a lasting impact on Tony, which — combined with her actress' performance — left her better-liked than her comics counterpart.
• Ron the Death Eater: When the movie's marketing revolves around "Whose side are you on?" this is inevitably going to happen. Both Captain America and Iron Man get this depending on which side of the Broken Base you fall on regarding the two sides. Team Tony views Cap as a selfish treacherous Manipulative Bastard with zero moral principles other than his own happiness, everyone else be damned, and Team Cap views Iron Man as a murder-crazy fascist sellout who wants to crush the entire Avengers team under his boot and heel. Expect to see whichever side one does support also getting the Draco in Leather Pants treatment as well.
• Salvaged Story:
  • In Iron Man 3, Tony destroyed all of his suits and vowed to quit the superhero business. Then in Age of Ultron he was back to being Iron Man as if it never happened, which a lot of viewers accused Marvel of engaging in Canon Discontinuity. In this film Tony not only explicitly acknowledges his backtracking, but reveals that the broken promise severely damaged, if not outright destroyed, his relationship with Pepper.
  • Scarlet Witch's "Sokovian" accent is heavily toned down compared to her previous appearance in Age of Ultron, likely in response to criticisms that it was too over-the-top and Narmy. Some viewers have praised the fact that her voice sounds like an actual person this time around. Others have noted that it's still largely inconsistent (to that point that WandaVision would eventually lampshade it).
  • Wanda is made an outcast and called a public menace for causing the deaths of several aid workers, in response to viewers who saw Wanda as a Karma Houdini in Age of Ultron who was allowed to join the team despite essentially being the mastermind of the villain's plot. The deaths are also accidental on Wanda's part and she is shown to feel genuinely guilty afterwards, due to a number of viewers feeling that Wanda's lack of remorse for the deaths she played an indirect hand in in Age of Ultron made her harder to root for.
  • Phase 2 was criticized for straining to justify Superman Stays Out of Gotham. The Sokovian Accords provide a formal justification for why certain heroes may not be able to interfere in a given film.
• Signature Scene:
  • The airport tarmac showdown Mirrored Confrontation Shot, where the two teams launch themselves at each other and proceed to unleash everything they have at their disposal.
  • The scene in the climatic battle between Iron Man and Captain America that is lifted directly from the comics, where Iron Man launches a full-powered repulsor blast at Cap who blocks it with his shield, with the energy reflected from the shield glowing all over the room.
  • Directly before that, Iron Man firing the Unibeam to blast Bucky's cybernetic arm off.
  • Captain America stopping a helicopter with his bare hands exposing his biceps.
• Special Effect Failure: For a film of this magnitude, the failure actually occurs in scenes that should not necessarily be effects heavy.
  • The 3D version of the film has one in an early scene where Steve is watching the news. For a few seconds, part of the bottom of his chin is rendered on a different depth plane than the rest of his face, making it look like a random patch of skin is floating off of him.
  • In the build up to the airport fight, with Team Iron Man trying to talk Steve into surrendering, the insert shots of Tony and Natasha are unusually tight and lit differently than those focusing on different characters, implying that they were pick-ups shot in front of a green screen rather than on location.
  • At times, Iron Man's head appears to have separated from his body due to the suit being entirely CG in this film. Particularly egregious because in previous MCU films, Robert Downey Jr. would at least be wearing the physical helmet and, occasionally, a physical chest piece for close-ups, with mocap for everything else. The shots were on a green-screened set, but the suit was largely CG over the aforementioned chestpiece and the VFX team had to alter the lighting on his face, hence the 'floating'.
  • The sweeping shots of both teams during the big showdown has Natasha cut and moved rather awkwardly down the line in order to fit Spider-Man (who wasn't present in the shot shown in promos) into the lineup.
  • During one of the fights, a Stunt Double's face is clearly seen for a moment.
  • The CGI for Spider-Man can be extremely obvious, because red is a color that isn't known for processing very well on film. The Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield movies worked around this by giving Spider-Man’s suit a darker shade of red and a raised, 3-D webbing pattern to create contrast lines, which MCU Spidey lacks.
  • An easily missed one. In the climatic battle, Iron Man shoots a rifle out of his opponent's hand. Just before the blast hits, the magazine of the gun looks quite bent, making it look like a banana. Further more, half of the rifle glows for a second when blasted away before returning to normal like a Christmas bulb.
• Spiritual Licensee: A variation within its own franchise: Civil War is considered by many people to be the "true" second Avengers movie rather than Avengers: Age of Ultron due to its much better reception as well as its more meaningful events and consequences in-universe (especially regarding the Avengers as an organization), all while retaining the large cast of the Avengers movies and introducing a character (Spider-Man) more significant than the newcomers in Age of Ultron.
• Spoiled by the Format: At the film's climax, Tony seems to finally be on Cap and Bucky's side and the three are teaming up to find and stop Zemo (with Black Panther following). However, there's way too much time left before the movie ends, and we haven't even seen the cool Cap and Bucky vs Tony fight we were promised in trailers. And then Zemo plays back the mission report from December 16, 1991...there we go.
• Squick: Several critics and a lot of viewers were unhappy with the romantic beat between Steve and Sharon, with one from GameRadar even describing it as "slightly icky and completely unnecessary." Considering that Sharon is Peggy's grandniece and the former had just died from old age and Alzheimer's, their sudden hooking-up can come across as rather skeevy and inappropriate. Then there's the Replacement Goldfish angle. Hayley Atwell, Peggy's actress, didn't like it either.
  • Made more squicky by the ending of Avengers: Endgame when Steve goes back in time to be with Peggy since she's now (an alternate timeline (?) version of) his grandniece. He likely saw her grow up from childhood.
• Strangled by the Red String: While it's thankfully not at the level of the oft-derided Bruce/Natasha storyline from Avengers: Age of Ultron, Steve's romance with Sharon was panned as rushed and poorly developed with little buildup beforehand, on top of what little they do have being tinged with undertones that many in the audience found Squicky. The fact that Sharon in the MCU has been a consistent case of "They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character" and hasn't been fleshed out in the last movie or this one also hurts.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Thanks to the smaller scale of the MCU, the film featured far fewer characters on either side compared to the comic, where both sides had a larger number of secondary characters (many of whom were fan favourites). As a result, some have complained about the smaller teams leaving out popular characters while also reducing the scale of the conflict.
  • Despite only having one scene, many complaints and jokes were thrown at the casting decision of Aunt May for her Adaptational Attractiveness compared to the character's usual portrayal. Unshaved Mouse defended the decision in his review of the film - pointing out that the character as originally conceived lived through two World Wars and six decades of bad food and housing conditions in 20th century New York. If May in this incarnation is the same age as Marisa Tomei (51 at the time of filming) then she had to be born in the mid-60s at the earliest, and people these days do age much better anyway.
  • Helmut Zemo is, rather than a Germanic Baron, a military captain from Sokovia, and his father was a farmer rather than a Nazi supervillain. Though he retains the character's personality and intelligence, a lot of the changes garnered a lot of vitriol from some fans. Fans of the character's time with the Thunderbolts, however, tend to be more positive, due to it playing closer to his characterization during that time. The fact he lives throughout the film and later returns in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also helps reassure fans bummed at him not forming the Masters of Evil or Thunderbolts, or learning swordsmanship, since he can do those things in later films.
  • The Lagos disaster near the beginning is clearly meant to stand in for the Stamford incident in the Civil War comic book, but it's been argued that it doesn't do as good a job at justifying why the heroes would be blamed for the situation over the villains. Whereas the New Warriors attacked a supervillain hideout to film a reality show and made no attempt to take precautions when they had the chance (such as quietly evacuating the surrounding neighbourhood or calling in reinforcements better equipped for the villains in question), Scarlet Witch had no such opportunity to prepare for the fact that Crossbones was willing to blow himself up in the middle of a crowd, and made an unfortunate snap judgement that nevertheless resulted in civilian casualties (which were still at nowhere near the level of Stamford).
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Some early critics have said that Zemo's role isn't befitting a villain of his prominence, though this is consistent with the statements about him playing a bigger role in future movies. For what it's worth, his motivations are explored much more in-depth than most other MCU villains, he more or less wins, and he doesn't die at the end of the movie, setting him up for later appearances. He eventually returned in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
  • Brock Rumlow suits up as Crossbones for all of one scene before he blows himself up.
  • While it makes sense considering the likely fallout from Tony's full-on return to the suits in Avengers: Age of Ultron, having Pepper Potts absent from the movie, and explaining her absence by explicitly stating that she's left Tony, is a bit of an anti-climax for one of the series' longest-running characters who was consistently well-liked in the fanbase. Add to that the fact that Iron Man 3 heavily hinted at Pepper taking on her Rescue identity from the comics, and you could be forgiven for thinking that her role would be even more significant going forward. In fairness to the writers, this may be more of a case of Real Life Writes the Plot, as Gwyneth Paltrow seemed ambivalent at best about returning to the franchise,^note and had outright stated in the past that she wouldn't accept Pepper being relegated to an ineffective romantic supporting role, but that any future appearance would have to give her at least some influence on the main action plot. Another potential explanation for her absence was that the film already had a very loaded character roster, and/or that the writers felt that if she were around, she would help Tony and Steve come to an accord and thus turn the movie into Captain America: Minor Disagreement. but was now too recognizable in her role for fans (and co-stars) to just accept Pepper being re-cast at this stage. Ultimately, Pepper would take on the Rescue identity during Avengers: Endgame.
  • Even though Sharon Carter receives a slightly larger role than in The Winter Soldier, she is still very underdeveloped as a character, considering her level of prominence in Cap's supporting cast in the comics. Many feel that her romance with Cap especially suffers as a result of this, as Strangled by the Red String goes into further detail.
  • The film draws on the Winter Soldier solo comic's plot a team of sleeper agents trained by the Winter Soldier. They're made stronger than the Winter Soldier, but are killed offscreen rather than being activated as in the comics.

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Age of Ultron ended with the Avengers forming an almost entirely new team, consisting of Cap, Black Widow, Vision, Scarlet Witch, War Machine, and the Falcon. Their next appearance here only has Cap, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, and Falcon participating in the opening mission before the team splits up onto opposing sides which disbands the new Avengers, meaning we never get to see the full new lineup fight together as a team before breaking up.
  • The Reveal that Bucky Barnes is not the only product of HYDRA's Super-Soldier program, but there are five more elite enhanced soldiers who are described by The Winter Soldier himself as even stronger than he is, and that all of them together possess abilities that would allow them to take over a country within a day if given the order. These soldiers could've turned out to be Captain America and The Winter Soldier's toughest opponents yet and provide a convenient means for Iron Man and Captain America to drop their hostilities to team up and fight them, but instead Baron Zemo kills them all off while they are in stasis, effectively eliminating them as a threat. Tropes Are Not Bad in this case, since they were deliberately set up as a Red Herring, it enhanced Zemo's better qualities and helped deliver the Nothing Is the Same Anymore premise of Phase 3.
  • Multiple characters warn Tony that Ross will turn on him, constantly telling him to "watch his back", with the implication that Ross may start imprisoning all the Avengers and not just the ones who sided with Steve, but while Ross does refuse to listen to Tony when he discovers proof that Bucky was set up, he still allows Tony to leave unhindered and unfollowed (by Ross's men anyway) and tries to call him when Steve shows up to break out his team from their prison.
  • The movie does a rather good job at adapting the debate between Tony and Steve over how superheroes should be handled, removing many of the things that didn't work in the comic and making sure Both Sides Have a Point...but the debate is never really resolved; in fact, it's more or less forgotten after the airport battle so we can focus on the Bucky subplot, and isn't even the reason Cap and Iron Man fight in the climax. One could make the argument that the Sokovia Accords are actually superfluous to the movie as a whole, as ultimately they have little to do with why the characters end up fighting each other. The plotline surrounding Bucky and Zemo drives the majority of the film, and it could easily exist without the Accords.
  • A more minor example: When Stan Lee calls Tony Stark "Tony Stank," Rhodey promises to never stop calling him that. This isn't called back in Infinity War or Endgame.
• Unexpected Character: Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross being announced in the film also surprised many, since it'd been eight years since his last MCU appearance.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?:
  • Ever since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there's been a growing fanbase for Cap in the libertarian community. Even before this movie was released, they were already hailing it as a must-see to see Cap stick it to government regulation, incompetence and oversight. Post-release, this has resulted in somewhat of a Broken Base as some fans were unconvinced that Cap (despite his good intentions) did the right thing, and feel that Tony and the government, despite being flawed, ignorant and at times hypocritical, still had a good point.
  • Thunderbolt Ross presents the concerns the UN has about the Avengers as "a group of US-based [...] individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders, inflict their will and are frankly unconcerned with what they leave behind" reflects some real-life opinions on the United States' foreign policy, especially with the onset of The War on Terror.
• Win Back the Crowd:
  • Kevin Feige's statements as soon as the movie was announced that the movie would not revolve around the subject of unmasking and secret identities, which marks a significant point of divergence from the original Civil War comics, in the face of the comic's notoriously poor reputation, a lot of which stems from the issue of secret identities being considered a flimsy Conflict Ball (most heroes in this verse don't actually HAVE a secret identity to begin with).
  • Spider-Man's role in this film was intended to do this in regards to the cinematic portrayal of the character, given that his The Amazing Spider-Man Series had been suffering from diminishing returns and more middling critical reception than the first two films of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy. Following the release of the film, Tom Holland's take on the character is almost universally regarded as the best out of the three in spite of the limited screen time, in and of itself justifying the decision to reboot the character a second time.
  • After two very divisive sequels, this film seems to have reminded some fans who were turned off of the character why exactly they fell in love with Tony Stark in 2008.
• WTH, Costuming Department?:
  • Bucky's new uniform, which some fans have joked about for looking cheap and resembling a North Face jacket with the sleeve torn off.
  • Zig-Zagged with Spider-Man's new costume.
    • Many people love how the aperture-like moving eyes manage to copy both Steve Ditko and John Romita's eye styles from the 1960s (and a few compare it to the obscure Japanese Spidey). Some others, however, deem the moving eyes a case of Unintentional Uncanny Valley, especially in the context of the more down-to-earth MCU, and have compared the overall look to that of the cheesy 1967 cartoon. There is another group of people who Take a Third Option and admit it's cheesy, but think that's perfectly fitting for the character. In any event, all indications are that the eye effect is actually an in-universe mechanism built into the suit. As he stated he wore goggles with his home-made costume to deal with the sensory input overload of his new powers, it's possible the eyes of the new costume adjust to accommodate his needs
    • Many people love that the webbing on the suit isn't raised as in the Raimi trilogy and Amazing Spider-Man 2, making it Truer to the Text, while others prefer the raised webbing.
    • Many are bummed about the black portions breaking up solid red and blue areas such as his arms and legs, unlike any other movie Spider-suit. Others just accept segmentation as part of the MCU aesthetic (see Captain America).
• The Woobie: When Peter friggin' Parker is, as the Fridge page puts it, the least tragic character in the film, there's going to be many, many names here:
  • The poor hotel room service lady who delivers breakfast as usual to who she thinks is a nice guest, only to find a body in the bathtub. Her scream sells the scene.
  • Rhodey after he gets paralyzed trying to stop the Quinjet.
  • Peggy Carter dies from complications with Alzheimer's, out of action for a long time and unable to stop the turmoil that follows her funeral.
  • Sharon Carter for having her aunt die, being forced to assist in Captain America being taken into custody, getting attacked by a brainwashed Winter Soldier, and deciding to help Cap and him at a great personal cost.
  • Wanda. The movie is essentially a Trauma Conga Line for her after her mistake in Lagos, which was only partially her fault because she was left with little time to deal with Rumlow but still manage to minimize the damage, that kicks off the Sokovia Accords. She then has to deal with the people of the world expressing their hate and fear for her, during which she's essentially placed under house arrest by her own friends, and after that she's locked up in an ultra high-security prison restrained by a straitjacket and, unlike the rest of the captured Avengers, a shock collar for helping Captain America and Bucky stop Zemo.
  • Maria Stark when, on what she thinks is a usual trip to the airport, gets caught in a car accident, watches her husband brutally beaten to death as he's begging for her not to be killed, then has his body dumped by the killer next to her (to stage the "car accident"), and is then strangled to death next to her husband's corpse.
  • Bucky remembers everything he did while brainwashed by HYDRA, then it turns out he's become the centerpiece of a scheme meant purely for destroying the life of his friend and is put back under brainwashing by Zemo to kill Cap.
  • Tony is clearly uncomfortable with all the tension among the team, and with Pepper breaking up with him he comes across as desperately trying to salvage what little family he has left more than anything else. Then he has to witness what happened to his actual family, and learn one of his closest friends knew and lied to him about it, and watched another of his closest friends be crippled and almost killed in battle. Worse, he has to watch his parents murdered by someone standing right in the room with him; and as mentioned above, Cap's way of handling the situation doesn't exactly help Tony's state of mind, to put it mildly.
  • T'Challa. He loses his father within five minutes of being introduced, and nearly kills an innocent man when going on his Roaring Rampage of Revenge.

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