4 Reasons Why The MCU's ‘Civil War’ Was Too Early (And 3 Reasons Why It Wasn’t)
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It's been over 6 years since Marvel released one of its most memorable films to date with Captain America: Civil War, loosely based on a meta-arc of the same name. It was met with critical acclaim and great reception among fans (it currently sits at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes with an 89% audience score) and introduced us to the MCU's version of Black Panther and Spiderman. However, as big of an event as it was for the MCU, it was a much larger event in the comics equivalent. The MCU roster has grown a lot, and with the added content on Disney+ and Marvel has regained almost all of the characters they were missing back in 2016 (ex. The Fantastic Four), so the question is, did they release it too early?
Too Early: It Could've Been An Entire And More Grounded Phase
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After Civil War, Marvel finished its Thanos saga with 2 movies involving the entire MCU, both earth-based and cosmic, with about as large of stakes as you can get. Phase 4 followed this up by mainly dealing with the fallout and setting up another large stake, multi-phase saga with Kang. Instead, they could have used the Civil War storyline to take a breath and dial it back while still having a meta-arc running through all the applicable content. Much like the infinity stones, it wouldn't have to take over every property completely, but the registration act could tie the different properties together without culminating in universe-saving stakes.
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Not Too Early: Contracts
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The leaders of each side in the comic and the movie are the same. Both Robert Downey Jr. (who played Iron Man and Chris Evans (who played Captain America) had played the characters for quite a while at the time of their exit, so it makes sense they would want to move on to other projects. Their contracts ended with Endgame, and the characters' stories were wrapped up nicely and in ways that honored their arcs. Obviously, contracts would have been a huge obstacle for this storyline, even without the characters being removed from the MCU. Between character fatigue and the dollar amount, it would have been near impossible to get them both to sign on for another phase.
Too Early: It Rushed The Key Themes Of The Comics
The comic book event felt like they were a vehicle to provoke thought in a few key areas. The divide in the superhero community begins over registration, but it looks at the deeper issue of balancing security with privacy. It used multiple characters to examine and show the many sides to this issue. There were also storylines around balancing the cost of fighting with what it would cost not to. It accurately showed how lines can be blurred in order to win (such as both sides deploying supervillains). Unfortunately, there was just no way for a two-and-a-half-hour movie to go into this level of depth or to do these issues justice. While there was some hint of oversight vs. freedom, it more felt like a device to cause the conflict and even became almost irrelevant once Bucky became involved.
Not Too Early: Storylines And Set Ups
Again, we would have had quite the logistical issue if it were to be absent in Phase 3 and trying to make it Phase 4. I've already mentioned some issues surrounding Iron Man and Captain America staying beyond Phase 3. However, having Civil War in Phase 3 was necessary to set things up for the Infinity Saga. Similarly, Spiderman's journey began with Civil War and was heavily influenced by Tony's death, which wouldn't have worked with a Phase 4 Civil War. Kevin Feige and company obviously take a lot of time and effort to line up their storylines, so taking such a massive piece out of Phase 3 and trying to change the Infinity Saga to fit a totally different Phase 4 would have been a huge departure from what we ended up with.
Too Early: It Would've Given Access To More Characters
At the time Civil War was made, it was a different world. They had only just been given access to Spiderman, and the idea of getting mutants and the Fantastic Four seemed way out of reach. Fast forward to today, and Disney now has access to all of the key characters of the Civil War arc. Instead of Mysterio revealing Peter Parker's identity, now it could have been the fallout from him choosing to register like in the comics. Also, we could be introduced to the Fantastic Four with them being divided, which would be a nice change from the previous 2 movie iterations. The Netflix characters are now back with Disney as well, which would be interesting having Daredevil tackle the superhero side with Matt Murdoch working the legal side. The same would go for the newly introduced She-Hulk. At the time, it felt like everyone was in Civil War, but seeing how far the MCU has grown, it's too bad we don't get a Civil War story that could match the scope of characters available today.
Not Too Early: It Introduced Characters Well
Civil War was the first appearance for a few characters in the MCU and possibly the first time many had seen certain characters. Anyone that might not have thought that a character named Antman could work got a chance to see him in action without investing a whole movie. Similarly, some people might not know Rhodey if they haven't gone through all of Phase 1 yet, but now they have an idea going forward. By far, one of the best parts, though, was how they introduced Spiderman, Black Panther, and even Zemo:
We got to skip the origin story for the most part but still had some kind of explanation given as to who they were.
It wasn't just a quick cameo. We got a sense of these characters; they each had their own story within Civil War.
They were all necessary parts of the story and felt organic instead of fan service.
Too Early: Secret Invasion Set Up
It's been announced that Secret Invasion will be getting brought to life as a Disney+ series. While this might also be a case of too much story and insufficient time, that's something for another article. What is relevant is that the Civil War arc in the comics leads directly into Secret Invasion. It's not the most important point I've gone over, but it would have been a great moment to hype it up.
I really enjoyed Captain America: Civil War, and it was a great movie. However, while I realize there would have been many hurdles, I can't help but wish we got more than one movie with this great storyline. To sum it up, I wish we got more of a good thing.
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