I have been waiting a little while before I wrote anything about Captain America: Civil War, in order to give everyone an opportunity to see the film without spoilers. However, I am sure that there are still quite a few people who have not been able to see it yet for any number of reasons. So, be warned. This post is going to have spoilers in it. I am not going out of my way to throw in a ton of spoilers, but I am not going to avoid them either. So, if you have not seen the film, and you are trying to go in fresh and spider free, then skip this post for now, but come back later. I’ll put the read more tag here, so as long as you don’t click on it, you will avoid having any major plot points revealed to you. Come back, though, and read this when you have seen the film.
What an emotional ride this movie was. Our other blogger, Liz, covered the movie as a whole in her review, so I’m not going to go into it all here. Let me just say, this film blew me away. I had pretty high expectations, and I felt like this movie met them on almost every level. I was unsure how Marvel was going to handle the long, extremely complex Civil War story from the comics. There was a lot of ground to cover, and although movies are quite lengthy these days, they’re still not enough to get in every detail from the comics. Overall, I think Marvel nailed the story and brought the spirit of the comics to film. I could talk about why their vs. worked so much better than DC’s, but that’s not the point of this post. Instead, I want to talk about where we go from here. I am going to break this into three parts. The first one is all about Cap and what happens next with his character. Post two will be about Iron Man, followed by post three, which will cover the side characters.
One thing I loved about this film was how it ended. They didn’t patch things up. They didn’t come together in the end to face a graver threat. Tony is probably more upset with Cap at the end of the movie than he was at any other point in the story (maybe if their moms had the same name, but they didn’t). Cap is more of a fugitive at the end, not less, even though his cause might seem just. I mean, the last thing we see him do before the credits begin is break the other Avengers out of prison, making them all fugitives as well. The movie does not wrap things in a nice little package at the end, instead it leaves all the characters at a crossroads. I heard someone call this the Empire Strikes Back of the Marvel movies (maybe even hinted at with Spider-Man’s dialogue against Giant Man). I think that is pretty fitting. So, where does Cap go from here? I have three ideas.
1. The Super-Duper Happy Ending
This is probably the least likely out of my three ideas. Marvel could get sloppy and decide to wrap the whole thing up before the next Avengers film (the Russo Brothers have said it probably won’t be titled Infinity War part 1 and 2, those are just working titles). We could even not see the whole thing happen. The next Avengers could start with Tony and Steve having a good laugh about the whole thing.
“Remember that time when you knew that Bucky killed my parents, and you didn’t tell me?” Chuckles.
Cap laughs. “Yeah, classic me.”
Iron Man sighs, “Good times, good times.”
This could possibly happen, except that marvel is not sloppy and the Russo Brothers are directing the next Avengers installment. They are not going to let this whole foundation they just built go completely to waste. The super-duper happy ending is only a possibility because Disney owns Marvel, but I don’t see it happening.
2. Steve Rogers Takes on a Different Mantle
Another possibility is that Steve may take up a different name and identity going forward. He drops and leaves his shield behind at the end of the movie, which could symbolize that he is leaving the Captain America title behind as well. We also se him breaking the Avengers out of prison in street clothes. All of this could mean that when we see Steve Rogers again in the MCU, he may not be Captain America. Maybe he will take on the identity of the Nomad. Maybe he will just be Steve. Who knows, but I think there is a good possibility that something along these lines will work out. I think it will be a good opportunity to show that he is more than just the shield.
3. Secret Avengers
I mentioned that there was a lot to the Civil War story in the comics, and I thought they did a good job with what they included in the movie. One reason I feel that way is because I am hoping they’re not done with the story yet, and it will bleed into the next Avengers film. One of my favorite ideas of how that might happen is the Secret Avengers. During the events of Civil War in the comics, Cap goes underground and recruits heroes to follow him. They don’t just sit around, but they go out and do what heroes are supposed to do, albeit, illegally since they aren’t registered. I would love to see a similar story unfold in the next Avengers film. Cap has his team and Tony has his, and somehow, they end up coming together in time to fight Thanos. Leading up to that, though, it would be great to see the differences between how the two teams operate. And, yeah, Daredevil was a Secret Avenger, so that might be cool to throw him in the mix.
So, there are my three ideas of where Marvel might go next with the Captain America character. Who knows what will happen, except for Kevin Feige and the Russo Brothers. Whatever it is, I think it will be good. What do you think will happen next with the Captain America character? Let us know in the comments or send your feedback to me directly at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.
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