Captain America: Civil War

My Plot Synopsis (Based on One Trailer):

After a long search that lasted all of one scene in the second Avengers, Captain America finally finds his old friend Bucky! And Bucky remembers that he and Cap were besties!

Unfortunately, the government wants to kill Bucky for that whole "Winter Soldier" thing, which is something that Cap just won't stand for. Also, somehow this is related to the events in Sokovia (a la Avengers: Age of Ultron), and Cap and his motley crew have to register with the government in order to keep being Avengers??? Cap won't stand for that either!

Suddenly Iron Man appears, and he's on the government's side (traitor!). But also he's trying to capture Bucky? And THAT is just way too much for Cap to stand. This means war! A civil war! (Because Captain America is still a classy fellow)

My Movie Thoughts (Based on One Trailer):

Captain America: Civil War is going to be a BEAST!

The media wasn't joking around when they called it "Avengers 2.5". Even though I tried really hard to avoid all of the additional trailers and media leaks and news stories, I still know that the cast of characters in this movie is enormous! I mean, we've got the expected characters: Captain America, Bucky, Iron Man, Falcon, Black Widow. But then we also get War Machine? And Scarlet Witch? And Hawkeye?

Plus Crossbones is in it?

And Baron Zemo?

And Black Panther?

And SPIDERMAN??? (squeal!)

And Ant-Man?

And ... Martin Freeman?

With a roster that packed, my first instinct is immediately one of fear. I've seen this kind of overstuffed superhero movie before, and it has not ended well. Spiderman 3. X-Men: The Last Stand. Batman v Superman. I worry that Civil War could fall into the same traps as those films, which all started with such promise (Venom! Dark Phoenix! Batman fighting Superman!!!) 

Too many characters means not enough focus on any one character. This means no character growth, no character development. This means that whatever exciting event or conflict in the movie (read: a freaking superhero civil war!) will feel hollow and meaningless, because you won't actually care about the characters involved.

However, this trailer does an excellent job of making the focus seem to be kept tightly on the relationship between Cap and Bucky, the relationship between Steve and Tony, and the conflict that grows out of these relationships. I mean sure, there's also that whole "Superhero Registration" thingy going on, but it feels like that is still being directly experienced through Captain America and Iron Man.

And the best part about that, is that this trailer doesn't even make it feel like Captain America is the righteous hero and Iron Man is the sinister villain: both characters seem to have valid arguments that people can respond to and support. I myself was team Cap 100%... until that last line from Tony broke my heart. Now I don't know who to root for! So conflicted!

Sure, you've got all your other supporting characters; your Falcons, your Black Widows, your Wars Machine, your Avenger B-Team - but they all seem to be just outside of the spotlight. Which is exactly where I want them to be: supporting the story, not stealing it! I can't say I know that this will be the case with all the new faces in this movie (how does Black Panther even fit in here???), but this trailer leaves me hopeful.

Also, according to this trailer, this movie is going to be sad. Like, the saddest Marvel has ever been. x100. Just listen to the score! Iron Man is the original sassy MCU jokester, but in this trailer his trademark wit falls on dead, sobbing ears. This is going to be a serious piece.

"So was I"

*sobs*

My Movie Predictions (Based on One Trailer): 

SPOILERS ... maybe?

• Captain America goes to Mexico! (look at those palm trees!)
• Scarlet Witch is going to wreck some shit, and probably not help the superhero freedom cause very much
• It's all of the Avengers vs Iron Man and War Machine? That doesn't seem like a fair fight at all - no wonder they're getting their asses kicked.(Note: Unfortunately I do know that team Iron Man has a number of other allies thanks to the unavoidable press monster *grumble grumble* But when this trailer first came out I didn't!)
• Captain America is going to die. At least, I hope that he dies. It would the perfect end to this saga, and really let the world know that Phase 3 of the MCU is playing for keeps. This will only work, however, if the normal audience leaves without any idea or thought that Cap will come back. Don't Batman v Superman us, Russos! Show us that Marvel has the confidence to kill a character for an entire movie before bringing them back! No more of this Phase 2 everybody lives crap!
• Bucky will become the new Captain America???