Captain America: Civil War

The sequel to Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War is the 13th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first film of Phase 3.

Opening a few months after Ultron, the Avengers' increasing collateral damage has resulted in poor PR polling leading the UN to pass the Super Registration Act as a way of keeping the peace. As the Avengers, divided into two factions, one led by Iron Man, the other by Cap, debate how to approach this law, Steve's old friend, the Winter Soldier finds himself caught in the midst.

One of, if not the, most important films in the MCU, Civil War would have long-lasting consequences that carried all the way into Avengers: Endgame and possibly beyond.

Examples of Captain America: Civil War include:

• Adaptation Species Change: Redwing is now a drone instead of a falcon.
• Adaptational Heroism: For a given value than heroism, but Zemo has no ties to HYDRA, openly expressing disgust towards them.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • Zemo lacks his fighting prowess, outright saying that he could never fight the Avengers physically.
    • Adaptational Badass: But he does manage to divide the Avengers. Something he could never do in the comics.
  • In the comics, both Cap and Bucky can match Iron Man's strength. In the climax, the two only beat him by the skin of their teeth..
• Adapted Out: Quite a lot of characters.
  • Maria Hill. As she'd already undergone Adaptational Heroism, most of her role is given to Secretary Ross.
  • Kate Bishop. Clint Barton is Hawkeye here.
  • All the characters with Netflix shows and Thor.
  • All the characters whom Marvel Studios does not own the rights to, most notably the Fantastic Four.
  • And those who hadn't been introduced yet, such as Doctor Strange.
• Awesomeness By Analysis: FRIDAY can do this, mapping out the entirety of Steve's fight pattern. It takes her four seconds.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: To emphasize how ridiculous this is, Iron Man, the guy in Powered Armor, ends the film with a black eye. Natasha doesn't get even a single scratch.
• Big Bad: Zemo.
• Bigger Bad: Ultron.
• Decomposite Character:
  • In the comics, whoever holds the title of Black Panther is the king of Wakanda. Here, the Black Panther is the protector of Wakanda, not necessarily its king.
  • Bucky is the sole Winter Soldier in the comics. Here, he's one of six.
  • As said under Demoted to Extra, Spider-Man has very little to do in the film. Most of his role from the comic is given to Black Widow.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • The Super Registration Act was the driving force of the plot in the comic. Bucky is the driving force here. By the climax, the Accords are a distant memory.
  • Spider-Man was a major player in the story but here he's just doing an extended cameo.
• Exact Words: After a Noodle Incident, Wanda told Vision that he can only come into her room when the door is open. It didn't occur to Vision that this meant "Use the open door to come in."
• Forgot About His Powers: Wanda's telepathy, which drove the plot of Age of Ultron, is forgotten about here. It could have been very useful in proving Bucky's innocence.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Remember Quicksilver? The film certainly doesn't.
  • Screwed by the Lawyers: Marvel/Disney was probably not allowed to acknowledge the existence of their Quicksilver, considering Fox was still getting a lot of mileage out of their Quicksilver when this movie came out.
• Gambit Roulette: Zemo's plan is quite simple. Get proof that Bucky killed Howard and Maria Stark and use that to have Iron Man turn on Cap. In practice, there are several ways it could have gone wrong.
  • Tony's mental state was so frayed because, not only of the Accords, but because of his breakup with Pepper, things Zemo had no control over.
  • Had Cap not been able to escape with Bucky, or had his team been captured at the airport, no one would have come to Siberia.
  • If Black Panther had killed Bucky, the plan would have fallen apart.
  • Had Tony been just five or so minutes late in coming to Siberia, then it's very possible that Bucky and Cap could have captured Zemo.
  • If anyone else had come with Iron Man to Siberia, they'd likely have been able to peacefully talk him down. Or if only Iron Man, not Cap or Bucky had come, Tony would have likely taken the news a lot better. And all that assumes that Iron Man figured out where they were going at all.
  • Or if Steve had told Tony about Bucky killing Howard and Maria Stark.
  • Of course, as noted below, it would have gone down the drain anyway once Thanos attacked Earth.
• Happy Ending Override:
  • After Age of Ultron, against all odds, Clint settled down to retire with his family. Less than a year later, he's thrown in supermax for helping Steve violate international law. Downplayed by Infinity War as it's revealed that he made a deal that allowed for house arrest but back in force by Endgame where his family was Snapped away then averted when they came back.
  • Ant-Man ended with Scott Lang's name cleared, him becoming a hero for his daughter, and getting a Friend on the Force. Like Hawkeye, he's throw in supermax, but later gets a house arrest deal, and his actions meant that Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne had to go on the run.
  • Age of Ultron ended with Wanda moving past her trauma and finding a new family with the Avengers. In this film, an innocent mistake on her part ends up being the fuse that lights the powder-keg for the Avengers' bad reputation and ultimately, just as Ultron predicted, she plays a key role in the Avengers being torn apart. Like the two above, she eventually gets thrown in supermax for international terrorism.
  • And finally Tony Stark, who does not get thrown in supermax mind you. In Iron Man 3, he promised to finally settle down and be an Official Couple with Pepper. This film reveals them to be on break since Cap outing HYDRA to the public meant the Avengers, and therefore Iron Man, were needed again and Tony couldn't focus enough time on their relationship. Averted as of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
• Hypocrite:
  • Falcon looks down on Black Panther and Spider-Man for invoking Animal-Themed Superbeing.
  • Zemo expresses distaste for the Avengers causing so much collateral damage. Doesn't stop him from creating more in his quest for revenge.
  • Captain America spent the last film giving Tony hell for keeping Ultron's creation a secret. The climax reveals that Cap, for the past two years, has been hiding that Bucky killed Howard and Maria Stark. Tony is understandably pissed..
• Insane Troll Logic: When faced with the threat of the other Winter Soldiers, Falcon says that there's not even enough time to ask Iron Man for help. There is however, enough time to call Hawkeye in the American Midwest, have him get Wanda on the East Coast, then get Scott on the West Coast then come to Germany. For reference, Hawkeye's trip would have taken about a day.
• Living MacGuffin: Bucky. He completely replaces the Accords as the Apple of Discord. Those who fight against Bucky are in Ross' good graces even if they didn't sign the Accords, and those who fought to protect Bucky have to go on the run and are branded as war criminals, even if they did sign the Accords.  
• Never My Fault: Hawkeye takes offence to being labelled a criminal. Apparently illegally crossing borders, attacking officers of the law, and blowing up an airport aren't criminal acts in his mind.
• No Name Given: The goverment organization that Ross works for. It's only referred as "the United Nations", but it has NOTHING in common with the U.N., and we see the actual U.N. in Black Panther, so who does Ross answer to is unclear.  
• Oh Crap: Steve when Tony pulls a Punch Catch.
• Poor Communication Kills: While everyone is guilty of this to an extent, Steve is the real offender. If he'd been more open about Bucky's brainwashing, the second half of the film could have been avoided.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Falcon clearly does not like working Bucky.
• Trigger Phrase: With nine words "Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One.", Bucky turns back into the Winter Soldier.
• Two Lines, No Waiting/Saved for the Sequel: As mentioned above, Thor and Banner aren't in this movie...so they can be in Thor: Ragnarok instead. Considering that movie adapted a heavily Thor-based comic storyline (Ragnarok) and a heavily Hulk-based comic storyline (Planet Hulk), while this movie adapts a comic storyline that didn't put much focus on Thor or Hulk, the absence of Thor and Hulk in this movie is understandable.  
• Unknown Rival:
  • Tony Stark to Scott Lang "Who are you?"
  • Ross to Thor and Banner. Banner only knows Ross for his actions in The Incredible Hulk, Thor never met Ross before, and neither Banner nor Thor know about Ross' actions in this movie.
  • Thanos to Zemo. Thanos ends up derailing Zemo's plans so badly that him doing so is what named the Thanos Ensues trope, but Thanos and Zemo never interact directly.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Played with with regards to Zemo. On the one hand, by dividing the Avengers, he's left the world more vulnerable for when Thanos comes for the Mind Stone. On the other, as four out of six Infinity Stones (Space, Power, Reality, and Soul) were off Earth, Thanos would have gotten them, and still pulled off his Badass Finger-Snap, with or without the Accords dividing the Avengers.
• We Have Become Complacent: On both sides. The Avengers seem to have forgotten that they need public support and the public that the Avengers are the ones constantly saving the world.
• Willfully Weak: Barring T'Challa, everyone in the airport fight.
• Worf Had the Flu: The final fight traps Tony in an enclosed area that limits how freely he can use his missiles and laser, forcing him to use his repulsors and fists.
  • In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tony claims that Steve was pulling his punches against Peter, and would have trounced Peter in a fair fight.
• You're Nothing Without Your Phlebotinum: Not nothing, but Cap really does need his shield to fight at his peak. Without it, he only holds Tony down for about five seconds before Iron Man turns the tide.