An Alternative View Of "Captain America: Civil War"

Matt McKinney of "Trek Talk" and "POS-TOS" recently responded to Paeter's interest in opinions regarding the latest Marvel movie. Matt responded with the following:

Just listened to your "Civil War" review. I'm surprised at the lackluster response, but then, you and I seem pretty much opposite when it comes to fiction, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

As for Spider-man, yes, I agree that he wasn't necessary to the immediate story, but it was a very organic time to introduce a new hero since Tony was recruiting new blood. That saves us a complicated introduction when he has a solo movie so we can get right to his own story.

As for Black Panther, he was not only being introduced for the same purpose, but he served several important roles in this movie specifically: he is the face of the victims of superhero combat (more so than Alfre Woodard's son, who was dropped once his ghost did its job of motivating Tony); he serves as a wild card in the hero-conflict, bringing true anger and making sure that not all fighters were 'pulling their punches'; and, most importantly, he brings home the theme of vengeance, that most worthless of causes that dragged Tony back into hatred, that brought all this about because of the villain's own hatred, and T'Challa proved the value letting go of vengeance (without letting the villain get away with anything...he'll still have to answer for his crimes). Indeed, while this story could have been told without Black Panther, it would have been a thinner story.

I think there are themes that are VERY relevant to Christians: aside from the aforementioned vengeance issue, there's the matter of submission to authorities. How far should we obey our leaders? It's not always clear just when obeying our leaders, at any level, crosses the line into shirking our responsibilities. I don't want to harp on "Dawn of Justice", but that movie did fail to properly demonstrate its similar themes. The two clashing heroes in that movie were ciphers to the writers' own ideas instead of their fight coming from true character matters (and Batman and Superman are different enough that bringing them to at least argument, if not blows, shouldn't ring so falsely). In contrast, the debate of this movie concerning limits and authority was a good one. You could see both sides of the argument and there's no clear cut 'wrong' side. The fact that it was being stirred up from the outside did not make it irrelevant, nor did the discovery of the real enemy suddenly solve the problems. Steve will not entrust himself to a government that might use him to hurt the innocent (Jesus, the Bible says, also would not entrust Himself to the crowds who wanted to make Him king). Tony believes that the nature of mankind is inherently corrupt and that we need mutual submission (certainly a Biblical concept) as well as submission to higher authorities (also Biblical) to curb our human error.

There's also an amazing parallel between Tony and Steve that's existed since the first "Captain America" movie came out. I could go into extensive detail, but the short of it is that these two men have both grown and changed in both parallel and perpendicular ways (even their origins were inverse...Tony needed a new soul, if you will, but had the physical means, and Steve had the right heroic mindset from the start, but was too weak to do anything with it). Steve started out as a true, red-blooded, loyal American soldier, one who was so patriotic that he downright refused the very concept of "a future without flags", and here he is, the anti-establishmentarian, championing the idea of "our hands are still the best hands". Tony, who gleefully thumbed his nose at the government trying to hold him accountable for his actions, instead opting to humiliate them publicly, has now become virtually partners with former General Ross (brilliant use of an old, established villain in the government role to highlight Tony's change) in holding the individuals down for the greater good. Yet, because of the experiences both men have undergone, none of this rings false or contrived (at least, not to me). Steve gradually saw his government infected with the enemy he'd thought expunged even while Tony had seen time and again how his own mistakes, unchecked due to his own "zero accountability" (which is what had initially led him to shut down the weapons production line and become Iron Man) and eventually became that which he had initially refused to be. Remarkably, at the end of their feature movies, both men have become mirror images of their former selves, more like the other man, in this regard.

I think these movies are far deeper than you think, Paeter, mostly for the same reasons the Bruce Timm DC animated series have been...multiple, interconnected stories allow them to paint these gradual pictures that only become relevant in hindsight. I would seriously encourage you to rewatch "Ant-Man" and "Age of Ultron". I don't think either of these are anywhere near Marvel's best, but I do think that there's more to both of them than meets the eye on the first viewing (and I also thought they were weak the first times through).

Just my thoughts. Good luck with everything, Paeter!

God bless,

Matt McKinney