With Captain America: Civil War, the Marvel mini-series that had huge ramifications across the universe finally comes to the big screen. However, it’s not quite the same as the original comic book series given that Fox owns the rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four. That said, it’s still a really awesome film.

Just as in the comics, Steve Rogers’ Captain America (Chris Evans) is pitted against Tony Stark’s Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.).  Cap is backed by Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).  Tony is joined by Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Vision (Paul Bettany), and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) following Tony Stark (Tom Holland).  Stark also has one Peter Parker up his sleeve as Spider-Man finally joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Stamford incident in the comics is replaced by an incident in Lagos.  The Scarlet Witch uses her telekinesis to prevent a bomb from going off.  She ends up killing hundreds of people in the process.  Unfortunately, she was unable to prevent the blast from destroying a building.  This soon leads to the United Nations passing the Sokovia Accords.  The only question is just how many Avengers will sign on and abide by the accords?

Meanwhile, at a conference to ratify the accords in Vienna, someone that appears to look like Bucky Barnes lets off a bomb that kills Wakandan king T’Chaka. His son, T’Challa (Boseman), vows to kill the person responsible. Unfortunately for him, it’s the wrong person as Bucky was framed by Helmet Zero (Daniel Brühl), who used to work for Sokovian intelligence.  Some Sokovians don’t forget what happened some time prior when the Avengers faced off against Ultron.

It is later revealed after Stark arrives in Siberia to set up a truce with Rogers and Barnes that Barnes was responsible for the deaths of Stark’s parents.  Rogers knew some of the details but didn’t know everything.  Rogers and Barnes go up against Stark in a battle that may test their friendship.

What we know during the end of the movie: Cap breaks his team out of the Raft prison and mails a phone to Tony Stark, delivered by the great Stan Lee.  Black Widow is in hiding.  Bucky goes into stasis at a facility in Wakanda.  James Rhodes is paralyzed but Tony provides him with braces that allow him to walk again.  Thor and Hulk are not in the movie as the next Thor movie is said to be taking place around the same time and mostly in the cosmos. That being said, the events of this movie will impact the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years to come.

There are a lot of players in Captain America: Civil War but it never really feels like it’s too crowded. It’s just crowded enough to be an enjoyable film.

DIRECTORS:  Anthony Russo & Joe Russo
Screenwriters:  Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely
CAST:  Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Marisa Tomei, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, Martin Freeman, with William Hurt and Daniel Brühl

The first movie of MCU Phase 3, Captain America: Civil War, is in theaters now. Grade: 5/5