I have several problems with the movie version, and you can find a bit more detail here: I’m #TeamCap in the Comics, but #TeamStark in the Movie – Thought for Your Penny
First off, there’s Captain America. In the comics, the Superhuman Registration Act requires all supers to register, reveal their identity, report to the government for training, and possibly get a job with S.H.I.E.L.D. Captain America already works for S.H.I.E.L.D. and everyone knows he’s Steve Rogers. When he takes a stance against government oversight, it’s for everyone else, not himself.
In the MCU, Captain America was working for the government in his first two movies and both Avengers movies. Now, suddenly, he doesn’t want to work for the government. It comes off more like he’s just unwilling to give up his leadership role over the team or even listen to his teammates. That goes against everything a great leader or soldier would do, especially one calling himself Captain America.
You’ll also notice MCU Rogers shows no remorse for any of the destruction he causes. When trying to save Bucky, he brutally beats close to 40 police officers to the point they’ll likely never work again, and he completely destroys a low-income housing building in the process. Then he goes on a rampage and destroys a police car for no reason.
It’s all done in an effort to save Bucky from being killed, but he’s inevitably captured and not killed anyway. And how is Rhodey enough to stop Black Panther, Winter Soldier, and Captain America in that scene, but in the airport later, he’s a non-issue?
In the comics, the fighting stops when the heroes realize how much destruction they’re causing, but Captain America at no point shows any responsibility nor accountability for his path of destruction.
The Sokovia Accords are nearly entirely his fault since he was the leader of the Avengers during Age of Ultron, and he’s the person Wanda (who he trained between Age of Ultron and Civil War and is under his command) is saving when she accidentally blows up a building in Nigeria.
Why is Tony Stark willing to step up and take accountability, as are Rhodey and Natasha, but Steve —who is supposed to be a great American soldier above all else — can’t in any way take responsibility?
War Machine doesn’t die. Despite being shot by Vision and falling thousands of feet, he’s fine.
Scarlet Witch’s powers are utilized in dumb ways. In the comics, Scarlet Witch is among the most powerful mutants. She causes the House of M and various other tragedies leading up to Civil War.
In the MCU, she’s flinging cars at Iron Man and War Machine instead of just taking control of the both of them. She threw Crossbones with no problem. She has no problem grabbing Black Widow’s leg and throwing her (even telling Hawkeye he’s pulling punches) or taking control of Vision, but she can’t do the same to either War Machine or Iron Man?
She was easily the lamest use of powers in the film.
The U.N. explosion. T’Challa is looking out the window on one side of the room while his dad is giving a speech. He then sees a van bomb across the street (and you can assume the U.N. building isn’t directly up against the street). This across-the-street bomb explodes, taking out multiple floors of only the U.N. building but none of the buildings it’s actually near.
Oh, but that’s not all. The explosion comes from the opposite side of the building from where T’Challa is. He wouldn’t have been able to see it. Here’s a screenshot – the explosion comes from the left side of the screen, but T’Challa was on the right side of the screen, looking at a completely different side of the building.
Since it’s difficult to see, I circled where T’Chaka and T’Challa are during the massive explosion that killed only his father and nobody else whatsoever. These men are maybe 3 feet away from each other, yet one dies and the other is completely unphased and uninjured. Neither of their clothes are even singed from the fire of the blast, and the force of the blast destroyed only one man.
Black Widow (who has no superpowers and is simply a spy) is sitting in the front row of this speech and even she’s not injured in any way. Neither is anyone else in the room.
There was a comment made that T’Challa has superpowers beyond just his suit, and that’s a fair assessment; unfortunately, in the comics (and it’s alluded to in the movie as well), the Black Panther is passed down through hereditary means, so his father would have any of the same powers he has.
The way the bomb is oriented from the outside of the room, T’Challa would have been closer to it, and I see no reason his body wouldn’t have protected his father’s from the blast if it wasn’t a magical bomb that exploded from the other direction.
The ending fell short. Captain America should have died, or at least been captured. Instead the movie went completely off the rails. Also, how did Tony Stark survive after having his arc reactor destroyed? He’s nowhere near the amount of pain he’s in during every other movie when something happens to it. Cap literally drove his shield into his chest, and he just shakes it off.
*note – I stand corrected on the arc reactor, but the rest is valid*
Weaksauce…
That being said, this is mostly nitpicky stuff. It’s still a thoroughly enjoyable movie like all Marvel Studios films. I just don’t understand why it gets a free pass for making as many egregious errors as Batman v Superman, when that movie was basically crapped on despite also being a generally enjoyable film.