While Captain America: Civil War was loosely adapted from the Civil War comic, it’s packed with easter eggs, throwbacks and an infinite amount of references.I’m here to talk about the ones that I noticed and the ones that made me jump in my seat!
Be warned this is a spoiler filled article, for a spoiler free review of Captain America: Civil War, click here.
Now, the original Civil War comic features essentially the entire Marvel universe, something this film does not due to copyright (thanks, Fox). And while I still had hope for Reed Richards making an appearance, he doesn’t and that’s okay. Marvel Studios has given us a stunning lineup of superheroes who want to save their planet, but who have different beliefs on how they should go about their duties.
Civil War Comic parallels:
The Civil War arc opens with the New Warriors (Microbe, Namorita, Night Thrasher and Speedball) engaging in a fight in Stamford, Connecticut, which results in the death of 612 innocent civilians. This kicks off the need for government supervision of The Avengers.
Similarly, the film kicks off with Steve leading a few of the Avengers into Lagos, in an attempt to take down Crossbones. Natasha, Wanda and Sam follow Steve on this mission, but Crossbones has strapped a bomb onto himself, promising to take Steve with him straight to hell. Wanda, who arrives just in time, uses her powers to isolate Crossbones, but sends him blasting through a building while the explosion goes off, killing innocent people living in the very building. Wanda is aware of what she had done, and you can clearly see the guilt etched on her face.
Tony attends a memorial service for the lives taken at Stamford and is greeted by a mourning mother, who spits in his face, questioning how he could even show up after what had happened. She blames him and The Avengers for what happened to her son and tells Tony that the blood of her son is on his hands.
In the film, Tony appears to be giving a speech at MIT and uses virtual reality to display the last moment he had with his parents (before their deaths). He also promises the students of MIT that he would fund their future projects. While Tony attempts to leave MIT, he runs into a mourning mother, who tells Tony about her son, Charlie Spencer, who would’ve been a student at MIT, if not for the events at Sokovia that unfortunately took his life. “You think you fight for us? You fight for yourselves… Who’s going to avenge my son?”, she says sadly, blaming Tony for the loss of her own son. This clearly hits Tony and he does take fault for his actions, which is why he signs the Sokovia Accords.
In issue #3 of Civil War, Iron Man reveals that his armor had recorded every punch Captain America has ever thrown and uses this to his advantage to take Cap down. During the final battle scene in the film when Steve is seen repeatedly throwing punches at Tony, Friday analyses his fighting patterns and so Tony uses this against him, eventually managing to have the upper hand.
Susan Richards/The Invisible Woman switches from Tony’s side to Steve’s in the middle of the massive battle between the two sides. She protects Team Cap from being targeted by the Thor clone and allows them to leave. In the film, while Bucky and Steve attempt to get away with the Black Panther chasing closely behind, Natasha stops the Black Panther by stunning him, allowing Steve and Bucky to get on a jet and get away.
Not appearing in the actual Civil War arc, but rather in the events of Civil War (The Amazing Spider-man Vol. 1, #537), Steve Rogers gives Peter Parker a pep talk and while this does make it into the film, it’s under different circumstances. Instead, Sharon Carter gives this speech at Peggy’s funeral, which certainly makes an impression on Steve.
Understandably, the Russo brothers couldn’t incorporate every aspect of the comic series into the film. However, they still managed to make the film work while having to move things around and changing up character arcs.
This film introduces us to Black Panther and Spider-man; two very highly anticipated characters. And they were both flawless. Black Panther/T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, had a very dark side to him in this film. He was the Prince of Wakanda, but losing his father, T’Chaka, sent him on a path of vengeance, with his only goal being to kill Bucky Barnes. And now T’Challa is the King of Wakanda, as well as the Black Panther, and you can really tell that he is passionate about protecting his people. What I found really cool about the Black Panther in this film was his suit. His suit is coated in Vibranium – the same metal used to forge Captain America’s shield, making him a tough act to defeat. Fighting fire with fire, I suppose.
And now we’ve gotten our third Spider-man in the last 15 years. I grew up on the 1994 animated series and the Tobey Maguire films, so they have a very special place in my heart. Andrew Garfield was a good Spider-man in his own way, but I think we’ve finally found the one. Picking an actual teenager to play the younger Peter Parker was a good call. While Tom Holland is 19 and Peter is just 15, Holland delivers a spectacular performance as the webslinger, stealing everyone’s hearts in the process. We’ve all known Spider-man to be the one making all the quips during the worst possible times and that is exactly what happens in this film, just as it does in the Civil War comic. During the airport scene when everyone is just going at it, Spidey attempts to make a conversation with some of the heroes and you can just tell everyone’s already fed up with the teenager. Except for Captain America, who humors the new addition and asks him where he’s from, while he tries to stop a trailer from crushing himself. Let’s just hope we don’t have a 4th reboot.
Having only been introduced to Scarlet Witch and the Vision in ‘Age of Ultron’, we finally get to see more of the two in action, as well as see them nurture a special connection. When Wanda watches the news of the events in Lagos, Steve tries to console her, telling her that she’s not the only one to blame for innocent people dying. Vision walks into her room through a wall and she sweetly calls him “Viz” (although, it did sound like “Fiz” but the former did make more sense to me), going on to say, “We’ve talked about this” – meaning that he’s walked through walls and into her room more than once. The two continue to bond when Tony confines her to the compound and this could possibly set up a romantic relationship between the two. They do eventually end up marrying each other and having kids in the comics, so maybe we’ll get a hint of that in the upcoming films.
Wanda has proved to be a very powerful addition to The Avengers, and once she’s in complete control of her powers, she could very well be up there with Thor as one of the most powerful Avengers (in the entire MCU). During the big brawl, Wanda pretty much saves everyone from being hurt/killed; as a result I’m eagerly awaiting the rise of Scarlet Witch. I mean, did you see her take Vision down? The Mind stone makes Vision the most powerful Avenger in Captain America: Civil War, yet he was literally taken down by someone who hasn’t mastered her powers yet!
Hawkeye/Clint Barton does return to the scene, only to be on Team Cap – which is fairly understandable. After retiring at the end of ‘Age of Ultron’, Clint returns to find everything in shambles and disappoints his kids by risking his life once again. Clint is the one tasked to break Wanda out of Vision’s confinement, which was really the best thing for both characters. During the fight with Ultron’s army of robots in ‘Age of Ultron’, we saw Clint give Wanda a pep talk when she was unsure of her abilities and whether she would be able to do the job well enough. Eventually she gets back out there, is able to help the Avengers and is then recruited by the team. I feel as though Clint and Wanda have this special bond, where he’s protective over her, feeling responsible for her (especially after her twin brother died saving his life). As a result Wanda feels the closest to him and even possibly safe.
Months before the release of CA:CW, toys for the film were revealed, and they included Giant-man. Fans speculated that this could mean we were getting Giant-Man in the film, perhaps instead of Ant-Man, but we got both! In the middle of the airport scene when Steve and Bucky needed to get away, Scott tells the team that he could distract Team Iron Man with something that he had only done once before in a lab. And so, Scott Lang transforms himself into Giant-Man, taking everyone by surprise and helping Steve and Bucky get away.
Additionally, Sharon Carter/Agent 13 reappears after her brief introduction in ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, finally revealing herself to be Peggy Carter’s niece. She does build on her relationship with Steve and we do ultimately get to see Sharon in action, when she tries to help take down a rogue Bucky.
Bucky AKA The Winter Soldier, is Steve Rogers’ best friend. Steve would do anything to protect him and this is very evident in all three films. Bucky is still trying to recover from his brainwashed state and unfortunately for his recovery process, A LOT of people want him in custody. Towards the end of the film, it’s clearly revealed that Bucky was the one who killed the Starks, causing Tony to breakdown into a wrathful tornado of emotions. Steve tries to reason with Tony, telling him that Bucky was simply brainwashed and it wasn’t his fault. Now, Steve doesn’t die at the end of this film, but there still could be time for Bucky to take on the Captain America mantle. In all three Captain America films, there has been foreshadowing of this, as Bucky has held up the shield in all three.
However, Sam Wilson is the current Captain America in the comics, but his character hasn’t been developed enough in the MCU for him to take Steve’s place. Both Sam and Bucky have proved to be loyal allies to Steve; even though the two didn’t necessarily get along in the film. However, I feel that they would work well with each other if Steve ever died and would make a great team by themselves.
The mid-credits scene takes place in Wakanda and features Bucky going back to his cryogenic state. We all know of the upcoming Black Panther film, and Sebastian Stan does have more movie appearances in his contract, but there’s no word on whether or not he’ll make an appearance in the Black Panther film. I must say, a Panther/Winter Soldier team up would be incredibly fascinating.
Also making an appearance in the film is Redwing! Sam Wilson’s telepathic, pet falcon is now a part of Wilson’s suit, and makes a rather good sidekick to Wilson, proving to be essential to the whole team. Redwing does assist Black Widow, who refuses to thank a mechanical bird which was quite amusing to watch.
Villain
While this film was ultimately Steve Rogers and Tony Stark disagreeing on a number of things, it did have a villain: Col. Helmut Zemo goes after The Avengers after his family had been killed in Sokovia. Zemo is seen listening to a voicemail from his wife during the film, adding to the anger and sorrow he was feeling. Watching CA:CW for the first time, Zemo didn’t make too big of an impression on myself. Daniel Brühl did a good job, but there wasn’t much to his character, especially since there were so many other things happening in the film. But after watching it for a second time, allowing myself to focus on things I didn’t pay attention to earlier, I was able to concentrate on the extent of his actions and felt empathy. Zemo had just lost his entire family, even after relocating them out of Sokovia for safety. But they couldn’t escape the impending doom, and The Avengers walked away unscathed.
Like T’Challa, Zemo acts out of vengeance, trying to destroy The Avengers by using them against each other. Despite the fact that he was eventually apprehended, he did succeed with his plans – something that not a lot of MCU villains have managed to do. He lures Steve and Bucky to Siberia, who are then joined by Tony. The three then form a truce, and they’re shown the remains of the five other Winter Soldiers, who were dead. He plays the clip of Tony’s parents dying at the hands of Bucky, causing Tony to snap. He’s angry and hurt, and all those years of repressed feelings of his parents have just come up and he’s out for blood. The three fight it out, almost killing each other in the process, letting Zemo make his exit. Now, we’re left with a paralysed Rhodey and most of The Avengers in hiding. Zemo’s plan was to destroy them from the inside, and he did.
What makes him different from previous MCU villains is that he actually had an agenda – like Tony and T’Challa, he wanted revenge for his loved ones. And he succeeded. In another light, he would have been a perfect Avenger.
Deaths
Surprisingly enough, the first death in the movie comes when Crossbones attempts to set a bomb off on himself, in an attempt to take Captain America down with him. Cap is saved by Wanda, who isolates Crossbones and sends him blowing up through a building nearby. I knew Crossbones was going to be involved in the film, but I really did think he was going to have a bigger role (and maybe even kill a very important Avenger).
Before the release of the film, it had been leaked that we’d be introduced to a new character, who would then be killed off – which happened to T’Chaka (played by John Kani). I would’ve liked to see T’Chaka in the Black Panther film, to be quite honest. T’Chaka is seemingly killed by The Winter Soldier, which is what sets T’Challa off and introduces him to Team Iron Man.
Now, we all knew this was coming. But I really never thought that it would actually be shown. I loved this character so much, that the thought of her death just never occurred to me. She was immortal in my mind. When The Avengers are trying to come to a decision on the Sokovia Accords, Steve gets a text message that read “She’s gone. In her sleep”. It didn’t hit me at first, but then I saw the country code and my heart broke. Perhaps I’m being dramatic, but Peggy Carter IS my favorite female character in the MCU. Before Bucky’s return, Peggy was all Steve had from his past, and here he was, helping to carry her casket. That just hit me hard, man.
Easter eggs/references
Joe Russo Cameo
When Tony finds out that Zemo had impersonated the psych evaluator, we find out that Zemo had killed him and we see an image of a bloody Joe Russo in a bathtub.
The Raft
The Raft is a prison used in the Marvel comics, and made it’s appearance in the film when Sam, Clint, Scott and Wanda were ‘arrested’. Think of it as the MCU’s Azkaban.
D23
When Bucky was arrested after his brawl with Black Panther, he was placed in a glass cell that was labeled “D 23”. The D23 Expo is held at Anaheim, California, and provides the ‘Ultimate Disney Fan Experience’!
Bluth family stair car
Before the Russo Brothers joined Marvel, they did their time directing sitcoms such as ‘Arrested Development’ and ‘Community’. My eyes could’ve just deceived me, but I swear I saw the Bluth Company stair car during the airport fight scene.
Avengers #223
Attempting to slow Iron Man down, Hawkeye gets Ant-man to hop on one of his arrows, shoots it towards Iron Man so that Ant-man could climb into his suit and disable his weapons system. The shot was directly taken from the cover of Avengers #223!
The Empire Strikes Back
During the battle with Giant man, Spider-man comes up with a plan, and references a “really old movie, Empire Strikes Back”, to take down Scott’s gigantic form. Spidey wraps Scott’s legs around with his webbing, while Iron Man and War Machine knock him down – similar to the scene where Luke Skywalker and the rebel alliance took down AT-ATs by wrapping tow cables around their legs and tripping them
Jim Rash
In ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, we had a brief cameo from Danny Pudi who stars on Community, so it was only natural for the Russo’s to include Jim Rash in CA:CW as the Dean of MIT, as he plays the Dean of Greendale on Community!
F.R.I.D.A.Y
Since J.A.R.V.I.S had been integrated into Vision, Tony needed a new A.I and so we were given the introduction of F.R.I.D.A.Y. In the comics, she’s more simply known as ‘Friday’, and is a hologram secretary for Tony Stark. Stark created her in the image of Pepper Potts, which is referenced in the film when Tony finds out about Zemo and comments on what F.R.I.D.A.Y could possibly look like.
Dottie Underwood
When Steve and Bucky reminisce on their adolescent days, they talk about a girl Bucky used to date, whose name was ‘Dolores’, but he used to call her ‘Dot’. On Marvel’s Agent Carter, we were introduced to the character of Dottie Underwood, whose name was actually Dorothy, but she was a spy so it’s possible she could’ve lied about her name. I could see Bucky dating a girl like Dottie, though. It kinda fits.
“I could do this all day”
In ‘The First Avenger’ when pre-serum Steve got into an alley fight and was very clearly losing, he gets back up on his feet and refuses to be knocked out. “I can do this all day,” he says, out of breath and bloody. He does the same in CA:CW during the last fight scene against Iron Man.
Stan Lee Cameo
Of course we’ve been graced with a cameo from the almighty Stan Lee. Lee appears as a post-man, delivering a letter to ‘Tony Stank’.
Wakanda
We get a quick glimpse of the Panther statues in Wakanda during the mid-credits scene. Bucky goes back under the ice because he feels as though he could still do some harm, since Zemo was able to trigger the Hydra agent side of Bucky, and decides this is the best option.
Spider-signal
The end-credits scene features Peter Parker messing around with some new tech, presumably given to him by Tony Stark, and shines the famous Spider-signal on the ceiling. This could just be cool new tech given to Peter for fun, but I think we’d all thoroughly enjoy a film where he actually makes use of the Spider-signal.
Civil War #7
The film pays homage to the original comic series, taking the cover of issue #7 and including it in the film during Steve’s showdown with Tony. And it truly was a beautiful moment.
It’s been a while since I saw Captain America: Civil War for the first time but I still haven’t stopped thinking about it. When Marvel Studios gives you a film of such exceptional quality, how do you only watch it once? I think it’s safe to say that I will be watching CA:CW for a third time. And maybe even a fourth.
