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Captain America: Civil War SPOILER Thread - #TeamThanos

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And let's be real here, just taking the name and general concept of Civil War was so goddamn smart

Same with Winter Soldier, honestly.

I still think it'd be a nice little novelty if Marvel OR WB managed to actually faithfully adapt one of their superhero stories. Neither of them have really tried

(Watchmen doesn't count)
 
From the Junior novelization:

-Steve, Sam, Nat, and Wanda are in Lagos, Nigeria tracking Crossbones. He’s working as a mercenary now and breaks into the Institute For Infectious Disease and steals a deadly virus. Fighting ensues, the “your Bucky” line happens, Steve angsts over Bucky and lets his guard down enough for Crossbones to draw him closer, then Crossbones tries to blow them both up. Wanda uses her power to lift the bomb into the air but she’s not strong enough and can’t contain the blast. It explodes in the air and rips through a floor of a hotel, to her devastation.
-Tony is at an MIT graduation. A home movie is being played of Maria Stark playing the piano and Tony filming her. Tony seems to be really close to his mom. Howard comes in and acts kind of douchy. Maria kisses Tony on the cheek and asks him to play piano with her like they used to. The video cuts off there cause Tony recorded over it with a TV show. Tony gives a speech to the graduates and announces they’ll be recipients of the Howard and Maria Stark Foundation grant, all of their projects approved and funded.
-

- Tony’s backstage after a press conference after the graduation. A woman walks up to him and asks if he even knows how many people he’s killed. She gives him a picture of her son who died in Sokovia and gives him a lot of crap, blaming him and the Avengers for her sons death. Tony is emotionally wrecked by the exchange.
-Back at the Avengers Compound Wanda is watching the news and upset about the people who died in Nigeria. Steve says it’s not her fault and blames himself for not noticing the vest bomb when he was busy angsting about Bucky. Vision enters the room through the wall and scares Wanda. Steve had asked Vision to let him know when Tony’s arrived, and Tony’s now there with General Ross.
-The discussion about the Accords happens. Unlike the comic, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of registration for all superheros. There’s no talk of people having to reveal any secret identities. The Accords say that the Avengers will only operate under the supervision of a panel, and only when and if the panel deems it necessary. Anyone who won’t sign the agreement will be forced to retire. In particular Ross’ concern is about Wanda and Vision because they’re crazy powerful. They have 3 days to sign, then the Accords ceremony will be held in Vienna.

-The team debates about the Accords. Steve and Sam are completely against it. Rhodey and Tony are completely for it. Vision looks at it from a statistical point of view and feels oversight shouldn’t be outright dismissed. Tony talks about the kid who died in Sokovia. The exchange we’ve seen in the video clips happens; Tony says if they don’t do this now, it will be done to them later. He looks at Wanda and she says they’ll be coming for her. Vision says they’ll protect her. Nat says maybe Tony is right. Steve is disappointed in Nat and leaves.

-Okay, here things get weird and they’ve clearly omitted Peggy’s funeral from the book. Right after Steve leaves it says a full day later Steve hasn’t reported in and Nat goes and finds him in an old church. Now we know the scene in the church is related to Peggy’s funeral, but there’s no mention of the funeral happening or anything about Peggy at all in the book. Probably all skipped for spoilers. Anyway, Nat talks to Steve and she says she’s leaving tomorrow for Vienna to go to the Accords ceremony. She, Tony, Rhodey, and Vision have all signed. Clint says he’s retired, and Steve, Sam, and Wanda don’t sign, making them now no longer Avengers.

-Next day Nat is at the ceremony in Vienna. There she meets both T’Challa and his father T’Chaka. They’re there because some people from Wakanda were killed during the incident in Nigeria. While T’Chaka is giving a speech a bomb goes off. Nat and T’Challa are fine but T’Chaka is killed, (I think; it doesn’t say it outright but it’s implied. I assumed they didn’t outright say it cause it’s a book for kids.) (I should mention, in the conversation prior to all of this T’Challa seems chill and like a nice guy but afterwards he is just straight up NO CHILL through the rest of the book.)

-Now it gets confusing to me again here. In interviews the other day Emily VanCamp said that Sharon is working in Berlin, but here in the book now Sharon is in the US, hanging out in a hotel room with Steve and Sam, and it says that Sharon and Steve had become good friends since after CATWS, but in interviews we were also told that Steve doesn’t even find out who Sharon really is until the funeral, so?? I don’t know what’s going on here. But anyway, the three of them are chillin’ in a hotel room when they see on TV the news about the bomb at the Accords ceremony. Tony is giving an interview, doing damage control. The news then plays CCTV footage of the person seen setting the bomb and it’s Bucky. Sharon gets called in to work and leaves on a military plane for Vienna.

- Nat is still on the scene looking things over and Sharon is now somehow magically there 10 minutes later. I don’t even know? None of this makes sense. T’Challa is pissed and plans to take care of the bomber himself.

- Steve’s phone rings and he and Sam are now suddenly in Vienna too. Nat calls and asks him to stay out of things. (Remember, he’s no longer an Avenger now. Anything he does is on his own.) Steve says he’s got to be the one to bring Bucky in because he’s the least likely to die trying. He goes into the cafe where Sam is. Sharon comes in shortly after and gives him information on where Bucky’s been located - in Romania. Sharon is about to report it to her bosses, but this gives Steve and Sam a headstart.

-Bucky is walking down the street in Romania, checking out some fruit stands. A man looks at him, freaks out and runs away, leaving his newspaper behind. Bucky looks at the paper and sees he’s accused of the bombing in Vienna. Bucky heads home fast, planning to leave another home behind.

- Steve has arrived at Bucky’s shabby apartment. He notices the fridge is unplugged and opens it to find it filled with weapons and ammo. The kitchen table has stacks of notebooks on it. Steve opens one. “There were hastily sketched maps and illustrations, random words written in an almost unreadable scrawl. It looked like the efforts of a distorted mind spilled across the pages.”

-Bucky comes home and Steve asks if he knows him. Bucky says, “You’re Steve.” Steve steps towards him and Bucky steps back. Bucky says he read about Steve at a museum. Sam is watching outside and comes over the comms and tells Steve the GSG9 is coming for Bucky. Steve can tell by the look in Bucky’s eyes that Bucky doesn’t actually remember him, just knows of him from the museum. (omg, yes it says this stuff, it’s straight up fanfiction level here). Bucky says he wasn’t in Vienna, he doesn’t do that anymore. Steve says they’re coming to get you, etc. the stuff we heard over a different scene in the trailer. GSG9 is coming but Steve keeps going on. “You pulled me out of the river.” “I don’t know why I did that.” “Yes, you do,” said Cap, looking Bucky in the eyes.” Yes, this is straight quotes. While this is happening Sam is on comms freaking out while Steve ignores him to stare in Bucky’s eyes.

- The GSG9 troops break in. Bucky reacts automatically, “seemingly programmed”, grabs Steve’s shield to take cover from bullets and pounds his metal fist into the floor. He pulls out the backpack which he’s stored for emergency. “It contained weapons, cash, fake IDs, and everything else he would need to flee effectively.” There’s no mention of notebooks and the ones on the table are left behind. :’( Bucky knocks out everyone, leaves the shield and runs off with his backpack. As he’s fleeing, Black Panther jumps out to reck his ****. A chase ensues and leads to the rooftop where a GSG9 helicopter shoots at Bucky. Steve takes cover, Bucky runs away, Black Panther probably laughs at the puny bullets from behind his mask, and Sam takes out the helicopter.

- The whole motorcycle chase scene then starts. Steve gets into someone’s SUV, Black Panther ends up riding on top of it at one point and at another point ends up riding on top of Sam. (lol, not like that) After Bucky gets knocked off the bike everyone starts to brawl and Black Panther scratches the shield. It ends with Rhodey arriving and firing a repulsor at the ground near them. The troops circle them, Steve looks at Bucky, Bucky’s thinking about making a break for it but knows he can’t. “Cap whispered to Bucky, “No, don’t. It’s what they want you to do.”” Bucky doesn’t like it but understands. Everyone is arrested. Rhodey says he feels like he’s arresting his father and his idiot brother. Black Panther takes off his mask and Steve and Rhodey recognize him as T’Challa.

- It then goes back to Avengers Compound. Wanda is beating up a punching bag when she smells something cooking that reminds her of home. She goes in the kitchen and finds Vision cooking a Sokovian dish to cheer her up. She tastes it while it’s cooking and he tells her he’s never eaten anything a day in his life. It tastes terrible but she tells him it’s good, then takes over cooking it to try and fix it. They talk about their weird powers and people being afraid of them. Wanda decides the food still sucks and gets her purse to go to the store for something. Vision blocks her path and suggests ordering a pizza instead. Wanda gets annoyed that he’s blocking her and he admits that Tony doesn’t want either of them leaving the Compound to avoid any incidents.

- Back to the others, who are being transported to Berlin. Steve, Sam, and T’Challa are in one truck. T’Challa doesn’t want to talk to them. Steve tells him Bucky is innocent. T’Challa says that innocent men don’t run.

- They arrive at the task force headquarters and are taken into the building. They watch as a modified forklift pulls a cage off another truck, with Bucky inside. There they meet Everette Ross (Martin Freeman’s character) who says Bucky is going to be taken for psych evaluation and extradition. Sharon is there too but doesn’t say anything to them. Everette rolls his eyes at Steve’s suggestion of getting Bucky a lawyer and tells Sharon to see that their weapons are locked up because it’s a secure building. The shield, Sam’s wings, and T’Challa’s suit are all carried off.

- Guards lead them into the building where they meet with Nat. T’Challa goes into an office with Everette while Nat, Steve, and Sam go into another room where Tony is there, on the phone. Tony’s again putting out fires, trying to make arrangements to get them out of trouble. He says Ross wants them prosecuted. Steve says he’s not getting the shield back is he and Tony says the shield and wings are still government property.

-T’Challa uses his influence as future king of Wakanda to pressure the world authorities to extradite Bucky to Wakanda to face several charges, including terrorism. Meanwhile Bucky is undergoing psychological evaluation. It’s widely understood that he was brainwashed but they don’t know anything about any residual effects the conditioning might have caused.

-In the room with Tony, Steve watches the evaluation on a live feed monitor. On screen the doctor asks Bucky questions and he’s slow to answer and appears confused. Tony tries to talk Steve into signing the Accords as a way to get them all off the hook. He says apparently it looks bad when Captain America won’t sign your accords so if he’ll do it they can make everything that happened with them going after Bucky look legit. Bucky could go to a nice American psych center instead of a Wakandan jail. Steve knows it’s the only way to help Bucky. Tony presses it, telling Steve he (Tony) needs him, and Steve starts to bend a little. He says it’s not impossible but there needs to be safeguards. Tony starts to cheer up and is ready to get to work amending things. He says once the public relations fire is put out he’ll find a way to reinstate Steve and Wanda. Steve asks what’s this about Wanda, and Tony admits she’s confined to the Compound to protect her. Steve doesn’t think it’s protection but imprisonment and is disappointed in Tony. Tony says it’s the best option because she’s not an American citizen and they won’t give her a visa because she’s a “weapon of mass destruction”. Steve says she’s just a kid. Tony says people just want to feel safe. Steve says, “well you’re doing a great job so far.”
 
Same with Winter Soldier, honestly.

I still think it'd be a nice little novelty if Marvel OR WB managed to actually faithfully adapt one of their superhero stories. Neither of them have really tried

(Watchmen doesn't count)

I think it'd be cool to see too. I keep hoping they'll eventually adapt Born Again for Daredevil.
 
And let's be real here, just taking the name and general concept of Civil War was so goddamn smart

Well, outside a few isolated moments, everything else from the comic was garbage. All they had to do to clear that bar was to not write Team Iron Man as mustache-twirling fascist villains.
 
Same with Winter Soldier, honestly.

I still think it'd be a nice little novelty if Marvel OR WB managed to actually faithfully adapt one of their superhero stories. Neither of them have really tried

(Watchmen doesn't count)

The Cap team at Marvel is pretty smart about the material they draw from though? Much like how Nolan got the best out of Batman stories like Year One and The Long Halloween without actually adapting them as is, Marvel has managed to mine the very best elements of Brubaker's Cap run for two movies so far. Hopefully they'll manage to do the same for Infinity War with.... I guess Hickman's material? Not sure if anyone really wants the original Infinity Gauntlet or Infinity War on screen. :P

It starts with interiors and then the camera pans out and you see waterfalls and a giant panther statue.

OMGGGGG!
 
The Cap team at Marvel is pretty smart about the material they draw from though?

I'm not saying they aren't, just that it'd be nice to get actual adaptations of these works at some point.

It'd be like if the Harry Potter series went 8 movies with only general concepts from each book sorta/kinda tackled, yunno? Not to say the movies wouldn't have been great if quality writers did so (hell, Azkaban played pretty fast & loose with that book and it was easily the best of the 8 films), but it seems to be a thing with superhero stories that the option for directly adapting the graphic novels that consistently push units year after year after year isn't even on the table. Most literary adaptations at least attempt some fidelity to the source. Superheroes almost never do.

But in the case of Civil War, it's the right choice: The event drew huge attention on premise alone. The execution of that premise in the comics was total ass. Take the premise, rewrite it completely and play to the strengths of the characters as they appear in the movie. Voila!
 
Cap dying in the first place was also pretty Marvel.

It appears this film not only managed the neat trick of being a coherent narrative while also being a satisfying beat 'em up, but it - on top of that - managed to correct every single misguided storytelling decision from the original comic bearing its name.

And considering how many giant fuckups were in that series, that's saying something.

What did you want them to kill cap and then have the dirt on his coffin move?

I was so sure they'd off him. So naturally I've been adjusting myself to it all these years. I don't mind if they don't kill him but there better be some huge consequences out of this. I don't want to see another situation where like age of ultron Tony/Cap gets off it with the shake of a hand --- all forgiven and forgot-- type wuss out ending.
 
I'm not saying they aren't, just that it'd be nice to get actual adaptations of these works at some point.

I think that's a tough proposition for the majority of storylines though. Comics are a very different medium from films, and many of the best storylines are written with that in mind. They draw from the long history of the works to drive the narrative. I would have loved to see a Winter Soldier movie about the Red Skull and the Cosmic Cube too, but even then it would have to be heavily adapted to work as a movie, since the comic story was much more like a TV series than a film.

I think stuff like that would work a lot better with one-shot graphic novel type stories. Stuff like Marvel 1602, Kingdom Come, etc.
 
I think that's a tough proposition for the majority of storylines though. Comics are a very different medium from films, and many of the best storylines are written with that in mind.

I disagree, and as evidence, I present the minor armada of animated DTV adaptations from both WB and Marvel that manage to do it fairly regularly. (whether they do it well is a different argument, one that brings into account stupid length-restrictions based on airtime requirements and budgeting bullshit that prevents quality animation)

Comics are a different medium from film, absolutely. But they're also very close to storyboards, much closer to that in-between stage from script to screen than most literary works ever begin at.

Again: I'm not saying what Marvel's done to this point is bad, or lesser. Just that I would, in addition, also like them (or any studio, really) to actually attempt semi-faithfully adapting any one of the multitude of graphic novel collections that work more or less as stand-alone story arcs.

There are so many aspects of adapting Superhero stories that seem to have artificial roadblocks installed that people wouldn't even think of applying to other forms of adaptation. The shit really doesn't need to be that hard.
 
Cap dying in the first place was also pretty Marvel.

It appears this film not only managed the neat trick of being a coherent narrative while also being a satisfying beat 'em up, but it - on top of that - managed to correct every single misguided storytelling decision from the original comic bearing its name.

And considering how many giant fuckups were in that series, that's saying something.

Thank god.

The consequences are that Rhodey gets Degrassi'd
He will become a rapper and change his name to Drake?
 
First official shot of Zemo:

rjjryrjyk-000223129.jpg


It's Daniel Bruhl.
 
There are so many aspects of adapting Superhero stories that seem to have artificial roadblocks installed that people wouldn't even think of applying to other forms of adaptation. The shit really doesn't need to be that hard.

Well, I agree, but at the same time that's just the reality of it - roadblocks exist. Whether it is licensing issues, runtime issues, or historical issues, they are there and we can't pretend they're not. Like, for example, how do you go about doing a "faithful" adaptation of The Winter Soldier when the material is essentially written for two completely different audiences? Brubaker's Cap relaunch was written with the assumption that people accept that the Marvel Universe in the comics has public experience with superheroes since WW2. The established history is a huge part of what makes a lot of the story work, including the flashbacks.

It is what it is, and unless Marvel wants to make "non-canon" stand alone adaptations in future, we won't be getting anything that is directly like the comics. But honestly, I'm okay with it, because I personally find direct adaptations really boring - even in anime when they just follow the manga exactly. Lol.
 
Read the superhero hype spoiler thread and a big one that wasn't answered is why Zemo is doing what he's doing. Is it heritage or a Hydra link that he wants to take out the Avengers? I'm wondering if the film alludes to it or the leaker didn't get to mention it. Also want to know more about Thunderbolt Ross, there were no mentions of him or what he's actually up to.
 
Like, for example, how do you go about doing a "faithful" adaptation of The Winter Soldier when the material is essentially written for two completely different audiences?

I'm not talking about them adapting The Winter Soldier though

You keep kinda trying to make this an either/or and I'm just saying I'd like an "also" option. They're already doing it on the animation side. I'd just like them to try it on the live-action side. They can do it.

This is literally me asking "why not both" and there's no super-striking reason why not both. Canonicity really doesn't have to enter into it, and it's one of the easier things to write around in the course of any adaptation. For example: The Broccolis were managing this sorta shit back in the 60s with Bond films that were actually serialized stories building off each other. And they were adapting them out of order and still having them work.

Again - the shit isn't that hard. Superheroes aren't anywhere near as complicated as their fans like to percieve them. Either of these studios could give it a shot. They just haven't tried it. I'd like them to! I'm not saying they should stop doing it how they're doing it, because obviously how they're doing it is successful! Just it'd be cool if they tried it the other way once or twice, too.

Same with doing some animated stories that have effort and money put into em, like WB is doing with Lego Batman and Sony is hopefully doing with Spidey.
 
You keep kinda trying to make this an either/or and I'm just saying I'd like an "also" option. They're already doing it on the animation side. I'd just like them to try it on the live-action side. They can do it.

I'm not though? I'm just using Winter Soldier as one example. I explained why I think Marvel can't do it as it is for films, because they have quadrupled down on this "cinematic universe" shit and #itsallconnected, so unless they suddenly change their minds and want to make stand alone movies free from all that, it won't happen.
 
I was so sure they'd off him. So naturally I've been adjusting myself to it all these years. I don't mind if they don't kill him but there better be some huge consequences out of this. I don't want to see another situation where like age of ultron Tony/Cap gets off it with the shake of a hand --- all forgiven and forgot-- type wuss out ending.

Yeah, I feel this way too. Especially since it would have been a pretty great way to transition into having Bucky become the new Captain America- which I feel pretty confident is going to happen at some point in the MCU. Sebastian's contract with Marvel all but screams he'll eventually become the leading protagonist of the Cap series.

But then again, I suppose they could move Steve's death into Infinity War and have Bucky take over during that?
 
Read the superhero hype spoiler thread and a big one that wasn't answered is why Zemo is doing what he's doing. Is it heritage or a Hydra link that he wants to take out the Avengers? I'm wondering if the film alludes to it or the leaker didn't get to mention it. Also want to know more about Thunderbolt Ross, there were no mentions of him or what he's actually up to.

Zemo lost his family in Sokovia.
 
Zemo lost his family in Sokovia.

Ah, thanks.

Maybe that's why some have said Zemo is unsatisfying. Seems like he's a smart guy and a master planner, but didn't think that maybe the Avengers did the right thing not letting the robot guy drop the fully populated city as a meteor.
 
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