Background for Captain America: Civil War

 

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    Marvel's latest cash cow Captain America: Civil War has set the internet ablaze with keyboard warriors arguing who was right.  Now I'm not one to write a spoiler free article, but I think there are some things that need looking into before we can start saying who's right and who's wrong.   Though both teams are made up of factions of the super team that is The Avengers, the real fight comes down to a "Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist" and the literal personification of 1940's America (Honestly the only way he could be more America is if he was riding a bald eagle whilst firing an M1 Garand in the air, and cold clocking Hitler...oh he did that last one?  Yeah there you go).  Truthfully we need to look at the experiences of our trust fund baby, and our anthropomorphic America, before we can pass any judgment on who's right.

    Right then, let's get started.  First up is Tony Stark, a man so rich he can blow up his mansion several times and still not worry about his finances.  You see Tony grew up with a genius inventor for a dad, and a mom that doesn't get mentioned much in the cinematic universe.  Before this movie we get to see some of what Howard Stark is like as a young man in Captain America: The First Avenger.  He's an eccentric man, not without pragmatism, and patriotism.  Unlike Tony who one could say was one hit of ecstasy away from being the literal embodiment of a rave.  So what happened to cause Tony to veer off so far from his father's footsteps?  Well Howard Stark died of course.  To Tony's memory x Stark died in a car accident (Spoiler Alert: It totally wasn't a car accident).  Even though this isn't the most tragic Stark death in our collective memory, I think we can all agree that loosing his father at that young an age could seriously mess a guy up.  Combine that with enough money to buy Colorado, outright, the whole state, and you have a recipe for snorting blow of hooker's asses (though that may have just been the money too...).  Of course Tony grows up in the first film, and presumably stops his hooker-ass-blow-parties, but that doesn't relieve him of the gilt he has from all that partying...and illegal arms sales.  Then over the course of five movies we watch Tony's character develop, and in each movie he seems to make colossal screw ups that bite him (and everybody else) in the ass all the time.  To summarize: Iron Man 1 he sells arms to terrorists/builds a super-suit that gets copied; Iron Man 2 he pisses off a Russian physicist by not giving credit for the idea he used/angered a ruthless competitor; The  Avengers he almost kills himself trying to save the world; Iron Man 3 still reeling from his own mortality he tries to fight crime with automated suits, and has to fight yet another scientist he pissed off; The Avengers Age of Ultron he creates a homicidal killing machine bent on saving the world by killing it.  With all these failures it makes sense that Tony would feel that he needs somebody to watch him.  In the end Tony is really just a boy that misses his dad, and wants someone...anyone to watch over him, and tell him he's doing the right thing.

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    Now onto Steve Rodgers a.k.a Captain America.  The first thing anyone should ever say about Cap'n Rodgers is that he is a man out of his time...literally.  I'm sure we all know that Cap here was originally from the 1940's, and that's the most important thing to remember.  Let's all take a little trip in my time machine back to 1940.  The world is raging in World War Two.  The Axis powers have taken over France, and are bombing the proverbial hell out of the United Kingdom.  Where's the United States you ask?  Well You see we're still at home.  Despite how badly beaten our allies are at this time the majority of the United States is against getting into the war.  We saw that as Europe's problem, and we we're just concerned with America problems.  That is until the Japanese made the mistake of trying to bomb our Navy out of existence (and failed mind you).  This is the America Steve Rodgers grew up in, an isolationist America.  An America that just wants to be left alone to deal with it's own problems.  An America that doesn't believe in large coalitions since that's what started World War One in the first place.  What's that angry Tony Stark fan?  Steve Rodgers was all about entering the war effort?  Well yeah, that was the patriotic thing to do at the time.  Confused?  You see old Uncle Sam was all about isolationism, but when he did go into the war, he went all in.  Add that in with what the Cap has seen up till now (S.H.I.E.L.D. being hydra, Ultron killing people faster than the world could react, and Hydra forming out of the Nazi's) and it's a small wonder that he disagrees with too much regulation.  But all that is secondary to the fact that Cap is a man that stands by his friends.  You see Good ol' Steve had one true friend in the world growing up, and that was Bucky Barns.  Bucky as we all know became the winter soldier after falling from a train car.  Steve gets thawed out into a world where he's the only one from his time still alive and young, or so he thinks.  Then he finds out Bucky is still alive.  Now I want you put on  your imagination scarf and try this for me: imagine that you go to a foreign country, and are told you can never return.  Then you see an old friend from home there with you.  Tell me would do what was in your power to keep that little piece of home with you.  Of course you would.  That's what's going on with Cap'n Bald Eagle, and metal arm.



    While I'm on the subject of the Winter Soldier, let me just say that while none of the things that he's done are by any means excusable, he's also not at fault.  Oh man, listen to that chorus of imaginary voices yell at me.  You called Elsa a villain even though she didn't really mean to do all those things.  How can the Winter Soldier be different!  Well imaginary people who vastly outnumber my actual readers, that's simple: Elsa had free will.  See the thing to remember about my pal righty-the-soviet-death-machine is that he was brain washed.  Not like kinda brain washed like normal POW's get either, he was Scientology level brain washed.  You can see in the new movie that there is a combination of words that if used together will cause him to become a literal slave.  Okay, but Elsa didn't have a choice either, her powers would just go off when she didn't mean for them to.  Not to mention she has an anxiety disorder. Well first off I'm not so accepting of a diagnosis of anxiety disorder since you're imaginary, and I didn't go to medical school, so that's out.  Second yes, I get it she didn't intend on doing the things she did, but it was her negligence that made her more of a villain.  The Winter Soldier literally can't undo what he's done, and even still he's not running from it.  Does that mean he turns himself in...No.  That means he grieves for, and feels the gilt of, his past actions.

    So now that all that has been said you should be able to have a clear understanding of the two sides, and where they're each coming from.  Is Steve Rodgers perfect, no.  Tony Stark, also no.  Do they both have the best intentions at heart?  Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!  It's my sincerest hope that now that you have read this you will be prevented from writing anything silly like, oh I don't know saying Cap is Un-American, or saying that Tony is just pure evil.



    One last thought before I go...I'm really sad they didn't do the registration act in this too.  It really lost some of the metaphor it once had.  For those of you scratching your heads right now: in the comics Tony is on the side of the Government when they want to impose an act that would force everyone with superpowers to register, get training, and be at the beck-and-call.   Obviously Cap don't like that too much, so he fights back.  In other words it was a metaphor for the gun control debate.  Would have added depth, but I guess it probably would have taken more than one movie.  Oh well....