Images via Disney / Warner Bros.
This summer’s two big superhero movies are suspiciously similar: both Captain America: Civil War and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice are about the heroes fighting each other, instead of the bad guys. Batman V Superman was first out of the gates, and to be honest, it is not very good. There’s some good stuff in there, and the film definitely has its fans, but it has not been the beloved smash hit Warner Bros would have hoped for.
Now we've seen Civil War, and no spoilers, but it’s really good. It’s big, funny, exciting, and everything you want from an Avengers film (which Age of Ultron wasn’t). Not just that though — it succeeds in doing the hero-versus-hero thing far, far better than Bats meets Supes did. It’s not called ‘Captain America Vs Iron Man’, but it basically should be. Here are the ways that Marvel hit it out of the park, and where DC failed.
(Some spoilers for Batman V Superman, but not for Civil War as that one isn’t out yet)
We care about the characters because we’ve met them before
Batman fighting Superman in a film should be a massive pop culture event, but they’ve dropped the ball from the get-go because we only know one of them. Alien Vs Predator, Freddy Vs Jason, Godzilla Vs King Kong et al were all based on us already knowing the combatants form their other films. Sure, we all know Batman in general, but this would be much more effective if it was Henry Cavill vs Christian Bale. Not only are they introducing a new Batman, the Batfleck version is a quite a radical take on the character that deviates from the classic model quite a lot, in fact — and it’s hard to be an iconic timeless classic when we’re still getting used to the new guy. The Marvel Cinematic Universe on the other hand has spent nearly a decade organically building up an Avengers that audiences care about, so when they split up it really means something.
It’s actually about the heroes fighting
For a film called Batman V Superman, it contains surprisingly little Batman fighting Superman. When the fight finally comes it is actually pretty sick, riffing on Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, but it’s not till pretty late on and it doesn’t last more than about 15 minutes. In Civil War though, you know that big fight in the airport that’s in the trailer? That comes slap bang in the middle of the film, and is as incredible as you could ever hope.
We know why both sides are fighting, and understand their motivation
Finding a convincing, engaging reason for the heroes to face up to each other is tricky, and BvS doesn’t get anywhere near it. There’s some interesting ideas, like Bruce Wayne blaming Superman for the destruction of Metropolis, but most of it relies on Lex Luthor’s nonsensical, coincidence-filled plan. Civil War however just has the basic set up from the comic: the government want to register and control superheroes. Tony Stark is pro, saying they need to be accountable for their actions. Cap is anti, because governments having to much control is a bad thing. Both are relatable, and enough time is given to both sides, which gives the punching and explosions much more resonance.
The new characters are introduced much better
There’s big new character debuts in both. Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman is actually pretty great, but she just sort of turns up and hangs around for a lot of the film, until the final battle, not really adding much and just making an already bloated film even more over-stuffed. Black Panther is an essential part of Civil War on the other hand; and while Spider-Man doesn’t really need to be there, Tom Holland kills it, and Spidey just acts as an extra-nice condiment on top of the main dish, instead of getting in the way.
It’s not quite perfect though
Don’t worry DC stans, we hear ya. There’s definitely worthwhile bits to BvS. Affleck’s performance is great, we’re hyped for the Wonder Woman movie and despite it’s problems the film is rarely boring. And it’s not like Civil War doesn’t have faults — much like the Luthor’s masterplan in BvS, there’s a lot of coincidences and stuff that have to happen for the plot to truly come together. And if you’re not already onboard with the Marvel hype machine, this will do nothing to convince you otherwise. But overall, Marvel hit your inner 12 year old perfectly by having actually having Iron Man and Captain America fight each other 4 realsies in a big fun summer flick — whereas DC’s is just a convoluted and nonsensical, if occasionally memorable, gloop of a movie.
Captain America: Civil War is in UK cinemas April 29. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is out now.