I posted my spoiler-free review of Captain America: Civil War a few days ago and you can read that here. This my spoiler review and it’s kind of ended up in any old order where I mostly talk about each character and what I liked about them. Be warned this is a long post – it’s over 1,800 words! Now below is all my spoiler-filled thoughts on the movie so once again you have been warned! I really advise you not to read any further if you haven’t seen the film.

Daniel Brühl as Zemo deserves some credit. I didn’t mention him in my spoiler-free review as the film has been marketed all about the conflict between Steve and Tony so I didn’t spoil what I think was a great character. Zemo is like the puppet-master pulling everyone’s strings and it’s brilliant to watch because he is a normal guy. He knows he can’t take down the Avengers but he finds a way to get them to destroy themselves. Daniel Brühl isn’t in the film much but every scene he’s in he’s captivating.

The airport fight sequence – what can I say about that besides it was amazing. When both sides first clash together it’s like those double page spreads in the comics, you want to be able to pause the film to see who is fighting who and who is winning. The whole sequence was brilliant because it wasn’t only thrilling but it had so much humour in it. Seeing how various characters either worked together eg Bucky and Sam (who are brilliant anytime they are together because it’s like they’re competing for the title of Steve’s Best Friend) or fought against each other eg Natasha & Scott.

Vision was pretty darn great. I like how his relationship with Wanda is making him more human and when he and Tony talked. Also Scott Lang was a gift. Somehow I’d managed to avoid the spoilers that he would be able to turn into Giant-Man so that was a brilliant surprise. Plus the characterisation of Clint Barton in Civil War was the most like his comic book-self in any of the Marvel films so far so that made me ridiculously happy. He was sarcastic, knew his abilities and wasn’t afraid to call Tony out on his actions. The only thing that would’ve been a cool throwaway line was if he alluded to his own criminal past when talking to Tony, that would’ve been awesome.

Got to mention T’Challa aka Black Panther. I talked about him a bit in my spoiler-free review but oh man did I love him. It was the perfect combination of royalty and superhero and he was all you wanted to look at every time he was on screen. I cannot wait for the Black Panther movie, it’s been the MCU movie I’d been most looking forward to for ages anyway but now want it as soon as possible.

I’ve got to talk about Steve and Bucky and their relationship. Bucky is Steve’s last connection to his past (now that Peggy’s died and man Steve tearing up while he was carrying her coffin was tough) so no wonder he will do just about everything to keep Bucky safe. There’s a lot of show rather than tell between the two of them, the looks between them and the way they fight together or when Bucky is watching Steve’s back with a gun and won’t stand down till Steve tells him it’s OK. These two give me a lot of emotions OK!

Tony oh my gosh Tony Stark. Robert Downey Jr does such a good job showing a different side to Tony. He still has all the quips but he’s a guy who is tired and full of regret and wants to do the right thing and he believes signing the accords is that right thing. The whole bit when he finds out that Bucky killed his mother, RDJ played that so well. The whole fight between Tony and Bucky and Steve was brutal and it hurt. These were friends fighting each other and once again you could see both sides of the argument, though obviously Tony was kinda blinded by the pain of his mother dying.

That is one of the truly great things about Captain America: Civil War. It shows both sides of the argument and the pros and cons of both stances. I thought the film would be more leaning towards Cap’s side since it’s his film but it did a great job of staying in the middle and showing the grey areas that the Avengers have to navigate. Sure there’s some people who will be wholeheartedly Team Cap or Team Iron Man but there’s many who will be stuck in the middle and it’s great that a big superhero movie can facilitate a discussion on morality and control.

Now on to Clint and Wanda. OK. So if you follow me on Twitter you may have seen me speculating before seeing the film about how much I want interactions between Clint and Wanda and how I want them to be friends. To me, their relationship has the possibility to be fascinating and let me quickly break down why.

In Age of Ultron, they started on opposite sides, Clint clearly did not particularly like either Wanda or Pietro (Wanda tried to play with his mind and Pietro caused him to get shot) but he knew they were messed up kids and he couldn’t really blame them for what they’d been doing. So when everything is going to Hell in Sokovia, Clint and Wanda are working together and that scene where they are pinned down and Wanda is close to freaking out is honestly one of my favourite scenes in the whole movie. Clint talks to her, he doesn’t treat her like a kid but he says, the whole situation is ridiculous, he is just a normal guy with a bow and arrow but he will still fight but if she wants, he will go get her brother and they can get out of there and he won’t judge her for that. Then Wanda has her badass moment and saves Clint’s ass when he is pinned down and you can see the respect growing between them, even more so when Wanda says she’ll stay in the church and protect the big bomb thing (I can’t remember what the thing was called). Then Petro dies to save Clint and a little kid, Wanda’s only family is now gone and if you were an ass about it you could say it was Clint’s fault. That gives you a huge amount of emotions on both sides, Clint will no doubt feel incredibly guilty that this teenager died saving him and then Wanda will be in a mess because this guy she was starting to like and be able to trust and work with is sort of the reason why her brother is dead. And so potentially fascinating relationship between two grieving and complicated characters is there.

Now in Civil War I was hoping there’d be some moments between them and then there was a load of great stuff and I was so incredibly happy! Clint is the one to bust her out of house-arrest and that scene is wonderful. First of all Clint does it in such a Clint-like way it’s great but then when Wanda is still scared of what people think of her Clint once again treats her like an adult and says if she wants to prove people wrong she has to get off her ass and do something about it. And then they hold hands!!! I didn’t get a hug between them but I got that and I loved it. And Clint’s faith in Wanda when Vision has got him and he knows how he is seriously outmatched but he trusts and believes in Wanda so much when he said “I know I can’t but she can” I was so happy. And then Wanda is a total badass and her line about not being able to control other people’s fear but being able to control her own was kind of inspiring.

During the big airport battle scene as well, when Clint and Natasha were fighting and Natasha is getting the upper hand, Wanda saves Clint and is honest with him saying that he was pulling his punches (because that’s the kind of guy Clint is, he never wants to hurt his best mate) they know each other so well! Plus when they are running and Tony is shooting at them Clint shields Wanda with his body! I can’t deal with these two and their sibling/surrogate dad relationship.

Wow that Clint/Wanda section took up like half this post! Woops! You can clearly see where my priorities lie but oh well!

I can’t not talk about Spider-Man. Tom Holland was great as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man and now I am looking forward to his film a lot. Before Civil War I really did not care about Spider-Man anymore. I liked the Sam Rami films (the third one isn’t great but I liked some of it), I thought the Amazing Spider-Man was alright but I really didn’t like the sequel. I was sick of seeing the origin story and all that stuff so while Spider-Man being in the MCU is certainly a big deal I was still a bit it “meh” about the whole thing. Now I am all for the new Spider-Man film. He was funny, chatty and so enthusiastic plus the stuff they did with how he moved and his web-stuff was great to watch.

I find the ending fascinating. Natasha looks like she’s probably on the run and Clint, Wanda, Scott and Sam were all locked up until Steve comes and breaks them out but what are they gonna do next? We know there’s gonna be Avengers Infinity War so that’ll probably start with Tony phoning Steve on the burner phone going “Hey Steve, there’s this huge dude called Thanos trying to destroy the world, we could use a hand ‘cos it’s just me and Vision so call me!” and then the gang gets back together but I’d love to know what happens to them all. I like to think Clint takes Wanda back with him to his family and she can actually chill out for a while, there’s gonna be the Ant-Man and the Wasp movie so that’s what Scott will be up to, and Sam will probably follow Steve where ever he wants to go.

In short, I loved Captain America: Civil War. I have seen it twice now and I’m already trying to figure out when I’m going to see it next/who I can drag with me this time. Civil War is definitely up there with my favourite MCU films now. I think Winter Solider is still my favourite but Civil War is a close second with Iron Man rounding out my top three.

So if you’ve managed to read this whole spoiler-filled rambling post congrats! And do feel free to leave any comments below on your thoughts on Civil War and what you’d like to see happen with these characters next – I love to talk to people about these films.