Release Date: May 6, 2015 Captain America: Civil War is, essentially, Marvel's answer to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. There really is no other way to look at what is - for all intents and purposes - a power play on Marvel's part to usurp DC's flagship movie; essentially the studio is attempting to keep movie-goers interested in the MCU in the months surrounding Batman V Superman's release, and using Captain America and Iron Man as frontmen they will certainly succeed in doing so. After all, what concept is more inherently exciting than The Avengers fighting bad guys than The Avengers fighting each other? So Civil War is set to break the Marvel Cinematic Universe in new and interesting ways; Civil War will take its cues from the comic book arc of the same time, of course, with Captain American and Iron Man suddenly at odds with one another as the government latches down on superhero entitlement. It's going to make for an endlessly interesting motion picture, of course, and its impact will allow the MCU to thrive for as long as it wants to in the aftermath. And yet a movie designed in this nature comes with a truly phenomenal sense of hype; there is much at stake, after all, and Marvel threaten their own near immaculate legacy as they attempt to shake things up. So the speculations, the thought-pieces, the endless articles, the inevitable marketing campaigns, teaser trailers... they will inflate Civil War to bursting point, and then: boom! And fans will be there to pick up the pieces, of course, for good or for worse. Essentially, though, Captain America: Civil War has been designed as a motion picture guaranteed to make money off of the back of its own in relentless hype. There's very little doubt it will succeed. But at what cost?
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
