8 Ways Captain America: Civil War Shows Marvel Have Learnt From Their Mistakes

It's pretty easy to forget in amongst all the box office dominance, thecritical praise and the fact the Distinguished Competition's attempt to ape their formula has led to some of the worst superhero films of recent years, but Marvel aren't perfect. Sure, they may only have one definitively bad film to their name (Iron Man 2, obviously), but they are hardly blemish-free; for every Captain America: The Winter Soldier there's a Thor: The Dark World, and even the better entries in the series aren't immune from systemic mistakes.

After the deflating release of Avengers: Age Of Ultron, I wrote a piece looking at how Joss Whedon's sequel marked the point where Marvel had turned away from what it originally was and became big budget murk - not out-right bad, but highly indistinct, heavily formulaic and too mainstream to be all that fresh anymore. Ant-Man, while offering a little more personality, didn't do much to shake that view, with an attempt to imitate Edgar Wright feeling incredibly forced.

Well, what a joy it is to be here - almost a year to the day after that Avengers article - and be able to say that Marvel's turned it around. With the all-round excellent Captain Ameirca: Civil War, they've not just made a great movie, but have seemingly corrected some of the biggest problems with the MCU, promising a bright Phase 3 and beyond. Here's a detailed look at why.