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

5. It Is Possible To Balance The Comedy

Built on the casting of Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark and with a banterous Joss Whedon ensemble film the stand-out entry, it's hardly surprising the Marvel Cinematic Universe is more inclined towards humour than its Distinguished Competition. However, as things have rolled on this lighter tone has become a crutch, with movies descending into eye-rolling gags and thoughtless asides. The only people who would find this sort of thing funny would be... little people... erm... children! Ha, lost the word there.

It's not all been bad, sure - Guardians achieved laughs with irreverence and The Winter Soldier balanced comedy within the plot - but when the main Marvel humour works best in Ant-Man, where you've got Paul Rudd reading lines written by Adam McKay (and conversely fumbles in less adept hands), you might as well just call these things comedies.

Civil War is an absolute breath of fresh air in this manner. The Russos for the most part bring over their restrained sensibility towards jokes from The Winter Soldier, but, when they're balancing a whole host of less serious heroes, they smartlyconcede and give out some incredibly well-pitched, character-specific yucks. There's a balance, and an understanding that not every hero needs to have wit like Stark; Spidey can quip, Ant-Man can fumble, Cap can roll his eyes. And the audience will laugh at it all.