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

3. The Big Finale Isn't Just Empty Explosions

You know how Marvel movies end - the big bad unfurls their paper-thin scheme with some giant destructive weapon, probably in the air, with droves of non-human henchmen in the way for the hero to brutally dispatch in explosive fashion before stopping the decimation of all reality with mere seconds on the clock, vaporising the villain in the process. Yawn much?

Civil War is pretty much the opposite of all that - in a turn the Russos fought hard against the studio higher-ups for, the final fight is on a much smaller scale than the second-act airport sequence, singularly focusing on the Cap-Bucky-Stark three-way and having the restraint to not undercut it with some vain happy resolution. It's not just scale and emotion the finale has going for it though; being an elaborate fist-fight, the action is visceral and involving, seeing each character use the full extent of their arsenal, be it Hydra-taught skills or developed robotics.

The result is a fresh break from formula that means Civil War finishes feeling like a concerted effort to move the MCU style forward, rather than just more treading water with the illusion of something new.