Captain America Civil War: 11 Critical Reactions You Need To Know

Marvel have mastered the art of touching lightly on adult themes but keeping things fun for the most part. It seems like Civil War is the next step in this juggling act, delving deeper into mature concepts while still boasting all the whizz-bang madness you could hope for.

Variety have called Civil War "as remarkable for its dramatic coherence and thematic unity as for its dizzyingly inventive action sequences; viewers who have grown weary of seeing cities blow up ad nauseam will scarcely believe their luck at the relative restraint and ingenuity on display."

Of the titular standoff, "even nonbelievers who make it to that climactic moment will feel that something is at stake when the two face off" (The Hollywood Reporter), "it doesn’t offer any easy answers for its combatants, or the world going forward" (Total Film) and "they made a summer popcorn movie that examines the meaning of loyalty, of honor and the true cost of revenge" (Birth. Movies. Death.).

Forbes paid it an interesting and suitably vague compliment for fear of spoilers: there's "so much that goes against the grain in terms of what we expect from the MCU and from superhero movies in general", while Mashable called it "the most humanised Marvel movie to date."

Notably a fleet of critics compared the film favourably to Batman v Superman in terms of how it handled its loftier concerns.