Over the years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has pulled off some impressive feats, yet nothing can touch the balancing act it managed in Captain America: Civil War. These days, seeing so many characters share the screen is almost par for the course but we hadn’t seen it on this level 10 years ago.

By the time 2016 rolled around, The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron were team-up films, yet that only focused on a core group of six or so main characters. Despite not being an official Avengers movie, Captain America: Civil War featured more key characters than ever before and it somehow worked.

Captain America: Civil War Expertly Balances So Many Characters

While Steve Rogers is certainly the protagonist of Captain America: Civil War, the film brings together so many other important pieces. Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson all return from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, yet that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff, Vision, Scott Lang, James Rhodes, and Clint Barton all play key roles and are more than just glorified cameos. There’s also Sharon Carter, Helmut Zero, T’Challa, and Peter Parker. That’s an incredible number of characters to get into one film, to the point where it could’ve been a mess.

We’ve seen cases of superhero movies trying to incorporate so many moving pieces and have them fail, or, at the very least, have some of the characters get sidelined. That’s not the case in Captain America: Civil War, with everyone getting at least a few moments to shine.

Despite finding time for each of these characters, the movie still feels like Steve Rogers’ story. He remains the protagonist and it’s his relationship with Bucky that drives the story forward. In fact, his bonds with the likes of Bucky, Steve, and Natasha are all crucial aspects of the overall story.

Both Spider-Man And Black Panther Get Perfect MCU Introductions

As noted, T’Challa and Peter Parker appear in Captain America: Civil War, but the real kicker is that this marks their debuts in the MCU. Introducing two new heroes is difficult to do in a Captain America film, yet it’s even more imposing when it’s in such a loaded cast.

On top of that, Black Panther and Spider-Man aren’t any normal heroes. They’re two incredibly important characters who went on to lead their own franchises soon after this and play big parts in Avengers: Infinity War. Even with so many characters and storylines, both are given a proper introduction.

Peter is given the perfect amount of screen time to show us Tom Holland’s charisma, establish his relationship with Tony Stark, and fight alongside the other heroes. That all went a long way towards making this iteration of Spider-Man stand out from the previous incarnations we’d seen on screen before.

Meanwhile, T’Challa is so well-written in Captain America: Civil War that he has a better arc here than in his solo film, Black Panther. We watch as he goes from ready to kill Bucky as vengeance for his father to learning that there’s a better way when he confronts Zemo. He also gets great action scenes and some memorable lines.

Time Is Given To Ensure Zemo Is A Strong Villain

It has often been said that a problem in the MCU is its lackluster villains. There are generic ones like Darren Cross and Ronan the Accuser, underdeveloped ones like Dar-Benn, and flat-out bad ones like Malekith. Helmut Zemo could’ve been among those since Captain America: Civil War has so much else going on.

However, the character is given just enough time on the big screen to set himself up as one of the franchise’s more impressive villains. He’s not superpowered and couldn’t beat a single member of the Avengers in a fight. That’s a big reason why he’s such an intriguing antagonist.

Zemo puts together a plan where he pits the Avengers against each other, leading them to fight one another. Although he ends up in prison, his plan is successful as Tony and Steve are on opposing sides at the culmination of the film. That’s solid development for a villain who shares the screen with so many heroes.

Captain America: Civil War Showed How Future Avengers Films Could Work

© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

As noted, when Captain America: Civil War hit theaters, we’d only seen Avengers movies with six or so heroes at the center. That changed afterward, with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame bringing more heroes together than ever before. Everyone from this film, along with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor, Hulk, and more, joined in.

Again, making so many moving parts work is a difficult balancing act to pull off. However, the fact that the Russo Brothers made it work so well here meant that it could succeed when they took the reins of the Avengers franchise.

Captain America: Civil War expertly laid out the blueprint for how to ensure that Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were successes. It proved to be correct, as the two films were massive hits that perfectly wrapped up the MCU’s Infinity Saga.

Release Date

May 6, 2016

Runtime

147 minutes

Writers

Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely

Producers

Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Patricia Whitcher, Stan Lee, Victoria Alonso, Alan Fine