History Film / CaptainAmericaCivilWar

* TaughtByExperience: Ultimately, Tony's team includes people who have more on the ground experience than Steve's team. Yes, Steve's Ant-Man had his own motion picture, but Tony's Spider-Man (NOTE THE PARALLEL) was fighting in actual, on-the-ground battles. Otherwise, Team Tony and Team Steve were ''very'' evenly matched. Except in the field of surprisingly attractive aunts. Pretty sure Peter won that one. Unless Steve had a ''very'' surprising younger sister with a ''very surprising daughter.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork:

* DramaticDrop: After the final battle is over, [[spoiler:Tony shouts at Steve that he doesn't deserve the shield, made by Tony's father, since Steve just got through defending the man who killed Tony's father. Steve drops it as he walks out with Bucky]].

** Bucky appears to slam a punch at Steve, smashing a hole in the floor instead. Turns out he's got his bailout bag stashed under the floorboards.

* AnachronismStew: At the start of the first flashback sequence, the soldiers entering the base with the Winter Soldiers have arm patches with the Russian flag on them -- a few days before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

** Spider-Man catches Bucky's fist at the airport battle. He then takes a moment to tell him how awesome his metal arm is -- while ''effortlessly turning it around'' to better examine it. The astonished face Bucky makes is priceless.

* MoodWhiplash: One moment, Steve Rogers is discussing the Accords with the other super heroes. [[spoiler:The next, he is attending the funeral of Peggy Carter.]]

* GrimUpNorth: As expected, Siberia is depicted as a frozen wasteland. However, it is more {{justified}} than usual, given that the action specifically takes place near a town with one of the coldest climates on the planet.

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Pretty thoroughly averted. Black Widow and Hawkeye hold their own despite being the lowest power heroes, and Spider-Man and Ant-Man ultimately get their asses handed to them because of their inexperience. In the middle you have Vision and Wanda, who play less role in the larger fight because they're forced to cancel each other out. For platonic reasons. They're just friends. It's not personal. You're not crying, I'm crying. Shut up.

* LetsYouAndHimFight: Zemo's plan to turn The Avengers against each other involves framing Bucky Barnes for terrorist attack. Since relations between the team are already strained due to a SuperRegistrationAct, it works too well. His final strike: [[spoiler:revealing that Bucky killed Tony's parents while under Hydra's control, leading to a full-out brawl between Tony, Cap and Bucky]].

** Black Widow has extendable tonfas and her gauntlets can now fire electric stun rounds.

* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Ant-Man [[spoiler:becoming Giant-Man]] is a blatant example of this. However, because the new powers are a logical extension of the established ones, because the comic-book version has had them for decades, and because there's a good reason for not using them until it's [[GodzillaThreshold urgently necessary]], it works within the film's context.
** Scott also quips that he's done this before but in a lab setting so it isn't entirely out of the blue. Presumably it was an upgrade or modification Hank made but Scott hasn't been presented with the opportunity to use it in his heroing career to that point.

** When Vision misses his shot and accidentally zaps Rhodey's suit... ... ... When Rhodey hits the ground...

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Despite being trained agents, Sharon Carter and Black Widow aren't at the level of a super-soldier.

* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: [[AvertedTrope Averted]], the code to activate the Winter Soldier is basically a series of random words in Russian, highly unlikely to be guessed.

* PedestrianCrushesCar: A [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] example. Captain America dropkicks a military truck, sending its fender crashing into the face of a mercenary taking cover on its opposite side.

** In perhaps the most blatantly "self-serving" part of all of this, Ross omits ''any'' footage of [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008 the battle between the Hulk and the Abomination that wrecked part of Harlem]] -- for which ''Ross'' is more responsible than anyone else involved; he tasked Blonsky with going after the Hulk, dosed him with their experimental SuperSerum to even the odds, ignored Sterns along with all his mad science in favor of tormenting Banner even further, then ''completely forgot about Blonsky'' -- resulting in his junkie SuperSoldier basically raiding the evidence locker, shooting every bit of junk in sight and going on a killing spree. Which ''Banner'' had to put a stop to because Ross was completely impotent at that point[[note]]Out-of-universe, this is due as much to the fact that ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' is technically owned by Universal, not Marvel. Fortunately for in-universe, leaving out his own guilt is [[{{Hypocrite}} totally]] [[NeverMyFault in-character]] for Ross[[/note]].

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: When the Avengers are arguing and choosing up sides over the Accords, Natasha notices the lack of Tony Stark interjecting and deadpans to him, "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal".

Following the dissolution of ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} in ''Winter Soldier'', one of Tony Stark's creations going on a killing spree in ''Age of Ultron'' and Scarlet Witch's accidental destruction of a building while saving Captain America during a terrorist attack in Africa, the collective governments of the world ratify an [[SuperRegistrationAct accord to regulate the actions]] of "[[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual enhanced individuals]]". This polarizes ComicBook/TheAvengers and other {{superhero}}es, who split into two factions. On one side is Steve Rogers[=/=]ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, who fears superhumans becoming political pawns after the events of ''Winter Soldier''. On the other is Tony Stark[=/=]ComicBook/IronMan, who becomes a major proponent of the Sokovia Accords as atonement for his actions in ''Age of Ultron''. When Steve's lifelong friend Bucky Barnes resurfaces, accused of carrying out a terrorist attack, the former allies now find themselves facing each other in a battle that will [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore change their lives, and the world, forever]].

''Civil War'''s events and their consequences directly impact a number of movies continuing the overall narrative -- ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'', ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'', ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'', ''Film/{{Black Widow|2021}}'' and ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. The latter and [[Film/AvengersEndgame its sequel]] were also directed by the Russo brothers. Following the events of ''Infinity War'' and ''Endgame'', the stories of several characters from the film are picked up in ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'', and a fourth ''Captain America'' film, titled ''Captain America: New World Order'' is in development.

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: As mentioned above, this marks the thirteenth MCU movie, [[WhamEpisode and could not have been timed better.]]

JustForFun/TheOneWith the big airport battle.

** There's an obvious UnresolvedSexualTension between Steve and Sharon. TheyDo.

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: The introduction and heavy involvement of both Black Panther and Spider-Man was definitely done to prepare them for their subsequent [[Film/BlackPanther2018 solo]] [[Film/SpiderManHomecoming films]] that woul be released shortly after this film. The fact that both characters' storylines for their respective films heavily spin off from this one definitely invokes this.

''Captain America: Civil War'' is the 2016 sequel to both ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' and ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', directed like ''Winter Soldier'' by [[Creator/TheRussoBrothers Joe and Anthony Russo]]. ''Civil War'' marks the 13[[superscript:th]] overall film in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, and the first film of the MCU's Phase 3. It is based on the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' limited series, [[PragmaticAdaptation albeit on a much smaller scale]]. The film also marked the beginning of a cross-company partnership between Marvel Studios and Creator/SonyPictures with the inclusion of Franchise/SpiderMan.

** The ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' comic book event involved nearly every major and minor character in the Marvel Universe. The movie involves nearly every superhero introduced in the MCU movies, but none of the TV series characters appear in it, even though some of them (like [[Series/Daredevil2015 Daredevil, the Punisher]], Series/{{Jessica Jones|2015}}, and Series/{{Luke Cage|2016}}) were part of the comic book version. Of the movie characters, Nick Fury and Wasp played a role in the comic book, but they're absent from the movie. (Neither Hulk nor Thor were involved in the comic book version, as Hulk wasn't on Earth and Thor was dead at the time.) And since there are numerous comic book characters who have not yet made their MCU debuts, obviously a lot of characters got left out.

** Much like ''[[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron Age of Ultron]]'', this film has nothing in common with the original ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' story, other than the title, and the basic premise of heroes fighting each other, with the teams being lead by Iron Man and Captain America, because they don't agree about whether they should comply with the government. [[spoiler:In fact, the climatic battles are only tangentally related to the Accords.]]

* LiveActionAdaptation: The film loosely adapts the CrisisCrossover storyline ''ComicBook/CivilWar''. It also draws influence from the ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' story arcs ''ComicBook/CaptainAmericaWinterSoldier'' and ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfCaptainAmerica'' by including the characters of Winter Soldier, Crossbones, and Zemo, whose comic alter egos all played prominent roles in the aforementioned storylines.

** At one point a female bodyguard of T'Challa threatens Black Widow to move out of the way and T'Challa remarks that a fight between them would be interesting to see. During ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' T'Challa had two female bodyguards of his fight Black Widow to get her off his tail.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The film completely upends [[ComicBook/CivilWar its comic book namesake]], changing the Superhero Registration Act into the Sokovia Accords, the reasoning for the accords (from a panicking Nitro setting off his expanded powers to kill ComicBook/TheNewWarriors and 600 others in Stanton to a suicide vest by Crossbones going off and killing bystanders in a botched Avengers mission), giving new reasoning between Captain America and Iron Man's disagreements (both the Accords and the possible innocence of the Winter Soldier) and increasing the importance of ComicBook/BlackPanther, Black Widow and ComicBook/ScarletWitch (who either had bit parts or weren't around in the comic story) while decreasing that of ComicBook/SpiderMan (who played a major part in the original comic).
** The film scales down the CrisisCrossover elements of ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' to focus on a (relatively) smaller conflict between various superheroes, along with the ideological conflict represented between Iron Man and Captain America.

* CasualDangerDialog: ''Spider-Man'' never shuts up during the entire battle, even after Falcon explicitly tells him that one's not supposed to talk so much during a fight, and Iron Man is starting to wish he hadn't brought Peter along due to his excessive chatter.

* NeverLiveItDown: While Sam Wilson reaches out to Scott Lang for assistance, it's also clear the Falcon's still smarting from their fight the previous year and doesn't want to talk about it. If you're an Avenger -- let alone one personally recruited by Steve Rogers himself -- and you got your ass kicked by a guy calling himself 'Ant-Man', your pride would still be bruised, too.

** Played with, if not outright parodied, when Sam Wilson introduces Scott Lang to the rogue Avengers. Steve and company learn of Ant-Man (if they didn't already know after [[Film/AntMan1 events in San Francisco the previous summer]]). But they don't learn ''how'' exactly he and Sam know each other (as Sam covered up Scott's break-in and his humiliating ass-kicking). When Scott starts to apologize for their fight, Sam cuts him off and explains to everyone that it was [[BlatantLies 'an audition']].

** In-universe, how exactly Sam Wilson and Scott Lang are acquainted is one for Steve Rogers and his Avengers faction. When Scott starts to apologize for [[Film/AntMan1 the break-in at the Avengers Compound a year earlier]], Sam (who did ''not'' want Steve knowing about this incident) hurriedly cuts Scott off and explains to everyone it was [[BlatantLies ‘an audition’]].

* InternalReveal: In the climax, it's revealed to Tony that his parents' deaths were caused by Hydra's interference, [[spoiler:and that it was Bucky who personally executed them]]. Audiences had first become aware at the very least of Hydra's involvement after Arnim Zola's confession in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''.

* NoodleIncident: The audience should know by now that Peter Parker got his powers from being bitten by a radioactive (and/or [[Film/SpiderMan1 genetically engineered]]) spider, but InUniverse, Peter simply tells Tony "it's a long story".

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Zemo is a ruthless killer like his comic book counterpart, but he is otherwise ''far'' more sympathetic as this version is a more or less normal man driven by personal tragedy that loss and is trying to get {{Revenge}} for his dead family; the comic Zemo meanwhile is a megalomaniac MadScientist SuperSoldier bent on WorldDomination whose vendetta with Captain America and The Avengers owes more to ''his'' family's Nazi past and his own grandiosity than anything else. About the only thing the two characters have in common is the name "Zemo" and in the movie even that is only mentioned in passing, twice.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Zemo is a ruthless killer like his comic book counterpart, but he is otherwise 'far'' more sympathetic as this version is a more or less normal man driven by personal tragedy that loss and is trying to get {{Revenge}} for his dead family; the comic Zemo meanwhile is a megalomaniac MadScientist SuperSoldier bent on WorldDomination whose vendetta with Captain America and The Avengers owes more to ''his'' family's Nazi past and his own grandiosity than anything else. About the only thing the two characters have in common is the name "Zemo" and in the movie even that is only mentioned in passing, twice.

* The film's plot is set into motion when, despite Wanda's best efforts, civilians are caught in the blast range of Crossbones' suicide bombing. The original ''Civil War'' comic's plot was similarly kickstarted by Nitro killing a significant number of civilians via detonating himself during a clash with the New Warriors, who were attempting to apprehend him and other villains who had recently broken out of prison.

** Wanda spends much of the movie in [[ShesGotLegs short skirts]] before switching to a battle outfit that includes [[OfCorsetsSexy a corset]] with an ImpossiblyLowNeckline.