This is a follow-up to another post, written before Civil War came out. So I’ve seen Civil War twice now, and liked it both times. Now that Marvel’s Phase 3 has officially gone into full swing, let’s take a look at what the film set up for the rest of Phase 3.
Civil War outcome
Whilst Captain America won the showdown between himself and Iron Man, the Sokovia Accords appear to very much still be in effect by the film’s conclusion. Nonetheless, they are rendered practically irrelevant by Captain America breaking out his imprisoned faction members, and they then go underground.
In a mid-credits scene Captain America himself ends up seeking asylum in Wakanda, under the aegis of King T’Challa, the Black Panther, also giving us our first look at the nation, although sadly it’s mostly shrouded by mist. He apologises to Iron Man for his role in the events that occurred and leaves a burner phone with Stark so that he can call on him whenever he is in need. But with their trust shattered, it’s going to be interesting to see how Avengers: Infinity War plays out with their camaraderie fractured, perhaps irreparably.
Moreover, since the Avengers he broke out of prison must have had been logged into the system, it seems almost every member of the Avengers now is a fugitive save for Iron Man, War Machine, Vision and Spider-Man, whose current status re: Avengers membership is a bit nebulous as there was no direct confirmation he was actually an Avenger. That said, with Spider-Man’s insistence on maintaining his secret identity, it would not be surprising if he too will end up on the wrong side of the law eventually, especially if J. Jonah Jameson is slandering his name.
Winter Soldier back in cryostasis
In the mid-credits scene, the Winter Soldier chooses to be frozen once more until the protocols embedded in his mind can be removed so that he can never again be used as a weapon against his will. As he is frozen, it is revealed through a panning shot that he, Black Panther and Captain America are all in the fictional African nation of Wakanda, so his frozen body will be stored there for the foreseeable future in the MCU. It looks like this will remove him from play at least until Black Panther, which comes out in 2018.
No-one dies
Well, except for the civilians. Who cares about them? The takeaway is that with none of the Avengers dead, they’ll be in full force for the two part event, Avengers: Infinity War, the first instalment of which hits in 2018. Which is annoying but I expect that Thanos will deal with it.
Moreover…c-could it be? It is! Marvel finally had the balls to not a kill a villain in their debut, Loki excepted. Zemo is alive at the end of the film. This is great, because there’s a lot that they can end up doing with the character, like a future Masters of Evil/Thunderbolts film – essentially a teamup of villains to beat the Avengers. Thunderbolts is particularly interesting because that was when the Masters of Evil were pretending to be heroes to get access to state secrets, which would be fun to see. Another incarnation of the Thunderbolts had a group of villains serving as government black ops, similar to the Suicide Squad.
We’ll have to wait and see what comes next for Zemo.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
The film very nicely set up Peter Parker and Tony Stark’s relationship, and they blend together beautifully. Spider-Man’s origin is pretty much hand-waved away, with the simple explanation being that he wants to stand up for the little guy, to make a difference, to use his powers…yeah, you guessed it, with great responsibility. Clean, brutal, efficient. That’s good – as Homecoming is not an origin story, they can really get to explore the character without the need to set him up. Furthermore, I have to clarify this – Tom Holland’s Spider-Man does not have 30 minutes of screentime like several sites have been running. He has maybe 6 minutes on screen as Peter Parker, and probably roughly that as Spider-Man.
We get a little sense of his moral core in an incredibly intimate scene when Iron Man recruits him. He refuses to abuse his powers, even unintentionally, to the most minor degree – e.g. by playing sports. With his heightened physical ability after all, he’ll win every time. He’s also adorably earnest and quippy, with his fight scenes being not only hilarious but just plain well done. Ripped straight from the comics. And we’ve seen how fidelity to the source material is rewarded with the monstrous success of Fox’s Deadpool earlier this year, becoming the highest grossing instalment in Fox’s X-Men franchise with 760 million USD on a rather measly 58 million dollar budget.
The post-credit sequence shows Peter Parker tinkering with what appears to be his webshooters, upgraded by Tony Stark. A mysterious light shines…and the Spider-Man logo is shone onto the ceiling of his room. The screen fades to black, and the words Spider-Man will return is emblazoned on the screen. As if we didn’t know that already, but OK.
So the little flashlight seems to be hearkening to the old Spider-signal, a way to announce Spidey’s presence to criminals and has recently been upgraded to have a UV setting as well for forensic investigation. But what use does Spidey really have for a flashlight? Well, personally I think that this is going to let him keep in touch with Iron Man – and when Spidey runs into someone he can’t defeat by himself, or when he’s in doubt and needs advice…he can call the most veteran hero in the MCU, Iron Man, who has already been confirmed to having signed on to join the cast of Homecoming. And possibly even more…in a recent video Robert Downey Junior mentioned offhand that he felt he could do one more Iron Man movie. Fingers crossed.
Punisher Netflix Series
Marvel has recently ordered another Netflix series, this time centred around the vigilante previously introduced in Daredevil‘s second season, the Punisher. This marks the sixth collaboration between Marvel Television and Netflix, which includes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and crossover miniseries The Defenders. Whether or not Jon Bernthal’s Punisher will also feature in The Defenders is all up in the air at the moment, but given that he is very much still at large it is entirely possible. No release date has been attached to the project as of yet. Marvel and Netflix have traditionally kept very tight wraps on release dates for their series, only announcing the release dates a few months to half a year ahead of time. So all we have is this little teaser image.
Stay tuned for more, and if you liked this, follow, share, and check out some of my other stuff! Let me know your thoughts in the comments – what else do you think might be in the cards for Phase 3 of the MCU after Civil War has hit?
An Odyssean Miscellany 
Stoked for the Punisher series, which, let’s face it we all knew would be announced eventually! I’m glad Civil War turned out as good as I’d hoped and like the comic book series that inspired it, there’s no easy outcome for the Avengers…but the arrival of Thanos is bound to bring Cap and Iron Man back together in Infinity War!
Spider-Man was great although there’s a sense his role in the film could’ve easily been removed had the Marvel/Sony deal not worked out. Tom Holland was great but there was a twinge of saddness, you see I actually enjoyed the Amazing Spider-Man films and would’ve loved to have seen Andrew Garfield join the MCU. I am however delighted to see Spidey join his fellow Marvel heroes and look forward to seeing Holland swing back into action in Homecoming.
Great post!
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Apologies for the great delay, I’ve been caught up with studies and things of that nature. I’m uncertain as to how the Punisher series will play out, I mean, senselessly dismembering crooks…? Eh. I’m sure that they’ll have worked out a decent plot but I am still somewhat sceptical. To be honest, on review the film soured a little and became somewhat stale to me. E.g. Rogers sending that phone to Stark to contact him…it seems too soon to be extending any olive branches, and it just feels like any time Stark wants help then all he has to do is call and everything is fine?
I’m very sure that it won’t play out that way, but it felt needlessly tacked on to me, just to make a point of how Captain America is oh-so-good-and-righteous and all that entails. Perhaps he is, but he is also human, and…yeah. I have a fair few grievances but I would still rank it as solidly at least in the top 5 or 6 films.
RE: Spider-Man, I was quite pleased with how they handled him. Speaking of him, that also brings me to something I’ve been pondering:
Tony funded pretty much everybody’s project at MIT, apparently without reading over their proposals or anything. Could that tie into Homecoming’s villain, since (a) Spider-Man’s villains are in general science-based and (b) could provide an organic way to explain why Stark is there (Spider-signal and rather probably mentor-mentee relationship aside)? I am hoping against this because Stark has honestly suffered enough in my opinion and tossing more onto the heap of his monumental guilt complex might quite possibly end up killing.the guy.
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I think cap extending an olive branch is a testament to his character, after all that happens he’s still wanting to do the right thing – i.e. team up with others like him when the innocent are threatened…which will obviously come to pass in Infinity War!
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I know, it’s just…so incredibly cheesy and unrealistic, though I suppose one should never fall into the trap of expecting realism in a comic book movie. Personally I would have preferred and understood if Steve was more resentful and…just didn’t send that letter, or the phone. The root of my quibble is that it just doesn’t really live up to the promise of it being a Civil WAR, as much as I thought it would, you know?
I’m pretty sure that there will be lingering resentment in the first pat of Infinity War, or whatever they decide to call it, but I feel it would come more from the other Avengers than Cap himself and just having Cap 3 end on this note doesn’t sit well with me. Just personal preference, I suppose.
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