One of the biggest criticisms of Disney/ Marvel’s MCU movies is that they are too light-hearted in nature, and rarely do the stakes ever seem that high because the heroes in question are super-powered and can always call on one organization or another (at first S.H.I.E.L.D., later the Avengers) to save the day if they titular hero somehow does not get the job done. However, everything changed back in 2014 when ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ hit theaters. The tone was darker, the stakes much, much higher, as the villain of the film was none other than S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, with the hero being Captain America, who while a peak physical specimen actually has no real superpowers. So the stakes felt very real as Cap basically found himself acting alone with Black Widow (another human with no powers) against this juggernaut of defense and technology hell-bent on world domination. The MCU changed at that point, and fans and critics were grateful for it, as the movies nowadays do not have the safety net of S.H.I.E.L.D. to fall back on, and seemed that much more interesting because of it.
Flash forward two years, and we have ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ coming out, and the directors are now promising that the tone will be even darker, with the results even more controversial. In a recent interview at Wizard World Cleveland Comic Con, the Russo brothers spoke about the upcoming blockbuster, and their desire to make the film even darker and more intense than ‘The Winter Solider.’ In their own words:
“We really did a radical reinterpretation of Captain America in Winter Soldier. We were twice as aggressive in tone and execution on Civil War.”
Which makes sense considering the title of the movie is ‘Civil War.’ And also makes sense in that since S.H.I.E.L.D. was taken down, the MCU world seemed to be relying more and more on the Avengers to be the new safety net, as even in ‘Ant-Man‘ the titular hero advises his mentor that they should just call the Avengers to get everything sorted out. Now, with ‘Civil War,’ the Russo brothers are dismantling another assuring presence in the MCU, leaving the world wide-open for super-villains, and more importantly, individual super-heroes to take center stage, knowing that their actions are important because they cannot count on S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers to swoop in and save the day.
What are your thoughts on the darker tone of ‘Civil War?’ Could it be a mistake to go too dark since the MCU’s bread and butter has always been lighter fare? (we do not want to see the MCU become too much like the DC movies after all). Share your opinions in the comments below!
Source: Screen Rant
