As pointed out in our Moviegoer’s Guide to May (and, you know, the entire internet), “Captain America: Civil War” is due out this week, and it looks like another fine effort from the Russo brothers. This time around, we won’t be put through another Avengers vs. Slightly-Worse-Villain-Than-Last-Time scenario, but instead will see Marvel’s leading superheroes turn against each other. That alone makes for a very fresh look for Marvel.
The only thing is, the different factions in this civil war look so unbalanced that it’s a little hard to imagine the titular hero pulling off any sort of victory. The “teams” were revealed here, and though there are persistent rumors of a double agent, the way the sides are stacked up now looks pretty heavily skewed in favor of good ole’ Tony Stark.
In fact, we can come up with 10 reasons Team Iron MAn should win this civil war pretty easily…
1. RDJ Wins the Popular Vote
The comic faithful will argue that Captain America is the real leader of the Avengers, and possibly Marvel’s most popular character. The box office begs to differ. “Iron Man 3” is by far the highest earner of the five solo films dedicated to the two characters, and the first and second Iron Man films outperformed the two Captain America films. This is at least in part because Robert Downey Jr. is the biggest star Marvel has, and don’t think that doesn’t matter to the studio. There’s major incentive for Iron Man to win out.
2. The One-on-One Isn’t Close
If you think about this as Iron Man vs. Captain America rather than a full-fledged Civil War, it shouldn’t actually be close. Looper actually took the time to write up a pretty detailed look at how such a fight would go. Dedicated to all things entertainment, the site occasionally has a fun feature like this ahead of a major release, and in this one, the case is made that Iron Man would destroy Cap. Basically, Iron Man can fly, has multiple AI suits to deploy, is a genius, and has been the tougher one to date.
3. Team Stark Has the Shiny New Thing
That would be Spider-Man, who’s finally being introduced to the MCU. Tom Holland will play the new Peter Parker, and he’ll reportedly be under Stark’s wing to some extent. Fans don’t really want to see their brand new Spider-Man lose right off the bat.
4. Team Stark Has the Other Shiny New Thing
And that would be Black Panther, who’s been one of the most exciting aspects of this film since day one. Chadwick Boseman will play T’Challa, not only this time around, but in Marvel’s first film starring a black superhero in 2018. We don’t really want to see him lose either.
5. Tony Has the Money
Exactly what resources is Captain America supposed to have given that he and his team are pretty much going rogue in this story? Tony Stark, meanwhile, has pretty much unlimited worth. In fact, in case it feels like we’ve left that aspect of Stark in the past to some extent, here’s a reminder: Lottoland wrote up a list of the wealthiest fictional characters in history, meant as inspiration to its many users. Primarily an online lottery platform, the site occasionally does something playful like this to tease players with the attraction of obscene wealth. At any rate, Tony Stark came in fourth on the list with an estimated £8.5 billion net worth. That kind of cash might come in handy in a war…
6. The Vision Beat Ultron
He couldn’t pull it off by himself, but let’s not forget that The Vision (also Team Iron Man) pretty much brought down the seemingly unbeatable AI villain in “Avengers: Age Of Ultron.” He’s sort of an all-powerful cyborg who can fly, shoot energy out of his eyes and tap into vast electronic networks. We’re not sure that Agent Carter and Co. on Team Cap can really deal with this.
7. Hawkeye Won’t Fight Black Widow
We got a glimpse of Hawkeye’s family in “Age of Ultron,” so it seems unlikely he’s in love with Black Widow. But they’re absolutely good friends, and she’s absolutely more ruthless than he is. It’s just a suspicion, but Hawkeye won’t fight Black Widow too seriously, which puts at least one potential match-up firmly in Team Iron Man’s favor.
8. This Isn’t the Cap Stan Lee Thinks It Is
Marvel Comics god Stan Lee has been quoted as saying that Captain America ought to win because he’s “the best, pure-hearted person in the world.” That’s great, and Chris Evans’s Steve Rogers has been pretty stout morally. But he’s not some golden child. This Steve Rogers is a little bit brooding and ornery a lot of the time – not the most appealing victor.
9. Iron Man Has the Moral High Ground
There’s a line in the first trailer in which Tony Stark explains that if the Avengers can’t accept limitations, they’re no better than the bad guys. Cap responds that that’s not how he sees it. So basically, Cap’s argument sounds a lot like Ultron’s, and despite Lee’s claim that Cap is the “best, pure-hearted person in the world,” Stark seems to have the moral high ground in this one.
10. Cap’s Best is Unfamiliar
Theoretically the most powerful member of Team Cap is Scarlet Witch, and fans are still largely unfamiliar with her. It’d be a bit of a letdown to see her dominate the civil war, and she’d probably need to for Team Cap to win.
It’s still Captain America’s movie, technically, so perhaps the Russo brothers found a way to give him a convincing win. But based on all these factors, such a win seems pretty far-fetched.