The biggest crossover epics in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are the Avengers films, but Captain America: Civil War features so many of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes that it’s worthy of inclusion in that category. Since it continues storylines from Age of Ultron and sets up Infinity War, it’s often referred to as Avengers 2.5.
For the most part, Civil War is dedicated to developing the established MCU heroes – particularly Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and their complicated love-hate relationship – but the Russo brothers also took the time to introduce some major players to the franchise, including Black Panther and Spider-Man.
Everett K. Ross
Martin Freeman proved with his breakout performance in The Office that he’s a terrific actor who can walk the fine line between comedy and tragedy, but his MCU appearances as government agent Everett K. Ross have been marred by his shaky American accent. With a long enough monologue – like having a one-sided conversation with a prisoner – Freeman’s accent deviates wildly.
The character later reappeared in Black Panther and he’s set to appear in the upcoming sequel, Wakanda Forever. Ross is a typical CIA bureaucrat with generic smarmy trash-talk for prisoners like Bucky and Zemo. There isn’t much room for Freeman to show off his range.
Baron Zemo
Played by Daniel Brühl, Baron Zemo was introduced as a sympathetic villain in Civil War. He lost his family in an Avengers battle and launched a narrow-minded revenge mission to kill the so-called heroes responsible for their deaths. The great thing about Zemo is that he’s not an ultra-powerful alien god like Thanos or Ego; he’s just a regular guy who’d be hopelessly outmatched in hand-to-hand combat with just one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Instead of using his brawn or cosmic levels of power, Zemo uses his cunning to tear the Avengers apart.
At the end of Civil War, having successfully broken up the Avengers, Zemo attempts to take his own life, but T’Challa saves him: “The living are not done with you yet.” Five years later, Zemo returned in The Falcon the Winter Soldier with a radical recharacterization as a hilarious “buddy cop” foil for Sam and Bucky. He’s sort of the Leo Getz to their Riggs and Murtaugh.
Aunt May
In the same movie that Tom Holland inherited the role of Peter Parker from Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, Marisa Tomei inherited the role of Aunt May from Rosemary Harris and Sally Field. In addition to being a younger take on the character, Tomei’s May was introduced as a decidedly more comedic version, trading banter with her superpowered nephew in between valuable life lessons. Throughout her MCU arc, Tomei shared palpable mother-son chemistry with Holland, enjoying Peter’s triumphs with him and comforting him at his most vulnerable.
The MCU’s May only appeared briefly in Civil War, but got significantly fleshed out in the Spider-Man solo movies. She was the first big-screen Aunt May to discover that Peter is Spider-Man (and fully supported his superhero career). Her MCU arc reached a heartbreaking conclusion in No Way Home as she dispensed Uncle Ben’s “With great power comes great responsibility” wisdom to Holland’s Spidey.
Black Panther
T’Challa gets a breathtaking introduction in Civil War. He’s introduced as the son of a diplomat, then his father is suddenly killed in a coordinated bomb attack. When Bucky is framed for the attack, T’Challa assumes the mantle of Black Panther sets out on a singular quest for vengeance. The chase sequence in which Steve chases T’Challa chasing Bucky is one of the most thrilling chase scenes in the whole MCU.
This movie mainly serves to set up Black Panther’s true hero’s journey in his then-upcoming solo film, but he gets a poignant self-contained arc in Civil War, too. His early scenes give him a relatable motivation: to avenge his father. By the end of the movie, seeing that vengeance brings no joy to Zemo, he finally realizes the pointlessness of it and calls off his revenge mission.
Chadwick Boseman’s performance as T’Challa wouldn’t get to truly shine until he anchored his own movie. Black Panther was a global cultural phenomenon that captivated fans across the world, broke all kinds of box office records, and scored Marvel Studios its first Oscar nomination for Best Picture. But his MCU tenure got off to a terrific start in Civil War.
Spider-Man
Tobey Maguire will always be the definitive on-screen portrayal of Peter Parker, but Tom Holland has embodied the character spectacularly in the MCU. Civil War first introduces Peter before introducing Spidey. As soon as Marvel fans saw the caption telling them they were in “QUEENS,” they knew which character was coming. Peter walks up to Aunt May’s apartment, dumps his bag, heads to his room, and suddenly spots Tony Stark sitting in the living room.
Tony ended up taking Holland’s Spidey under his wing. Peter’s access to Iron Man’s wealth, technology, and resources in the MCU was somewhat controversial, because it goes against his traditional characterization as a lone wolf struggling to make ends meet, doing everything for himself. But in terms of the qualities that make him heroic and relatable, the MCU has nailed its portrayal of Spider-Man.