Tales of the Rampant Coyote

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Captain America vs. Iron Man vs. Batman vs. Superman

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 10, 2016

Dat costume, wow. Wassa problem, can’t see in the dark, Petey? Aside from that, this looks pretty awesome.

It’s funny how this trailer does its storytelling job. It sets up character, conflict, and escalation. It resonates, largely because this conflict – like the one the original comic book storyline was based on – is a fictionalized version of an issue that’s very much a part of western culture and politics today. The whole individual freedom / personal responsibility vs. the collective good thing. Or, couched another way, the ideals of Chaotic Good vs. Lawful Good.  It can get ugly.

The cool thing is that even with the extremely brief arguments here (and I may be tainted because I read the comics), we can see both sides. We care about both sides. Or at least *I* do. I don’t want Iron Man to fight with Captain America… but the voyeur in me is saying, “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

Then, on the flip side, you have Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The original trailer just left me cold. The final trailer is better, but still didn’t excite me.

And here’s the thing… there’s kind of a similar central conflict here. Supes trashed a huge chunk of a major city in his last film. He’s basically a nuclear power unto himself. And so Batman takes the approach that it’s not the probability, it’s what’s at stake, and apparently takes pre-emptive action. We don’t even see much of what’s going on in Superman’s head… so we don’t care about that guy. All we know is Batman wants to treat him like a villain. Oh, and Wonder Woman jumps in… which is admittedly more exciting to me than Spider-Man appearing in Civil War.

But still, I’m not as enthusiastic. Maybe it’s just poor marketing. Maybe it’s the concept behind the movie itself. Maybe it’s that I’ve read more Marvel comics than I’ve read DC comics. I really don’t think it’s because there are more heroes involved – that tends to complicate things more than it enhances. This article tries to explain the general lack of enthusiasm folks like me feel about this show.

I guess we’ll see. Hopefully I’ll really enjoy both.


Filed Under: Movies - Comments: Read the First Comment



  • Andy_Panthro said,

    The Captain America films have been amongst my favourites of their recent output (Guardians of the Galaxy being up there too), so I’m very hopeful that Civil War will be good.

    Bats vs. Supes has arrived after a couple of mediocre films (Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel), so the optimism isn’t there.

    That said, I do like the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, and even Jesse Eisenberg seems to be an interesting take on Lex Luthor.

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