A sequel to both Avengers Assemble and The Winters Soldier, Civil War is hero against hero in an action packed story which involves Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) championing the setting up of the Sokovia Accords, an agreement which is being put in place after yet another mission undertaken by Captain America and his team, while successful, ended up with major collateral damage and some loss of life, which places the Avengers under the control of the United Nations. This is met with mixed reactions with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) being the main supporter and Captain America (Chris Evans) the main opposition thus bringing into play the tension between the two which escalates into the aforementioned civil war.

Thrown into the mix is the wild card of Bucky Barnes/The Winter Solider (Sebastian Stan), Captain Americas old friend turned assassin who is the main suspect in a recent terrorist attack. Captain believes this is a set up and tries to clear his friends name while Iron Man wants him brought to justice. There is also a mysterious man named Helmut Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) operating in the background who is searching for key information tied to Bucky’s past through the use of old Hydra technology.

So the scene is set for the current batch of superheroes who’ve we have met in the previous movies Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and War Machine (Don Cheadle), to decide where their loyalties sit and step up to the mark even if it means going against friends and former allies.

While Thor And The Hulk are missing from this movie we do get the addition of Ant Man (Paul Rudd), T’challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spiderman (Tom Holland) to boost the number and while the plot line of this movie is weaker than the superb story told in The Winter Soldier where this film more than makes up for it is in portraying the inner turmoil, self-doubt and humanisation of all characters.

When there are so many players in a movie it often dilutes the impact they have but, while the main piece is the Captain Vs Iron Man fight, everybody is given enough screen time to justify their actions without ever detracting from the action and both Scarlet Witch and Black Panther both had enough development that a standalone movie about either is an intriguing prospect. The introduction of Spiderman had its controversies given that it’s the third actor to play the web slinger but Tom Holland, in the small amount of screen time he had, done enough to show me that they may have picked a winner this time. Teenage looks and full on nerd demeanor it was closest we have seen to the comic book version of Peter Parker yet.

It is not a perfect movie by any counts but the Russo Brothers have done a great job in bringing a huge part of the Marvel universe to the big screen and making the characters engaging without ever portraying a sense of good vs bad as you can empathise with both sides in the fight. Watching the heroes battle was never dull and even the moments in between the action are full of plot and character development which makes the two and a half hours both compelling as a standalone and intriguing as part of the development of the series and I don’t do spoilers but I will state that the second act airport scene is the best moment I have seen in any superhero movie as yet. If this is the new standard in the genre then both X-Men Apocalypse and Suicide Squad should be very interesting viewing.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7 Out Of 10