Features Film

6 Ways Captain America: Civil War is Better than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

3. The Showdown

CW5

We’ve come to the main event: the scene where the heroes cut the dialogue and enter the fisticuffs. For this to work we need two things: an amazing visual show and meeting the high expectations of the source material from the fans that have built over the months waiting. I just want to say I found both the fight scenes here enjoyable and somewhat loyal to the source material (excluding some events and characters here and there). But the airport fight scene that was the highlight of Civil War, left Batman v Superman in the dust. the reasons behind this was simple; the mass brawl of the Avengers outweighed the battle between God and Bat.

Batman v Superman had the fight isolated to a single derelict building whilst Civil War‘s confrontation took place in an abandoned airport, utilising all available (including vehicles and buildings) to show that no one was holding back, it was a fight to prove who is right as well as who is stronger. Compared to this, Batman v Superman‘s fight felt like a minor part of the film runtime, so much felt left out and wasted potential to give it a grader scale than the showdown with Doomsday. And as discussed previously, if the reason for the fight lacks meaning, the fight itself lacks meaning.

2. The Aftermath

CW4

So what’s next? How is the universes shifted to change? Once again, Marvel had spent years planning this aspect out and building up to the main event; Infinity Wars. DC only recently announced putting their hat into the cinematic universe ring with their equivalent of Justice League. However, the negative reviews of Batman v Superman has left the plans hanging by a thread and even recently forced a change of tactics (such as having to reshoot Suicide Squad to give it a more comical twist).

I mean lets quickly compare the endings and what’s ahead (by the way, big spoilers ahead). Civil War has the Avengers scattered and hiding, but ready to answer the call. Batman v Superman however, (I warned you…) they killed Superman. Let me repeat that, you kill Superman in the second movie of DC’s new cinematic universe whilst the others go “lets find the other heroes”. Really? We’re supposed to be shocked by that? We all know that years later when they finally bring him back will be such an anticlimax, our only concern will be to debate which theory they are gonna use to explain it…

1. Setting Up The Characters

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

Whilst we know that each film focuses on the hero in the title, both Marvel and DC have the added task of setting up sequels and future projects. Both have to reference new characters and where the universe is headed next. With Marvel, they finally managed to to acquire the movie rights to put Spider-man in Civil War, and in the scenes he’s in, he steals them with his naivety and witty humour (probably his closest comic adaptation yet). He is easily relatable and gels well with the current roster.

DC however, took a forced and somewhat lazy attempt to set up the league. Wonder Woman is in the movie, but despite the finale, she had no impact on the story other than to add onto the runtime. She was there for fan service, and for marketing, which is a shame. And the scene showing the other heroes? it felt like an afterthought and so forced, it was embarrassing. I mean, would you really send classified information and secrets over an email attachment? I assume Batman is smarter than that, otherwise the title of “World’s Greatest Detective” seems misplaced.

The title and content of this article may have a huge sense of bias here, but believe me when I say that Batman v Superman did have good moments and should serve as a suitable base for DC to create a cinematic universe. However, even before Civil War hit the big screens to show them how it’s done, the cracks and flaws in Batman v Superman started to show, struggling to make a dent in the armour that is Marvel’s long running success.

We can only hope that DC can learn from their mistakes and negative reviews to make a universe that can not only rival Marvel, but better meet the expectations of the fans that have waited decades for their favourite comics to be done Justice. League. Sorry, had to do it.

Which film was your favourite? And what would you have changed to make them better? Sound off in the comments or send us your thoughts on Twitter!

About the author

Connor Filsell