With a movie specifically showcasing the messiness of intra-team supers conflict, we were bound to come out of Captain America: Civil War with some questions. After the smoke clears and the theater popcorn has been munched, what do we know? More importantly, what don’t we know? Let’s go over our top burning queries in some detail, maybe we can get a sense of things to come.
If you don’t already know, there are SPOILERS AHEAD. You’ve been warned.
Question 1: What’s Black Widow’s next move?
Right at the end of the large-scale team on team battle at the Leipzig airport, Black Widow has a chance to stop Captain America and Bucky from getting away, but instead stuns Black Panther so that the Captain can escape, saying: “I’m going to regret this.”
What does her betrayal mean for her place within the Avengers? Is she a rogue agent, working for hire or doing good on her own? Tony tells her the powers that be know what she did and that they’d be coming after her, so maybe she’s just in the same boat as the other fugitives. This could be the start of her own Bourne-style story where she is running from SHIELD. Honestly, the first question should be, “where is my Black Widow movie?”
Question 2: Where does this leave Captain America?
No shield, and the barest semblance of being part of the Avengers via a message sent to Iron Man. No Bucky, as he’s on ice. He’s broken his team out of prison, and vowed to find a way to fix Bucky’s brainwashing. This is a seriously complicated situation, almost enough to fill an entire extra movie resolving it. You might predict there will be a moment in the future when Iron Man comes together with Captain America with the shield as an olive branch (rather than the pens that started a war in this one).
Question 3: Is Bucky Now with Black Panther?
In the first credits scene, we see Bucky sans-robot-arm being cryogenically frozen in Wakanda by the Black Panther’s people. Can we expect to see him unfrozen in the Black Panther solo film, pulled back into the waking world by Wakandans when he’s needed to help? Clearly he and the Black Panther had some conflict, that’s sure to make for some interesting camaraderie if they do team up.
Question 4: Is Iron Man Still Down with the Accords?
We get the impression, watching Tony’s evolving reaction to the imprisonment of his fellow Avengers, that he may not be OK with how things are going. Is he still willing to fight for a document that treats his friends this way? He’s in the minority at this point, are he and his people the Avengers just because they have the headquarters, or is it Cap’s people? We know Robert Downey Jr won’t have the job forever. Maybe this is one of the first steps in phasing him out of the MCU.
Question 5: What Does All of This Mean for Agents of SHIELD?
So far the movies and the TV show have had only a limited amount of interaction beyond the basic premise of SHIELD. When Hydra was revealed as part of SHIELD in Winter Solder, it certainly had an impact on season 2. But the show is currently way off in its own weird world dealing with Inhumans and the remnants of Hydra. They rarely mention the Avengers or the events of Sokovia. Is this an opportunity to bring the timelines together again? Will we see actual interaction between SHIELD and the Avengers again? Will the agents be sent out to enforce the Accords?
What are your big questions? More concerned with Dr. Strange and Spider-Man? Let us know in the comments!
Featured Image Credit: Marvel Entertainment, LLC
Image Credit: Marvel Entertainment, LLC