Captain America: Civil War isn’t really a Captain America movie. While it deals with the Winter Solder to some extent, as much as that it’s an Iron Man movie since he killed Stark's parents... . But really, it’s an Avengers movie. Everyone shows up, takes sides, and eventually ends up a great big superhero fight. And It… Is… Spectacular. In my opinion, it’s the best MCU movie to this point, beating out any of the solo outings and even the first two Avengers movies.

One of the things that I love best about this movie is that the humor in general just ‘feels better’ compared to the previous movies. There are still plenty of quips, but they’re more limited to the characters that you expect to be funny (Spider-Man in particular, more on that shortly), and feel more in character. I mean…

Spider-Man: Hey guys, you ever see that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back?

War Machine: Jesus, Tony, how old is this guy?

Iron Man: I don’t know, I didn’t carbon date him. He’s on the young side.

Speaking of which, as an introduction of a fairly major character (yet another Spider-Man), it really works. It’s weird not having an origin movie first, but it’s not the first time we’ve done it. I actually really like the Iron Man/Spider-Man relationship they have going on already. He’s a great character to hang a lamp on all the ridiculous things that happen in these movies.

Spider-Man: [referring to Captain America’s shield] That thing doesn’t obey the laws of physics at all!

And then we have Black Panther:

T’Challa: In my culture, death is not the end. It’s more of a stepping off point. You reach out with both hands and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green veld where… you can run forever.

Natasha Romanoff: That sounds very peaceful.

T’Challa: My father thought so. I am not my father.

Natasha Romanoff: T’Challa, Task Force will decide who brings in Barnes.

T’Challa: Don’t bother, Ms. Romanoff. I’ll kill him myself.

Chadwick Boseman R.I.P. Man he acted the heck out of that role. During the filming he wouldn’t have had the diagnosis for the cancer that eventually killed him, but through all the rest of the films he very well may have. It’s a sad story, but what the legacy.

Plotwise, it’s pretty much a straight forward action adventure / summer blockbuster romp, but the idea of the good guys breaking apart and fighting has rarely (if ever) been done better than can be done with superheroes. The satisfaction of two teams of vastly differently powered beings squaring off and punching the heck out of each other is oh so satisfying. I miss the Hulk and Thor, but it’s probably for the best they weren’t about.

Overall, as I mentioned, my favorite movie in the MCU thus far and as such my favorite this year. Well well well worth the watch. It’s kind of amusing to see all three ‘Captain America’ films top the list, especially in reverse order, but I stand by it. If you take the Rotten Tomatoes scores, it’s not that far off, although The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Iron Man are rated higher. I can see it. To each their own.